[RandomBacon]

It's a joke even before looking at the price. "3D-knitted" WTF is that? Isn't all knitting in "3D"?

It's a crappy handbag, and it's just for a phone.

It looks like they had to use models to advertise it because they couldn't use "everyday people" in "everyday situations" to advertise because it looks like it would be garbage in that scenario.

Is Apple expanding to the "luxury" fashion market?

[jsheard]

> Is Apple expanding to the "luxury" fashion market?

They've been flirting with it for a while, remember they made a $17,000 solid gold variant of the first gen Apple Watch (which is no longer supported lol), and today they sell luxury Hermès edition watches at a 2-3x premium over the regular titanium models.

[smugma]

I got an Hermes (plastic?) strap as a gift and it’s way better than any other strap I’ve ever had. Plastic and steel still look brand new.

Is it worth 10-20X the price of a normal strap? No, but it’s called disposable income for a reason.

[coldtea]

>they made a $17,000 solid gold variant of the first gen Apple Watch (which is no longer supported lol)

I don't think the kind of people to spend $17K on a digital watch care that it's no longer supported - it's pocket change for them

[RandomBacon]

I think that's different. That's just premium flair for their product, whereas this is just a stupid fashion product.

[pseudalopex]

Both products could be viewed both ways.

[tempestn]

My favorite bit is right before that,

> Inspired by the concept of “a piece of cloth”

[RHSeeger]

I dunno, this was pretty good too

> The design of iPhone Pocket speaks to the bond between iPhone and its user

Like it's a pet or something

[steve1977]

Apple must be trolling us at this point.

Also I cannot help but read this in the voice of Jony Ive.

[chamomeal]

Lmao yeah I checked the domain after that. Cannot believe a person seriously wrote that. Inspired by the concept of a piece of cloth is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

Sometimes I think they’re messing with us. This is more ridiculous than that monitor stand from a few years ago

[wahnfrieden]

No, you just aren’t familiar with the term. It has a specific meaning in the context. It’s this: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/100361 and it’s well known to customers familiar with the popular Issey Miyake label (which does something like $85 million in sales)

In tech we also use common words or phrases to trademark new ideas. It's not ridiculous or unusual. But it may be unfamiliar to you if you are not interested in fashion (common in these parts, as apparent in this thread) and fashion topics are easy targets for technical brothers.

[dghlsakjg]

You linked to something called “a piece of clothing” styled as A-POC.

The article referred to ‘the concept of “a piece of cloth”’

I’m not sure they are the same thing at all. If you are going to invoke a piece of artwork wouldn’t you get the name right and reference it directly? Wouldn’t you also use the base concept that makes the art interesting instead of 3d knitting as well? Would you reference that it is specifically tied to the completely different pleated clothing line instead of A-POC?

[wahnfrieden]

see my other reply. "cloth" is the correct one. and no I wouldn't use the original A-POC for a phone case (no one wants a piece of rigid fabric for a phone case). the construction has more to do with A-POC as it is made from one piece of material without seams while the pleated line has seams and is pleated. if you're curious you can see m.a+ for another spin on "one piece of material", where even shoes are made with one cut of leather

[dghlsakjg]

Ah. I see.

The MOMA project seems not to be rigid fabric, but it is clear that the description there is not exactly canonical.

In any case the press release was worded so weirdly that it seems inevitable that only superfans would make the connection to a piece of art from the 90s, and the rest of us would just make fun of 'the concept of "a piece of cloth"'

[pseudalopex]

A–POC (A Piece of Clothing) and a piece of cloth communicate different ideas to most people. The MoMA article showed how the press release could have been written to be clear to anyone interested. And tech people should consider this in their writing.

[wahnfrieden]

"Cloth" is the correct one, sorry for not reading the link closely. I chose to share that one because of the illustrative photo, but they are incorrect in calling it "piece of clothing"

See: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/185792 and https://us.isseymiyake.com/pages/apocable?srsltid=AfmBOopZJL...

(You can also see an archival garment in the Met article that closely resembles the iPhone Pocket btw)

[pseudalopex]

A–POC (A Piece of Cloth) and a piece of cloth communicate different ideas to most people. The Met article showed how the press release could have been written to be clear to anyone interested.

[chamomeal]

Ah ok thank you for the explanation, that’s actually super cool. At first it sounded like some ridiculous and unrelatable modern art stuff. Makes a lot more sense now.

[astrange]

It's translated from Japanese. It makes more sense there. Especially if you don't leave out the load-bearing quote marks.

[wahnfrieden]

It's not translated from Japanese, it's originally in English. "A-POC" for "A Piece of Cloth". It refers to garments sewn from a single cut of a ream of cloth. It was translated into Japanese as 一枚の布 which isn't any more meaningful, but the original trademark is in English.

edit: What are you disagreeing with? That's what I'm referring to. The Issey Miyake trademark, which the label uses as "A-POC" as an English acronym, and translates into Japanese only to explain it to the domestic market rather than as the trademark itself. I linked that MoMa article elsewhere in this thread

[0x457]

Well, no? This is A-POC it was inspired by: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/100361 and I'm pretty sure this is where that meaning you are referring to originated from.

[wahnfrieden]

Yes...

[astrange]

The sentence structure 'inspired by the concept of "thing in quotation marks"' is what's translated.

[wahnfrieden]

> 「一枚の布」のコンセプトからインスピレーション

... isn't any more meaningful than the English, it is exactly "inspired by the concept of "thing in quotation marks"

I think this article was originally written in English anyway (only the English one credits an author, who is not Japanese)

[TOMDM]

It honestly reads like low effort engagement bait I'd expect to see on Twitter

[mrguyorama]

>Is Apple expanding to the "luxury" fashion market?

Apple has been dealing in luxury fashion goods since at least the early 2000s.

You think they made computers look like that, with a circular mouse, because it was better? You think putting the charging port on the bottom of yet another mouse was about sharp product focus?

Apple sells what it does because it's a Lifestyle Brand.

[rinze]

Could be AI-knitted. They lost an opportunity right there.

[wahnfrieden]

It has a meaning as technical jargon in textiles https://www.uniqlo.com/eu/en/news/sp/topics/2022011301/ which was chosen as being similar to Issey Miyake’s piece of cloth construction: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/100361

You seem more eager to shit on this aspect of it than to understand something you’re unfamiliar with. Not that you need to become familiar with something you’re uninterested in, especially with luxury market products, but since you’re here talking about it and this isn't "Hater News"…

It does have higher production cost but the price of this item is priced for it being designed by Issey Miyake (not Apple) and sold as a luxury fashion item. If you want a cheaper strap they sell that too.

[t-writescode]

They didn’t buy Beats by Dre for the sound quality.