Joe Doucet weaves Reebok's performance fiber into Bluetooth-connected gloves designed for navigating with light and haptic feedback.

Prolific New York designer Joe Doucet’s portfolio of work spans a wide berth of projects – bicycles, spirits, brand identity, furniture, electronics, architecture – the reflection of a polygot mind driven by a self-described condition of “debilitating curiosity“, grounded in a humble sense of purpose to improve common objects.
His latest project – Woven into the Future – is a collaboration between the NY designer and Reebok: a set of GPS-enabled gloves offering runners, walkers, and bicyclists turn-by-turn direction using light and touch.

The trio of exploratory prototypes represent Woven into the Future, a conceptual collection incorporating Flexweave, a proprietary material originally engineered by Reebok to deliver lightweight, durable, and form fit comfort for their athletic footwear line.
Doucet reimagined Flexweave beyond its footwear iteration, turning the performance fiber characterized by its figure-8 weave into fingerless gloves with directional technology woven right into the form factor.

When asked about the motivations behind designing a glove, Doucet explains, “We noticed that one part of the material was lightweight and breathable, and another more structured and textured with a surface that had more of a grip. It was really these properties that led us to consider a...