From MacBooks to Mac coats, Jony Ive reinvents the button for new outerwear range

Celebrated tech designer Jony Ive is about to release a new range of outerwear clothing as part of his broadening portfolio post Apple.

The Anglo-American rose to fame for his long standing work alongside Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Joining the company in 1992, he went on to become Apple’s chief design officer and senior vice president of industrial design.

During his 27-year-long tenure with the tech company, Ive played a key role in designing the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Jobs once described Ive as his “spiritual partner at Apple”, due to Ive’s understanding of the co-founder’s obsession with sleek and intuitive form.

New beginnings, new ideas

Ive left Apple in 2019 to start his own design firm LoveFrom with Marc Newson. LoveFrom had Apple as its primary client until 2022 when their agreement ended and the company started working on broader design ideas.

This September, Ive debuts his first clothing collection. Made in partnership with Remo Ruffini, the Italian billionaire CEO of fashion company Moncler, the first design to be released from the “LoveFrom, Moncler” collection is a modular three-in-one jacket.

“I have come to care more about who I work with than what I work on,” Ive told the Financial Times.

The three-in-one shell jacket itself will go on sale on 24 September. Customers will be able to choose from a variety of shell jackets, based on Moncler’s field jacket, parka and poncho styles, and then pair it with a base layer.

Available in off-white or butter yellow, the main design feature that has fashionistas intrigued is the “duo button”, LoveFrom and Moncler’s attempt to redesign the humble button. The magnetic clasp function is meant to make attaching and detaching the modular layers of the coat simpler and more satisfying.

“I tried to do better zippers, and zippers are really hard,” Ive told Fast Company. In the end, the solution is an elegant way to patch together the two layers and allow for maximum flexibility.

When the doughnut outer layer comes into contact with the base button, two magnets pull up a piston from the base, securing the two layers together.