Carefully designed features promise to keep you warm and bring you closer together at outdoor events.

Ever since the ol’ yawn-and-put-the-arm-over-your-date’s-shoulder became a popular move for awkward couples at the cinema, people around the world have been thinking up ways to surreptitiously get closer to their dates without appearing over-eager in the process.

In Japan, they’ve finally come up with an elegant solution to the problem, with a coat that works to keep you warm by capturing the body heat of you and your partner, which means you both have to be in it at the same time to reap its benefits.

Called the Sharecoat, this new garment is being described as a “couple’s sports-watching coat“, seeing as sports-watching is one of the top “shared” experiences that can be enjoyed outdoors. The sense of communal excitement amongst spectators at sports matches can heighten ties between friends who attend games together, so it’s a perfect opportunity to bring two people closer than ever before.

▼ The jacket’s appeal extends beyond the arena too, with opportunities for couples to use it for all sorts of outdoor activities conducive to snuggling.

The company behind the product, Adosu International, says a lot of research went into designing the perfect garment for enhancing ties between exisiting couples and maximising its romantic potential to turn friends into lovers.

The jacket’s dimensions are said to reflect the “Golden Ratio of Love“, and the company backs up its claims by citing powerful examples of the Golden Ratio, a special number approximately equal to 1.618, which comes as a result of dividing a line into two parts so the longer part divided by the smaller part also equals the whole length divided by the longer part.

▼ Confused? Here are some diagrams provided by the company for easy reference.

The Golden Ratio appears frequently in areas such as architecture, as seen in Egypt’s pyramids and the Parthenon in Greece, and also in art, like the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. It’s also been seen in busts and sumo wrestler throws, and now it’s being used to create the perfectly balanced jacket, with customers being asked to “try their fate” in this Golden Ratio.

And just in case anyone needs any more convincing, the company has also provided information from Edward T. Hall’s study into proxemics, which details the way people interact in daily life, with an emphasis on the organisation of space around them. The 0-45 centimetre range of proximity is usually only reserved for intimate friends and people you don’t mind hugging, so asking someone to slip into a Sharecoat with you immediately takes you into this zone in a fun and carefree way.

The only hurdle you’ll have to overcome is actually gathering enough courage to pose the question of coat-sharing with your love interest. Though with its crazy yet practical design, anyone with a sense of humour, and an interest in you, is likely to give it a try – if not for the novelty then for the chance to keep warm in the cold without the need for any awkward hugging or hand-holding.

The lightweight, waterproof jacket is currently available to purchase online for 12,000 yen (US$113.11). While it’s a practical garment for bringing people together during the coldest months of the year, after winter you might want to turn to this smiling seal to help you in the love department in summer.

Source, images: Value Press