vollebak introduces a jacket that mimics the wings of a blue morpho butterfly

following their innovative black squid jacket released earlier this year, british clothing brand vollebak launches their most recent design called the ‘blue morpho jacket’. designed to imitate the iridescent wings of the blue morpho butterfly, the $845 jacket shimmers from matte blue to a bionic blue in a nanosecond. the iridescent reflections can even be seen by pilots flying over the rainforest from a kilometer away.

mimicking the microstructures of a butterfly wing, the surface of the blue morpho jacket is composed of highly reflective blue glass spheres. ‘while we know we’ll always be playing catch up with nature, our ultimate aim is to create synthetic materials as smart and responsive as biological ones’ explains vollebak co-founder, steve tidball.

the photos of the blue morpho jacket use no special effects, other than a camera flash and water. the black dots and streaks on some of the images are water droplets, which temporarily prevent the glass beads from reflecting light back at the camera.

engineered for extreme performance, the jacket allows for maximum range of motion and is fully seam-sealed and waterproofed. it also features an ocean-racing style marine hood with a super-high collar, lined with merino next to your mouth and nose, and comes with with six air vents, and 4 large waterproof front pockets.

the jacket, built from an advanced three-layer fabric with a waterproof and windproof membrane, consists of five pockets, two way front zipper and cord adjusters to help tighten the jacket.

project info:

designer: vollebak
price: $845 / £695 / €775
available in one color edition: matte blue/bionic blue
purchase/more info: www.vollebak.com