Windows 7: The future of Outdoor Clothing?

Excellent Idea of the Day: Inflatable Jacket : Discovery News

Is this just a gimmicky and impractical piece of clothing or are we likely to be seeing microprocessor controlled versions of this in the future to adjust the insulation as required? This could be an investment opportunity - or perhaps not. There are already inflatable items for skiers to avoid the dangers involved in avalanches and similar ideas have been proposed for motorcyclists to lessen the injuries in crashes I believe.

I would want to know how sucessful it is in dealing with punctures before I bought it.

Get involved in a lot of knife fights do you?

No, but tree branches can punch holes in outdoor clothes.

It looks quite silly, how strong is the material? Looks like it will be torn in 5 minutes

Get involved in any tree fights do you? Abrasion is the most likely thing to cause holes and since I have done a lot of rock-climbing where this is possible it might not best suit that purpose but for general wear I think it has possibilities. How many people climb trees or wade through the jungle or through forrests? You could always wear a tough outer layer anyway. The materials used in clothing are forever getting better and perhaps they might use the materials currently used in balloons whereby it self-heals. The jacket is primarily aimed at instances where the temperature or activity changes so probably more geared to open area activities. Things like winter sports might be one area where activity might be followed by some standing about and here it could be useful.

Silly? Wear a bobble hat do you? Outdoor folk have never really bothered about 'fashion' and a good job too. Torn in 5 minutes - jeez, don't bother buying any really decent outdoor clobber if that is how you treat it! It is a prototype basically so the function has to be what drives the design. I can see it developing to be much less conspicuous and probably less open to damage - which I agree is a problem with the current design.

There are many fabrics that are very tear and cut resistant. some are used on the outside of bullet-proof armor the police and military wear. Here's one. Cut-Tex® PRO | Tear Resistant Fabric

Just a former hiker. I have rarely hiked or walked in areas with no trees. Cedar trees of central Texas have branches that can easily stab a person's arm, along with what ever they are wearing. I've walked past bushes in other areas of the US, same problem. I'm careful, but getting snagged by trees/bush branches can happen and it hurts to.

As it stands the jacket looks a bit vulnerable I agree but I think there would be many applications where puncture is not such a risk and that could be remedied by the addition of a tough outer shell. I think newer materials are likely to eventually get to the stage to have self-healing properties anyway. I think the concept is good but it will take quite a bit of development - after all it only doing what existing cold-weather clothing does e.g. duvet jackets and other similar designs, in trapping air.