Fashion and tech are colliding like crazy recently. mophie has done a bunch of collaborations with fashion brands, going so far to put a mobile charger in a varsity jacket, and Polo has a $300 "smart shirt" that measures all sorts of bodily movements. But for our money, there isn't a greater collision of high fashion and technology than Rick Owens' newest effort: a $500 mobile phone charger.
It's literally a battery pack a la mophie covered in dark brown acetate and debossed Rick Owens branding. One thing is for sure: It definitely matches Rick's signature brutalist aesthetic. It's also nice that it's compatible with pretty much every mobile device. But, is it overpriced? Yeah, probably, especially when you consider that it costs just as much as—or more than—a phone itself.
When the Motorola Razr first came out it cost a whopping $500 WITH a two-year contract on Cingular (R.I.P.) and the first iPhone in 2007 was the same price. The first Motorola Droid (which was garbage, by the way; I got it the day it released after breaking my tried-and-true LG Voyager) cost just $200 with a contract. Today, you can typically grab a brand new iPhone on contract for about $200 as well. And then there are these:
- Samsung Galaxy S5 $200, $650 off-contract
- Microsoft Lumia 950, $149.99, $600 off-contract
- OnePlus X, $249.00
- Motorola Droid Turbo 2, $199.99, $624 off-contract
- Nexus 6P, $499
- HTC One A9, $99.99 on contract, $499 off-contract
So, is an acetate-coated battery pack from Rick Owens worth 2.5 iPhones? Or just about as much as a different model costs outright? That's up to you. But someone out there is going to get it, and we'll all be shaking our heads with jealousy about their fluid financial situation.
