Necessity may its mother but lately it seems like the father of invention is Marty McFly from the “Back to the Future” trilogy. On October 21st (Back to the Future Day), Michael J. Fox unveiled a working pair of McFly-inspired self-lacing MAG shoes from Nike. Earlier this month, a hoverboard that hovers over any surface was demonstrated. Now a company has unveiled a working self-drying jacket and is raising money for mass production. Is the time-traveling DeLorean next?

Falyon Wearable Tech lead designer Aaron Coleman created the SDJ-01 (Self-Drying Jacket) using water-repellent nylon on the outside and polyester fiber insulation inside. So far, pretty much just a jacket.

To that jacket, Coleman built in lightweight (4 oz./113 gram) dual air amplifiers that provide high-pressure air circulation throughout the inside. A power switch controls the amplifiers. Three vents at the neck (one in the back, two on the sides) let the air out and can also be used to dry or cool the wearer’s face or hair (Coleman says the amplifiers exceed the power of commercial hairdryers). Thirty minutes of power is provided by a rechargeable power cell in a pocket. Falyon Wearable Tech says the self-drying mode can also be used to dry spills on the jacket.

It appears the fundraising achieved its goal and the SDJ-01 will begin shipping in April 2016. An SDJ-02 is on the drawing board – the only thing the company will say about it as that the code name is “Iron-Man.”

What else can we expect to see from Marty McFly’s bag of future tricks? Today’s smart watches already have weather apps that are about as (un)reliable as Doc Brown’s Weather Service watch.

Doc Brown

Drones already carry hover-cams. With self-driving cars coming soon, a self-driving trash can like his flying rubbish bins can’t be far behind. On the other hand, with the way those “hoverboard” scooters are exploding, let’s hope we don’t see hoverbelts any time soon.

The Hoverbelt in action