This earmuff neck-pillow blocks sound more efficiently than most noise-canceling headphones

I believe there are three pillars to perfect sleep. Comfort, quiet, and darkness… and the Sleepmuffs take care of two of them. Designed as a pair of pretty massive earmuffs that also double up as a neck-support, the Sleepmuffs can be worn in bed or while seated, making them perfect at home or while traveling. Made with high-quality foam (among other materials), the Sleepmuffs aren’t just comfortable to wear, they do a pretty remarkable job of blocking sound too. With as much as -33 decibel attenuation, the Sleepmuffs are arguably better than a pair of earplugs, or even your passive noise-canceling headphones. The foam helps conceal you in a bubble of quiet, allowing you to easily sleep in most noisy conditions – whether you’ve got a flatmate who decides to play Cyberpunk 2077 at 3am, or whether you’re on a plane or bus right next to a two-year-old.

The internals of the Sleepmuff are a little complicated than your average neck-pillow. The muffs are made of two types of foam – one for comfort, and another for absorbing/dampening sound. The comfort foam forms the outer part of the construction, while the dampening foam sits around the ears. Both foams are separated by a hard acoustic shell that ensures a proper seal and helps block out sound. Lastly, the muffs are clad in a breathable fabric that allows you to wear them for hours without breaking into a sweat mid-sleep. The overall shape of the Sleepmuffs are conducive to a good night’s rest too. The neck area actually acts as a support – like you’d find in most neck pillows, while the ear regions are 55mm thick, elevating your head when you sleep on your side to avoid strain. While they are relatively bulky, like most neck-pillows, they can be worn during travel (so you don’t need to store them in your backpack), and if you do want to take them off, a nifty travel-case lets you efficiently pack them up!

Designer: Blisstil

Made entirely out of natural materials, this travel kit is comfortable and eco-friendly

Softened banana leaf, water hyacinth leaf, corn-silk… you don’t often hear these terms used in fashion and apparel, but this ecologically-aware travel kit is set to change that status quo. Ditching the more commonly used materials like microbeads, lycra, neoprene, memory-foam, etc, the Banana Leaf Travel Kit is made entirely out of naturally available resources, with minimal processing, and is designed to be soothing, soft-to-the-touch but also entirely disposable and biodegradable.

Designed by Aishwarya Nair along with assistance from Studio Tjeerd Veenhoven, the Banana Leaf Travel Kit introduces a new material to the world…Softened Banana Leaf, a fabric that’s created after treating banana leaves with a “special solution” that allows them to become permanently soft and feel great against the skin.

The travel kit is a set of accessories that Aishwarya claims are perfect for hotels, travel agencies, flights, or even tropical cruises to distribute to their patrons. Based loosely on Mahatma Gandhi’s fabled concept of “hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil”, the kit contains a mouth-mask, an eye-mask, and a pair of earmuffs. The mouth-mask is made with softened banana leaves, while the eye-mask uses a banana-leaf exterior and a corn-silk interior for utmost comfort. Usually thrown away as a by-product of corn-harvesting, the silk is known to be soft, and when stuffed inside the banana-leaf envelope, gives the material a new lease of life. The earmuffs come made from the banana leaf too, but contain a layer of softened water-hyacinth on the inside. Water hyacinth is one of the world’s fastest growing plants, and is often considered a nuisance for the way it covers entire lakes, starving the eco-system beneath it of sunlight and oxygen. Using water-hyacinth to make travel accessories would give one access to an entire reservoir of raw-material that’s all up for grabs.

Ultimately, the entire kit is made with natural materials and elastic-cords that secure the products around your face. Use them as many times as you need and dispose them and the banana leaves, corn-silk, and water hyacinth biodegrade almost instantly, returning back to nature, rather than polluting it!

Designer: Aishwarya Nair for Studio Tjeerd Veenhoven

Ear Muff Bluetooth Headphones: Just in Time for Summer!

Now you can talk on your mobile phone in the cold and be relatively comfy. There’s no need to have cold ears. Now you can be chatty and keep those ears warm and toasty at the same time thanks to these Bluetooth Ear Muffs.

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The NoiseHush BT500 Bluetooth Earmuff Headphones are a set of cans that are fuzzy and furry. Go hands-free and have the freedom to talk in extreme conditions. Whether you are an arctic explorer, or just headed to the corner store for a gallon of milk.

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They’re made from 100% wool and feature ‘advanced audio technology’ for crystal clear sound that won’t be affected by your chattering teeth. A pair will cost you $89.99(USD). Now if only I had a pair of these during the Polar Vortex.

[via The Red Ferret]