Debenhams' sound system in a jacket designed to combat thieves

No, whathifi.com hasn't suddenly turned into a fashion website. But we thought you might be interested in this snazzy new jacket from Debenhams, which includes a built-in sound system and controls for your smartphone or MP3 player.

No, whathifi.com hasn't suddenly turned into a fashion website. But we thought you might be interested in this snazzy new jacket from Debenhams, which includes a built-in sound system and controls for your smartphone or MP3 player.

The idea is to protect your precious smartphone or music player from thieves when you're out and about.

Given that 264 mobile phone thefts a day were reported in the first eight months of 2012 (a rise of 7% over 2011), that's no bad thing.

The £76 coat is designed by Communiqué Vox (C.VOX) and includes headphones, speakers and the controls to skip, pause and play your music. There's a 3.5mm connector in one of the pockets which is compatible with smartphones and portable music players.

And the speaker, microphone for taking phone calls and controls are all waterproof so the coat can be washed without damaging the system. The earphones are wired through the jacket and concealed in the collar to avoid any unnecessary tangling.

As well as the coat shown here, the C.VOX range includes gilets and hooded sweatshirts with a similar built-in speaker system.

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Andy Clough

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.