Originally designed for home or recording studio use, over-the-ear headphones somehow became a popular choice for music aficionados on-the-go. We can probably blame Sony’s Walkman for that, but it means that Betabrand’s new Audio Engineer’s Hoodie — which uses speaker fabric on the hood so headphones can be worn over it — isn’t necessarily just for those hiding in an over air conditioned studio all day.
The side panels of the hoodie’s hood are made from the same type of extremely thin and porous fabric that’s used on the front panels of speakers. As fabrics go it’s extra flexible so that it freely vibrates along with the sound being produced and doesn’t end up dampening or affecting what’s being heard. So if you were to put on a pair of headphones while wearing this hoodie with the hood up, the sound wouldn’t be muffled in any way. After all, it was designed by a sound engineer Nic Pope for those who make a living with their ears.
But an acoustically transparent hood isn’t this hoodie’s only notable feature. Since it’s targeted at sound professionals it includes plenty of pockets for stashing flash drives and adapters, a loop in the left pocket for securing a carabiner full of keys, and even a pull out technical diagram on the inside pocket for wiring audio cables.
The Audio Engineer’s Hoodie is being produced by Betabrand as a crowdfunding initiative, but just 20 hours after launch enough people had pre-ordered the $US150 hoodie for it to already reach its funding goal. Apparently there are a lot of freezing audio engineers out there who really want to wear a hood in the studio, or would rather stay anonymous while setting up gear onstage. [Betabrand]