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These new leggings designed by a full-time college student solve an annoying part of exercise

Dec 6, 2015, 20:50 IST

Lume

Women often face the same annoying problem while wearing leggings - there is no pocket for a cell phone.

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Lume Lifestyle is a small athletic apparel company that developed a smart pocket for leggings.

The smart pocket is made of a touch-responsive, mesh fabric. This allows the wearer to slip the phone into a pocket on the front thigh and use it without taking it out.

"I wanted to create a product that appeals to the athletic trend of athleisure, and also solve the problem of where to put your phone while working out," CEO of Lume Lifestyle Waira Mungai told Business Insider.

Mungai first came up with the idea of these leggings when he saw a girl place her phone in the waistband of her leggings, only to have it fall out when she bent over.

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This got him thinking about the inconvenience of having no pocket while wearing leggings.

Mungai, a student at the University of Kansas, asked around to research what girls want in a pair of leggings. He found that most of the responses said a pocket for their phone.

So he put this idea in motion and created a type of legging that combines fashion and technology.

It took eight months and 15 different attempts to create a perfect pocket prototype - but he finally did it.

"We sourced a ton of different fabrics and finally found the right one that is visually appealing, matches the rest of the legging and is able to be washed without losing the touch sensory feature," Mungai said.

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Lume launched on Kickstarter on November 20. In the first hour it raised $3,000 in pledges. In four days, Lume reached its goal of $10,000.

Lume's video on Kickstarter markets the smart leggings as being extremely versatile - demonstrating the ability to take selfies from the pocket or discretely text in class.

Lume

"Kickstarter is a great tool to validate a product in the real world," said Mungai. "Now that I'm confident it can be successful, I can put in orders, produce the leggings and deliver by February."

Lume Lifestyle leggings sell for $88. Although Lume is marketed toward women, men can wear the leggings as well.

In the future, Lume hopes to release cropped leggings, shorts, and joggers for both men and women.

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