Recently I’ve been wearing my excellent Scott eVest Technology Enabled trousers quite a lot, since I’m spending a lot of time at my client’s offices in town. My shabby and tatty normal round-home wear isn’t up to any kind of even slightly professional image.
The photo here shows The Beehive and part of Parliament House. The Beehive is where the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers have offices, and where the Cabinet meets
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Zips, magnets and the Beehive
I have both the Hidden Cargo Pants, and the Ultimate Cargo Pants, both of which are wonderful. Each pair is loaded with dozens of secret zipped pockets, and pockets that close with magnets. I suspect there are still some pockets I haven’t yet discovered. I also have a couple of TEC jackets and a pullover. I love them all and tuck away all kinds of gems: a $10 bill and some coins here, a SwissCard there.
Which is not a good idea if you’re trying to get through the Beehive‘s security scanner, as I did recently. The ‘wand’ beeped all over me! I had to keep locating pockets and extracting stuff I’d forgotten was in them. Rather embarrassing really.
The clothes are designed to hold gadgets such as cellphones and iPods, and the kind of miscellaneous stuff a girl needs or wants to carry: wallet, coins, bus ticket, tissues, business cards, keys, whatever. Heck, there’s even enough room for a small book or two, and maybe lunch.
The clothes fit well too, and are very comfortable and well-made.
Shipping costs can kill
A problem for us Kiwis is the cost of obtaining the clothes. The actual item cost is very reasonable, but Scott eVest will only ship by the planet’s most expensive courier service. Last time I enquired, the minimum shipping cost was an outrageous US$180.
Fortunately a friend was visiting the US a few years back and carried some trousers and jackets back to New Zealand for me. A couple of years ago Dori Smith and Tom Negrino were visiting and also obliged by carrying another pair of trousers and a pullover.
ThinkGeek ships to New Zealand
Now I’ve discovered that ThinkGeek carry a small selection of Scott eVest pullovers and hoodies at a reasonable price and send items by fast courier at a totally affordable price. For US$30 courier cost we received an order for a couple of pullovers and hoodies within about 5 days. Unheard of!
My partner Deb is now sporting her plain black pullover and hoodie, suitable for Zen practice, and I’ve been pleased to provide a little support for the TWiT podcast, by getting my pullover and hoodie TWiT branded.
A note on colours
It regularly drives me crazy that everyone in Wellington wears black all the time — I guess because it’s full of civil servants. Unfortunately Scott eVest seem to specialise in black clothes too. So when I bought my first pullover I opted for camouflage colours. Some (cough, Tom) mocked me for my choice, while others (cough, my partner) said they didn’t want to be seen in public with me. I’m now the owner of a black pullover.
Come on, Scott eVest! Give us red, green, blue — good techie colours!
