All-black clothing uses glass to keep wearers visible at night

A company that specializes in outdoor gear has designed a new all-black clothing range to keep wearers safe at night.

We have already seen a variety of innovations designed to keep people safe at night. For example, the smart bike light which texts friends if a user crashes, tells riders about potholes and deters thieves. Meaning that cyclists can ride in the dark without having to worry about their safety. We even saw a move towards this latest innovation from the Vollebak back in 2014, when Henrichs developed a range of fashionable hi vis cycling gear, in an effort to encourage riders to prioritize their safety by giving them a more attractive option than the traditional gear available. Now Vollebak have designed a lightweight, minimalist and less intrusive way to wear hi vis, with their new Black Light clothing line.

The clothing line consists of four layers: a jacket, baselayer, midlayer and t-shirt. All four of these items have been specifically designed to provide maximum comfort whilst ensuring that the wearer stays safe. The jacket weighs just 450 grams and is highly breathable. It is also waterproof to 15,000 millimeters and is fitted with twenty-two reflective dots. It is these reflective dots which, although seemingly black, keep the wearer safe. Each dot is embedded with 60,000 black glass beads, which shine brightly when light hits them at night, making sure that the wearer is visible. The dots are cleverly positioned, so that they light up the parts of the body which typically move most. This ensures that when they light up, the wearer is easily recognizable from any angle.

Could this be the end of traditional high vis gear? As we are seeing a trend in increasingly tailored sportswear, how else can products be innovated to better suit the needs of users?