Tommy Hilfiger jackets have smartphone charging solar panels

Several solar panels on the market are designed for charging small objects like a smartphone or tablet. Clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger has designed a new jacket that is available for men and women that has solar panels built into the back allowing the jacket to charge smartphones as the user wears the jacket.

Hilfiger worked with a solar panel company called Pvilion to design the two solar jackets, which both use a tartan design. The solar panels used in the jackets are flexible and water resistant. Panels can also be removed for times when you don't want to charge or don't want the look of solar panels on your back.

The solar panels feed power to a battery in the front pocket of the jacket and the battery pack has USB ports on it for charging your devices. You will need to bring your own charge cables. The battery pack inside the jacket pocket has about 6000 mAh of power.

That is enough juice to completely charge a 1500 mAh device four times. Hilfiger is mum on how long the solar panels take to charge the battery pack alone. However, the battery pack is removable and you can plug it into an outlet to charge. Both jacket styles sell for $599 and are limited edition with 50% of the proceeds being donated to the Fresh Air Fund.

SOURCE: CNET