Like a toaster that you can wear.

Byline: RETAIL NOTEBOOK By Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

Imagine a ski parka sewn from an electric blanket - but with a high-tech fabric, control system and power source.

Now you're thinking like Colby Taylor.

``We did a number of zip-in liners for college (football) coaches this season,'' Taylor says in the conference room of his Eugene company, Innovative Sports Inc. He nods at a University of Oregon jacket: "And that's coach (Mike) Bellotti's coat."

Innovative Sports outfitted at least 30 college football coaches for the just-completed season, at universities ranging alphabetically from Alabama to Wisconsin and including national champion Southern California and other top programs.

Taylor was hoping to gain visibility for the Innovative Sports body-warming garments, which were zipped beneath the logo-emblazoned jackets seen by nationwide television audiences.

The real market for his heated jackets - which look like conventional fleece garments but can be adjusted to as warm as 150 degrees - includes anyone who enjoys outdoor activities in sometimes inclement weather.

``Snowboarders, skiers, hunters - we've even had some merchant seamen buy them,'' he says.

The washable jackets, which can be worn by themselves or beneath water-resistant shells, are available to retail customers on the company Web site (www.innovative sports.net) at $699 each. Taylor says about 100 have sold since he began offering them almost a year ago.

The garments - produced in Eugene by Beyond Fleece - are made with a stretch mesh base embroidered with electricity-conducting yarn and then covered with a layer of 100-weight Polartec fleece.

They're powered by a body-contouring lithium-ion battery that will heat for up to four hours.

The battery can be recharged at least 750 times and is controlled by a pliable "fabric switch" that allows nine heat settings.

The garments operate on much the same principle as an electric blanket.

"Basically, what we've done is switch that coiled wire scenario (in blankets) with these conductive fabrics," Taylor says.

Innovative Sports got up and running in 2003, breaking into the heated garment market with a sleeve - powered by the same lithium-ion battery - that keeps baseball pitchers' arms warm between innings.

Several major league pitchers now use the sleeves, and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder and Olympic softball pitcher Jennie Finch have signed endorsement deals with Innovative Sports.

``I knew pitchers would love it, and it would be seen on TV,'' Taylor says. ``And then I could get into the very profitable things, like the jacket.''

Other products already under development include a heated training blanket for thoroughbred horses and a heated folding chair for hunters.

Innovative Sports was started with the backing of several local investors.

Taylor says the company has yet to turn a profit, largely because of startup costs that approached $250,000.

He is now rounding up another, more exclusive round of investors - three people willing to put up $100,000 each.

One local businessperson who wishes to remain anonymous has committed, along with the owner of the Milwaukie Brewers baseball team, Taylor says.

``If we can get that last investor, we can flood the market pretty well with these things,'' says Taylor, who would like to place a production order for 5,000 of the jackets.

He has already had discussions with several makers of sports apparel, and hopes to eventually turn much of the business over to a manufacturer more equipped to serve the mass market.

``I'm planning on licensing the technology to one of those guys, and letting them run with it,'' he says.

Retail Notebook runs on Thursdays. Joe Mosley can be reached at 338-2384 or [e-mail].

CAPTION(S):

Colby Taylor heads the Eugene-based company Innovative Sports, which has developed a washable, heated jacket that is powered by a battery about the size of a deck of cards. The garments have caught the attention of athletes, coaches and the military.