Last week, I got a chance to drop by the headquarters of Kenpo Inc. located here in downtown Los Angeles, CA. During my visit, I had both the opportunity to talk to Tom Krutilek of Kenpo and see one of the newest upcoming jacket designs for the iPod due to come in early 2007.

Mr. Krutilek was a pleasure to chat with and he provided some insight into how Kenpo got into the whole business of creating jackets utilizing the Eleksen ElekTex smart fabric technology. While Kenpo’s been in business for approximately 6 to 7 years now, it wasn’t until a few years ago that they considered manufacturing iPod accessory gear. Basically someone showed them the ElekTex technology and they realized quickly that they had to get into the business of iPod apparel.

Sales have been quite good thus far for Kenpo and while I didn’t get any actual figures from the company, it was definitely clear that the a good portion of the sales went to young adult males (no real surprise there). For 2007, Kenpo is looking to expand their existing lineup of jackets for the iPod by adding enhancements such as new jacket designs, additional pockets for other gadgets, and testing out different clothing materials. Yet despite these new enhancements, Kenpo is trying to make sure that the new iPod jackets are all priced in the same range as the current selection of Kenpo jackets for the Apple iPod.

While the new 2007 jackets have not been confirmed yet, I was allowed to take some pictures of a new jacket that Kenpo was designing for the iPod. So, without further ado, here are the pictures!

As you can tell, this new jacket has four external pockets – addressing the need to hold many more things in our lives.

It’s somewhat hard to tell, but notice the red zippers on the left and ride sides of the jacket. You can unzip the red zippers and expand the jacket outwards while letting in some ventilation. There are also zippers underneath the armpit areas to allow for additional ventilation.

Here’s the Eleksen strip that’s the secret behind the Kenpo iPod Jacket

That’s it! This jacket has yet to be named by Kenpo but they do plan on introducing it at the upcoming MAGIC Fasion and Apparel Trade Show to be held in Las Vegas. Stay tuned for another review of a Kenpo jacket later on this week.

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