A hood made of speaker cloth? Betabrand aims to create the ultimate hoodie for audio geeks

By Alex Tretbar Updated July 18, 2014

put headphones on over this hoodie made of speaker fabric audio engineer board

One of the more irritating first-world problems that many audio engineers and music-lovers face on a daily basis – especially in the Pacific Northwest – has to be the dreaded over-ear headphone vs. hoodie quandary. Will you put your cans on first and hood up second, transforming your dome piece into a monstrously misshapen lump? Or will you take the road less traveled and wear the ‘phones on top, sacrificing that crystal-clear audio you shelled out $200-plus for? San Francisco-based Betabrand hopes to eliminate this annoyance by creating a special type of hoodie, made of a speaker-like fabric that allows the wearer to put over-ear ‘phones outside the hood without compromising audio quality. It calls its new sonically sound garb the Audio Engineer Hoodie.

The stylishly studio and stage-ready Audio Engineer Hoodie features acoustically transparent hood panels (made of for "when you need a barrier between you and the world but you still need to mix." — The stylishly studio- and stage-ready Audio Engineer Hoodie features acoustically transparent hood panels made for “when you need a barrier between you and the world but you still need to mix.”

The Audio Engineer Hoodie is more than just a standard piece of clothing with acoustic hood panels. It’s designed as a sort of audio engineer version of a wizard’s cloak. The hoodie is comprised of a water-resistant polyester/cotton blend to resist the elements, and sports a cassette-themed interior lining. Additional features include twin kangaroo pockets with headphone pass-through holes, an external and internal chest pocket, a loop in the left pocket to clip your keys/flashlight/multi-tool/drum key, etc., and even an internal pull-out wiring diagram to aid engineers working in the field that run in to wiring quandaries.

Currently this audio engineer’s wardrobe essential is gathering funds via Betabrand’s own crowdfunding/think tank community. The hoodie has already reached 162 percent of its original goal with 25 days left of funding, and you can pre-order your very own for about $140 (10 percent down from the eventual $160 price-point). The garment is slated to ship in late October.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Alex Tretbar, audio/video intern, is a writer, editor, musician, gamer and sci-fi nerd raised on EverQuest and Magic: The…

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