Bikini....
Tired of your MP3 player running out of juice at the beach? Cross that frustration off your list this summer thanks to the Solar Bikini, the high-tech bathing suit that can charge your MP3 player or other small devices while you relax in the sun.
Unfortunately, you can’t exactly pick up this baby in time for a quick getaway this weekend. Each suit needs to be custom ordered, handmade and can take more than 80 hours to create.
The bikini doesn’t weigh anymore than a regular bathing suit even with 40 solar cells attached, although the price tag is heavy: It sells for $500 and $1,500 at SolarCoterie.com.
Designer Andrew Schneider first came up with the idea as a joke -- but it turned into a very real project.
“It was the first day of school and we were going around the table brainstorming ideas for sustainable products. I didn't really have anything exciting so I leaned over to my friend and just jokingly said that I was going to make a bikini that could cool your beer at the beach,” says Schneider. “We laughed about it, but a few weeks later I realized that it was very much possible from a technical standpoint.”
While the bikini didn’t have enough solar cells to cool a beer, it was able to power smaller devices. But Schneider hasn’t given up his dream of creating a beer-cooling swim suit. He is now working on the iDrink, swim trunks for men that can cool one beer in a custom cozy. Cold beer, groovy tunes, what else do you need at the beach? Cheers!
Tired of your MP3 player running out of juice at the beach? Cross that frustration off your list this summer thanks to the Solar Bikini, the high-tech bathing suit that can charge your MP3 player or other small devices while you relax in the sun.
Unfortunately, you can’t exactly pick up this baby in time for a quick getaway this weekend. Each suit needs to be custom ordered, handmade and can take more than 80 hours to create.
The bikini doesn’t weigh anymore than a regular bathing suit even with 40 solar cells attached, although the price tag is heavy: It sells for $500 and $1,500 at SolarCoterie.com.
Designer Andrew Schneider first came up with the idea as a joke -- but it turned into a very real project.
“It was the first day of school and we were going around the table brainstorming ideas for sustainable products. I didn't really have anything exciting so I leaned over to my friend and just jokingly said that I was going to make a bikini that could cool your beer at the beach,” says Schneider. “We laughed about it, but a few weeks later I realized that it was very much possible from a technical standpoint.”
While the bikini didn’t have enough solar cells to cool a beer, it was able to power smaller devices. But Schneider hasn’t given up his dream of creating a beer-cooling swim suit. He is now working on the iDrink, swim trunks for men that can cool one beer in a custom cozy. Cold beer, groovy tunes, what else do you need at the beach? Cheers!
