Vollebak is a high-end outerwear brand that parlays in the extreme—pushing apparel design to its scientific limits. And while you might not think you need a puffer jacket that’s indestructible or made of virus-resistant copper or billed as “part science experiment,” Vollebak has found success on its bet that you do—with designs that look like the future but are very much rooted in the present.
Go beyond color or style, the Vollebak team suggests, and ask how clothing can help you relax. Or, in this instance, light you up at night. “In asking questions that seem ludicrous, you have to go into really interesting areas,” Steve Tidball explains. “That’s why we work with materials that no one else is working with.”
That technological innovation informed the rest of the jacket design. The layer that absorbs light is incredibly weak, so the jacket needed an exterior layer to make it durable enough to wear. The Vollebak team went through hundreds of designs, materials, and construction methods to land on the final product: a phosphorescent membrane layer, along with rain- and windproof mesh, durable nylon ripstop (the same found in parachutes), and an insulating layer for warmth made out of synthetic fibers from plastic bottles, which mimic down feathers. It sounds like a lot, but Tidball says it all has a purpose, particularly as the future of fashion must become more adaptive.
“The world is becoming more extreme. We’ve always had this distinct philosophy that’s come to the fore in 2020. The world right now has plague, floods, fires. The things that 50 years ago maybe only explorers and adventurers encountered, now everyone’s encountering,” Tidball says. “We didn’t set out to be some sort of apocalypse-y brand. I don’t think the world’s about to end. But if you look at some of the things we’re facing, clothes should have a role in that.”