The ultimate flex?
We’re only around six months into the worldwide battle against coronavirus, but fashion is already finding new and innovative ways to adapt. Not only are editorial shoots taking place across FaceTime and Zoom, but the upcoming SS21 menswear season in London, slated to take place throughout June, is set to go entirely digital for the first time.
But what of the future of clothing itself? With a number of reports claiming we may never live in a world free of COVID-19 again, a range of labels have begun exploring what that means for the way we dress – with pioneering UK label Vollebak recently debuting an extremely hypebeast-worthy jacket that might protect wearers against the virus.
Dubbed the ‘Full Metal Jacket’ the innovative style is crafted from seven miles of copper thread which is known for its virus-killing properties. “The copper releases electrically charged ions which first make it difficult for a microbe to breathe, before punching holes in its outer membrane and moving in to completely wipe out its DNA, preventing it from developing any future resistance,” Vollebak co-founder Steve Tidball explains of the actually pretty violent-sounding science behind the jacket.
Whether it works or not is another question, given coronavirus-specific testing has not yet begun. “We don’t have a huge lab, we don’t have a team of scientists, and we don’t have access to COVID-19, so we can’t spray the jacket with COVID-19 to then see what happens,” he told Wired, confirming that it’s highly unlikely we'll know whether it truly does kill coronavirus any time soon.
“We’re really still in phase one, which is proving the viability of making clothing almost entirely out of copper,” he continued. “Phase two is starting to test what it’s capable of. Ultimately we’re focused on the future of clothing over the next century. We really consider disease-resistant clothing a long-term ambition vs. a short-term solution.”
With the jacket currently on sale on the Vollebak website (though we wouldn’t recommend flouting lockdown rules to try it out should you decide to buy one), elsewhere, the brand has also developed a biodegradable t-shirt using only algae, as well as a jacket made from graphene which acts as a radiator to those wearing it.
News of Vollebak’s virus-killing style follows closely behind the debut of a PPE rave suit which would allow those missing getting fucked up in dark basements to get back to doing what they love. Could we be moving closer to a tech revolution within the fashion industry? Watch this space.
Take a look at the PPE rave suit in the gallery below.