London – Adventure sportswear brand Vollebak is incorporating a highly visible pigment into its sportswear garments, helping cyclists to stand out in traffic.
Earlier this year three cycling fatalities were recorded in the capital in just four days. As part of the continuing conversation about safety on the roads as well as in more extreme circumstances, Vollebak has designed a sports top, the Nano Meter 555 Midlayer, which uses an intense green colour that replicates the wavelength of light most easily perceptible to the human eye.
‘The project started as a series of conversations with mountain rescue, members of the UK Special Forces and World Extreme Medicine,’ says Steve Tidball, founder of Vollebak. In these conversations, we asked these experts what someone would ideally be wearing to ensure a speedy rescue. ‘Interestingly, it wasn’t about creating a high-tech solution for them because technology can fail. It was all about colour and human perception,’ adds Tidball.
In addition, the garment also incorporates retroreflective Motion Capture Markers for night-time visibility. The markers are strategically positioned in a pattern proven to make the wearer recognisable as a human within 0.25 seconds, once again improving safety.
The Big Picture
- Vollebak demonstrates the importance of not relying solely on technology, also tapping into the science behind our innate human characteristics
- In line with Civic Brands, the athletics apparel company is demonstrating its sense of civic responsibility by working to tackle a problem that affects so many