Reverse engineering the Morpho butterfly
Nature’s most stunning solution to high-visibility is the brilliant Blue Morpho butterfly. The microscopic scales that cover its wings reflect light to create an iridescent shimmering blue that’s constantly shifting colour and can be seen by pilots flying over the rainforest from a kilometre away. We’ve used highly reflective microscopic blue glass spheres on the surface of our jacket to mimic the microstructures on the surface of its wing, making it ultra-visible from long range.
How 2 billion glass spheres can mimic a wing
There are over two billion microscopic blue glass spheres embedded in resin on the jacket’s surface, and over 40,000 in every single square centimetre, making them invisible to the naked eye. When light hits the jacket, it travels through the curved surface of these glass spheres and strikes the back of them, before being reflected straight back at the original light source so that the fabric looks like it’s emitting light.
In sunlight it looks like liquid metal
The jacket acts like a mirror for whatever light conditions you’re out in. So while it’s a matt ocean blue in subdued light conditions, when you expose it to any bright light source or sunshine it transforms instantly into a shimmering metallic blue. If you’re out on the slopes in the sun, the surface and colour of the jacket will appear to shift and warp like you’re tripping. And if you shoot with the flash on in broad daylight, the surface of the jacket will look like liquid blue metal in your shot.
At night you look bionic
At night, with any kind of camera flash, torch or searchlight, you get the full bionic look as your face and body disappear and only the jacket remains. This photo uses no special effects other than a camera flash and water, and can be recreated by sticking your phone on flash mode. The black dots and streaks are water droplets which temporarily prevent the glass beads reflecting light back at the camera.
Built with resin, glass and lasers
Every element of our Blue Morpho Jacket is engineered with precision. As nothing sticks to the glass fabric we etched the logo out with lasers by removing a microscopically thin layer from its surface. All zippers are heavy duty, rubberised and waterproof. Two front pockets big enough for any maps and gloves are designed to be used while wearing a backpack. The shoulders and sleeves have been cut and shaped for extreme movement, and it’s designed to fit your puffer or hoodie underneath.
The visibly stunning piece of outerwear acts like a mirror for whatever light conditions you're in, with a liquid metal appearance under the sun that shifts to a bionic blue at night with any camera flash, torch, or searchlight.
Vollebak is to the technical clothing world what Skunk Works is to the aeronautics industry. The small London-based team is constantly releasing cutting-edge products that seem as much science experiments as they do functional pieces of gear. Their newest release, the Blue Morpho Jacket, continues that trend.
