One rainy day, Charles is walking down the street. He’s been out and about all day, running all sorts of errands. He’s tired. His throat’s pretty dry. He needs something to drink.  There’s a 7-Eleven nearby, but as Charles reaches into his pocket he comes to the realization that he has no money left on him. He can’t buy anything, and his house is still several miles away; so what is poor Charles supposed to do to quench his thirst? In Charles’ mind, the only logical thing is to hold his head up to the sky, open up his mouth, and try to catch the rain as it falls. Unfortunately for Charles, that’s just impractical.

However, Charles could have easily avoided the whole situation if he had a Raincatch, the new invention from the minds of Hyeona Yang and Joshua Noble of the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. The Raincatch is a special type of raincoat that is able to capture water as it falls from the sky and purify into drinkable form. The wearer can drink the water out of a series of tubes connected to the coat.

The question is, will this new technological marvel catch on with the masses? Despite its practicality and water saving abilities, a raincoat with a series of tubes sticking out of it probably isn’t going to be considered fashionable. Can practicality overcome looks in the minds of the people? Or is the Raincatch going to be forgotten just as quickly as it was invented?

It’s all up to the consumers.  If people decide to buy it, this could be the next big thing in water preservation, but if not, then Charles can keep trying to catch rain the old fashioned way. Or he can just carry a water bottle with him.