The Best Holiday Gift to Give this Year: Safety

One of the big new trends to watch out for in wearables and fashion-tech in 2015 is safety. I recently ran into the founders of Zackees Turn Signal Gloves, and was impressed by their story and this awesome invention. Zach Vorhies quit his job as an engineer at Google to pursue his passion in wearable-tech. Partnering with a friend, they launched a successful Kickstarter project and made these comfortable, fingerless gloves with LED turn signals built-in. 

This is a product that I'm really excited about, because when navigating through the streets of San Francisco, visibility and safety are my main concerns; whether I'm walking at night, out for a late run, or out on the street trying to avoid traffic at all. These came in especially handy when I had to get to the mall after work just before it closed to wrap up some holiday shopping.

As most of the locals know, it gets dark in the city around 4pm, and as it gets darker, the traffic gets thicker.

Rather than sit in a long line of a parking lot they call a street, I hopped on one of our city's Bay Area Bike Share rides. One less car is a good thing, right?

Ride, Return, Repeat! 

I set down my gloves for a minute to unlock the bike. Such a stress-free way to get around town, without having to worry about a bike lock or a flat tire!

I hopped on a bike and started for the mall, the lights are activated just by pressing my thumb against index finger. As it got darker, the blinking lights turned out to be a quick and effective way to let cars know that they were in my bike lane and to let me turn.

Bike returned, gloves pocketed, I made it to the mall fast and in one piece.

If you are a cyclist or just someone who walks around late at night without sporting awesome reflective gear, I'd totally recommend you check out these gloves. Lately, I find myself using them for running around my dark neighborhood, just turning the bright signals on when I cross the street has been a great visibility check for cars.

You can find them here and read more about their story:

Stay safe San Francisco!

-XO Julia

Thanks for reading! All photos taken by local photographer, Andrew Zhou whom I'd highly recommend for all of your photography needs. Follow his Instagram here.

These opinions are all my own. Follow live updates on my Instagram and Twitter.