From underwear to panties, iPod apparel has been vastly popular. So much so, there're even togs for the iPod to cloak itself with. So trust Levi's to join the iPod bandwagon with its own clickable denim. It's the perfect amalgam of cult brands, Levi's and iPod--casual chic paired with geeky glam.

Design
The Levi's RedWire DLX Jeans is essentially a dock plus remote control for the iPod. The big draw here is that you can wear it. Now we are no fashion clotheshorses here at CNET Asia. We like to carry our tech, not don it.

	Fitting good.

But the DLX did strike a chord with us. We rather think Steve Jobs pairs Levi's with his trademark black turtleneck sweater (that's a geek thing). The material is rather like a pair of Levi's 523s. Tough and with a yielding woven pattern. In affirmation of the MP3 player it carries, the DLX's detailing are colored a classic iPod white; from rivets to the button-fly and right down to the use of white embroidered threads.

But that's all part of the cosmetic trimmings. The real piece de resistance here is the white rubber click wheel affixed on the DLX's watch pocket. It's the central control nub for the iPod while it's resting in an inner pocket.

But unlike the iPod's Click Wheel, the Levi's version does not have a touch sensor. The nub that protrudes out from the middle is a five-way joystick; up/down for volume, left/right for track skipping and clicking it dead center pauses the track or if the iPod is off, it also turns it on.

	The nub we'd all love to pinch.

The control nub was intuitive. It was hardy and seemed durable, even after our rather rough handling. The rubber surface of the click wheel does attract a fair bit of fluff and its whiteness makes it all the more obvious.

The earphone jack is situated behind the watch pocket which is detachable when the DLX is in need of a wash.

Features
Linking up the iPod to the DLX takes little work. What's provided are six different cradles for different iPod generations, including the iPod mini but not the recently launched iPods. The iPod shuffle has also been given a miss here. Once the iPod is snapped in, there's an outlet on the cradle back to receive the RedWire connector that Levi's so proud of.

	Good old Fibretronic, not Firewire.

The RedWire connector is nothing new. It's based on a soft electronic component solution from Fibretronic which allows textile products to be integrated with electronic connectivity. In the DLX, the Fibretronic connector ribbon is colored a trademark Levi's red and it's washable.

Once the RedWire is attached, the iPod is slipped into a side pocket on the right pant leg. It's hidden so there's no bulge indicating the existence of the iPod. However, we fault Levi's for not designing a more protective enclosure for the iPod. The side pocket could have been made using a thicker material to soften the blow in the event of an impact. And regular protective covers for the iPod cannot be used to remedy this oversight since the cradle dock's design precludes the use of such.

	Those daft earphones.

Our review unit came with a pair of Levi's-branded earphones. What's cool is that there're two separate retracting mechanisms to rewind the earphones. What's lukewarm are the earphones which are obviously the sort used in unbranded MP3 players. There's a button hole above the click wheel to accommodate the clip-on for the earphone housing, however, the catch is that it's also situated at the belt loop level.

In order to use it, the user would have to go without the belt. Technically, a workaround is to clip the earphone housing onto the belt, but due to smallness of the built-in clip, the belt in question would have to be awfully thin.

Performance
Ordinarily, the iPod's volume has multiple levels, but we noticed when it's connected to the DLX, there's only five. Though it's not prescribed in the user manual, there's a way to share your iPod's music with a friend. While the iPod is connected to the dock, the earphone jack on the iPod itself is still functional, so an additional earphone can be plugged in here.

	Snug and go.

Initially we had doubts on the ability of the Fibretronic ribbon to maintain audio fidelity. Using both the Creative Zen Aurvana and the Etymotic ER-4P to compare the audio connectivity on the DLX with direct connection to the iPod, we found no discernable drop in quality. Our test tracks sound as crisp through both the DLX connection and direct iPod connectivity.

The stock earphones, however, needs to be improved. The sound quality reminds us of earlier iPod generations' stock earphones. Bass lacked finesse and treble sounded splashy though mids were still acceptable.