“Pockets
= Freedom,” proclaims SCOTTeVEST. This is a company of devout pocket
evangelists. While hoodies are often preferred for travel because of their
comfort, roomy front pockets, and the hood’s use as a sleeping aid, the
Knowmatic hoodie is designed explicitly with grueling economy class travel in
mind. It combines the tecchie’s need for device integration with the frequent
air traveler’s need to be able to carry a backpack’s worth of things through
pockets alone, all layered underneath the hoodie’s nod toward rebellion and
disruption so dear to young tech culture. [1]

SCOTTeVEST
is quite transparent about the how’s and why’s, and presents its clothing with
no mystery – it’s just like the latest tech gadget, with x-ray photos and patented
design features highlighted. Each pocket is catered to a specific kind of
device, and is made such that headphones / cords can be threaded through
pockets and loops to turn the garment into a piece of technology itself. This
is ultimately the product of the DIY hacker’s dream of tech integration – for
now we all have it in our pockets, but tomorrow it’ll be in our clothes, and
someday it’ll be directly in our bodies. The Knowmatic is an intermediate step
in the post-human futurist’s quest for electronic integration by combining the
hoodie with the computer, rather than simply containing it.

The
hoodie’s longstanding association with outcasts and renegades also appeals to
the the tecchie’s sense of rebelliousness. Although its roots span back to the cowls of hooded Medieval monks, the hoodie as we’d recognize it today rose in popularity as a garment
worn by workers in frigid 1930s NY warehouses, and gradually came to represent
a sort of working class, me-vs-society mentality. Rocky’s grey training hoodie
has almost become a trope in the underdog athlete movie, always donned during
those brutal workout shots. Zuckerberg’s hoodie has become the iconic garment
for 20-something startup kids gleefully watchingThe Social Network and
idolizing the next “disruptive” Silicon Valley startup. Hip hop has also donned
the hoodie, capitalizing on its humble beginnings and edgy vibe to stick it to
The Man. [2] [3]

The
Knowmatic nods to these influences through clean, clashing, asymmetric lines,
reminiscent of street art designs yet clean-cut enough to pass as an abstract
corporate pattern, perfectly capturing the superstar startup founder’s
canonical transition from caffeinated, hard-working underdog beginnings to a
leader in technology and business. [4]

[1] http://www.scottevest.com/company/about_sev_new.shtml

[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/23/opinion/23wilson.html

[3] https://www.rushordertees.com/blog/hoodies-from-history-and-pop-culture/

[4] http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/Sev_Knowmatic_Hoodie.shtml