A jacket that massages you on the go

Disclosure: This story resulted from a trip paid for by CES.

There are many ways to get a massage but they’re all stationary: you have to go lie down in a spa, or sit in a massage chair.

How about getting a massage anywhere – on the way to work, in your office, or in an airplane? Singapore startup Tware is launching a jacket called AiraWear that can do that very thing through its vibration motors.

Tware might be a familiar name to some of you – the company focused on developing jackets to calm down autistic children by giving them a virtual hug. The project is still ongoing – but now Tware is bringing the same technology to the consumer market.

It feels exactly like what you’d get with a massage chair.

The startup promotes “deep pressure therapy,” in which firm stroking or squeezing releases dopamine and serotonin in your brain, chemicals that create pleasure and calm your mood respectively. It’s totally not sex.

So what the consumer jacket does is combine deep pressure therapy with traditional massage to release oodles of pleasure that might make your morning commute less frustrating.

I tried the jacket on at CES, and it was fun. Via an app, you can choose from various massages, and it even has a posture correction feature.
The massage takes a minute to start. Once it does, you lean against a surface, and the pressure on your back intensifies your shoulder rub. It feels exactly like what you’d get with a massage chair. It’s pretty quiet, so you won’t frighten people. You can use it standing up without any backing, but it won’t feel as good.

AiraWear is not commercially available yet, and the crowdfunding campaign will launch in February 2016. I was told it will sell for US$249, which sounds affordable, considering massage chairs are priced in the thousands.

Are there trade-offs though? You certainly can’t put the electronics in the washing machine, which means you’ll need to remove them prior to cleaning – a minor hassle. Wearing a jacket in hot and humid Singapore? Tough. Durability is another unknown.

Tware’s durability is not in doubt though. It was started in 2011, which is quite ancient for a startup. If the AiraWear takes off, the long journey will be worth it.