'Air-conditioned clothing'- a reality?

‘Air-conditioned clothing’- a reality?

'Air-conditioned clothes' help beat summer heat in Japan. Could someone please bring this to the UAE!

July 19, 2011 3:38 by Eva Fernandes

Japan is one of the countries with the weirdest inventions, we all agree on that right? But Kipp thinks this just may be one of the few times the country has come up with something really good. After the March 2011 earthquake in Japan, the government has asked the people to cut down on energy consumption by turning of air-conditioners in their houses. And that’s when an engineer named Hiroshi Ichigaya was struck by the brilliant idea of ‘personal air-conditioners’, and heading a small company in Japan called ‘Kuchofuku’–first launched in 2004–he started the plans for the production of these goods.

One of their products is a jacket which is basically equipped with two fans connected to a lithium-ion battery pack, it lasts for 11 hours on a single charge and consumes only a fraction of the power used by conventional air-conditioners. Cool right? This jacket basically dries off sweat and cools the body down. The company also produces cushions for office chairs and mattresses. So far, the Japanese company has sold only about 25,000 jackets this year and each of them costs about $150 dollars or higher.

This product could especially benefit Dubai with its high temperatures and sweltering heat. The jackets could help the construction workers who work in the heat, providing them some much needed relief at these sites. It’s also a good business opportunity in Dubai, as the Japanese maker cannot meet the reported rising demand for these products from factories and construction sites and, most recently, office workers and housewives.

The company at the moment is unable to increase its production on a large scale, and that is where Dubai can help it out.

Okay so these products may not be easily accepted by the fashion conscious in Dubai until they become a bit more, well, fashionable. But this has not deterred those in Japan who prefer to be cool, rather than ‘hot’ in fashion.

Kipp wonders though whether these products may pose a danger to the users of the electrical and mechanical kind…So wear at your own risk.

Here’s another video report of the summer sensation: