Google is partnering with Levi's to create smart pants that can control your phone

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GoogleClothes

Matt Weinberger/ Business Insider

What if you never had to pull out your phone to dismiss an incoming call? That's the type of future Google and Levi's are envisioning.

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The two companies are partnering to create a pair of "smart" jeans that you can use to perform certain actions on your phone, Google announced during its annual I/O developer conference in San Francisco on Friday.

The move is part of a bigger initiative by Google called "Project Jacquard," which is essentially a type of smart yarn that would allow textile manufacturers to create electronic clothing more easily.

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There's no word on when you'll actually be able to buy a pair of Levi's pants to come from the partnership. But we got an idea of how fabric with Google's special yarn woven inside would work. During a demo we saw on Thursday, we tapped a small section on a piece of fabric to pause and play music. You could also swipe the fabric to control volume.

Google isn't the first to dream up such an idea - plenty of companies large and small are working on creating clothing that can connect to your phone. But it sounds like Google is creating a common type of thread that would make it easier to create such devices.

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What we're seeing at I/O is just the tip of the iceberg, Google says. Designers and developers will be creating apps that are tailored to these types of smart clothing.

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