I don’t know if you’ve noticed but it snowed today across the UK. And it’s cold, freezing in fact. And it’s probably going to snow tomorrow. So, those thin canvas trainers won’t do, nor will that faux leather jacket. This is a week for woolly hats, multiple layers and even more multiple cups of tea. 

But what if your jacket was smart and could actually heat you while you walked? The Boston-based clothing company Ministry of Supply has designed a self-heating intelligent jacket that reacts to changing temperatures. A godsend in the UK at the moment when one minute it feels like Spring and the next we are spamming our social media feeds with #snowday.

The Mercury jacket contains three heating pads made from carbon fibre, allowing it to constantly adapt to the surroundings and alter the temperature accordingly. This creates a personal ‘microclimate’ for the wearer.

Using a built-in custom chip, the jacket communicates to an app via Bluetooth. You can programme your preferences into the app and using AI, over time the jacket then learns and predicts your needs. It will know your optimum temperature without you even needing to tell it.

The jacket can also be paired with the Amazon Alexa. Built in voice-control capabilities allow you to pre-heat your jacket before you even put it on. It takes 90 seconds to heat up and there are two zipped hand-warming pockets as well as an inbuilt wireless phone sleeve for charging on-the-go.

Ministry of Supply’s aim is to Radically Engineer clothes and, with the Mercury jacket, they have set out to design a garment that can be worn all year round, so that essentially you’ll never need another jacket. With a Kickstarter campaign ongoing, the company plans to ship the jacket in the Autumn of this year.

Visit Ministry of Supply’s website to find out more.