Did Jony Ive Just Design the Jacket of the Future?

Not even Sir Jony Ive can reinvent the wheel. But how about the button?

Five years after leaving Apple, the company’s former chief design officer has teamed up with Italian outerwear brand Moncler to design a three-in-one shell jacket with one very special feature: a “duo button” that functions more like a MagSafe charger than what you’ll find on any traditional coat.

Meet LoveFrom, Moncler

As first reported by Fast Company, the project — called “LoveFrom, Moncler” after the name of Ive’s design firm, LoveFrom — has been in development for four years, thus beginning shortly after the designer left Apple in 2019.

The foundation of the system is a down-filled vest called Moncore, which can attach to a trio of different layers ranging from a hooded poncho to a parka and even a field jacket.

LoveFrom/Moncler

Of course, modular jackets are nothing new, especially in the outdoors where companies like Patagonia have been selling them for years. But LoveFrom, Moncler differentiates itself from the competition in a couple of key ways.

The first has to do with the overall shape of the layers themselves, cut from a single piece of recycled nylon — made possible by an extra-large loom like the ones used to manufacture bed linens. The result is a “seamless” design in the truest sense of the word, as there are no visible seams connecting the sleeves to the torso.

Rethinking the modest button

If that would have been enough for most designers, it certainly wasn’t for Ive, who embarked on what he called a “very gentle, humble exploration” of ways to attach each layer to the Moncore, Fast Company reported.

Eventually, he settled on magnetic buttons, which Ive even sonically tuned with a specific combination of bronze, aluminum and steel. This allows the user to quickly swap out their preferred outer shell with a series of satisfying clicks that, according to the Fast Company writer, feel as good as they sound.

LoveFrom/Moncler

Ironically, Ive has spent much of his career eliminating buttons from everyday life.

Recruited to Apple in the early 1990s, the designer is largely credited for the minimalist form factor of iPhone and iPad, which famously traded a physical keyboard for a flat screen.

Ive also oversaw the development of the iPhone X — the first of Apple’s smartphones not to feature a home button (now standard for not just Apple but many smartphone manufacturers).

When LoveFrom, Moncler goes on sale September 24 (pricing is still TBD), Ive may need to change his tune on the modest button’s role in society — assuming, of course, it doesn’t look, function or sound like anything else.

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