Apple:

ISSEY MIYAKE and Apple today unveiled iPhone Pocket. Inspired by the concept of “a piece of cloth,” its singular 3D-knitted construction is designed to fit any iPhone as well as all pocketable items. Beginning Friday, November 14, it will be available at select Apple Store locations and on apple.com in France, Greater China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK, and the U.S.

iPhone Pocket features a ribbed open structure with the qualities of the original pleats by ISSEY MIYAKE. Born from the idea of creating an additional pocket, its understated design fully encloses iPhone, expanding to fit more of a user’s everyday items. When stretched, the open textile subtly reveals its contents and allows users to peek at their iPhone display. iPhone Pocket can be worn in a variety of ways — handheld, tied onto bags, or worn directly on the body. Featuring a playful color palette, the short strap design is available in eight colors, and the long strap design in three colors.

Many people (including me) immediately likened it to Apple’s once-ridiculed, now-cherished iPod Socks—some derisively, others with what I presume to be nostalgia. Some questioned its authenticity or derided the “piece of cloth” description, and most everyone blanched at its $150–$230 price tag, with Marques Brownlee calling it “a litmus test for people who will buy/defend anything Apple releases.”

What few people noted is that Issey Miyake is a luxury designer brand founded by the “super famous Japanese designer” (to quote my wife) who designed Steve Jobs’ iconic black mock turtleneck, and which today sells $65 socks, $390 scarves, and $485 knit bags. A $230 iPhone holder is hardly an outlier for this brand.

Furthermore, “a piece of cloth” isn’t meant in its literal sense. Rather, it’s a reference to Miyake’s apparel concept of “A Piece of Cloth (or A-POC),” a “technique to reduce textile waste” that starts with a single thread that’s then woven into a finished garment—a design so influential, they were on display at The Met and MoMA. I’d describe it as “spiritually related” to Apple’s unibody design, which carves laptops and iPhones from blocks of aluminum.

My completely fashion-free sense tells me these will be extremely popular among a particular crowd.