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Floatplane
Like many great works of creativity, it started as a bit. Back in 2024, one of our fashion designers had a simple inspiration – let’s make a leather jacket. The thought was to ape the iconic leather jacket famously (or perhaps infamously) worn by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. “What if we designed it with AI, since that’s apparently their business model now?” replied Linus, frustrated as anyone else by the (still!) inflated price of PC graphics cards. Could we? Oh yeah, probably. Should we…?
That brings us to today. We’re launching the “Jensen,” which follows the now-discontinued “Steve” mock-neck sweater as our latest product mimicking the fashion tastes of eccentric tech CEOs.
Okay, yes, the topic of AI is a bit fraught at the moment (and it’ll probably stay that way for quite some time to come). So why do this? Let us explain.
In 2024, AI was already making a pretty big splash, but still relatively in its infancy in terms of capability. That feels insane to say out loud considering how little time has actually passed since then, but it’s true. Most AI-generated images looked impressive on the surface, but it was easy (relatively, compared to now) to spot traits, artifacts, and just plain-old jank that set AI slop apart from real creative works.
Our goal was to let AI generate an utterly silly leather jacket and then actually turn the resulting image, including the hallucinations, into a real product. We hoped it’d make a statement on how, while AI could have some potential uses, it’s far from perfect and definitely doesn’t replace true artistic vision.
Did we succeed? Well, you tell us. Here’s the actual AI-generated image that we took inspiration from (left), compared to the final product (right):
Just a normal leather jacket, when you look at it out the corner of your eye. But if you squint, you’ll notice some things that just don’t make sense. There are two entirely separate zippers at the front for some reason, padding where you don’t need it (and vice versa), and the chest pockets all have three zippers, to name a few. It’s as if the designer had a degree from the Sarah Winchester Institute of Architecture (and Apparently Fashion Design).
But unlike Winchester, we weren’t fleeing ghosts (well, maybe the ghosts of gaming PCs that could’ve been). Despite the appearance, we did take a hard look at this design in the interest of making it a jacket you‘d actually want to wear. For example, we angled the opening of the hand pockets to make them more comfortable to use, and the unnecessary middle part which separates the two zippers is actually removable, creating a slimmer fit if that’s your preference!
At this point we want to make something 1,000% clear: with the exception of the initial ideation, every bit of work done on this product was performed by a human. That includes modifying the design, developing the pattern, material sourcing, sampling, and creating a tech pack (the spec sheet that instructs our suppliers how to actually manufacture a given apparel product, including what materials to use, dimensions, sizing, etc). We believe true creativity can never be replaced by AI, and we’ve never attempted to.
Having said all that, you might be wondering by now: is LTTStore really asking me to drop a couple hundy on a meme jacket?
a meme jacket, thousands of dollars too late.
Well, yes and no. If nothing else, like any art piece, it comes with a little bit of social commentary, and some design elements are an acquired taste. But we also think it’s a truly premium jacket; we wouldn’t sell it to you otherwise. It’s made from high-quality genuine calf leather, comfy, definitely unique, and dare we say, still pretty sharp looking!
So if you think this is up your alley, head over to the product page and get yours today. We’re only doing one run of this product and once it’s gone, it’s gone!
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