this jacket is made from 2 billion glass spheres + reflects every color in the visible spectrum

this adventure jacket has a color-shifting, fully waterproof and windproof outer shell that mimics the adaptive camouflage of squids. in the innovation of the black squid jacket, the team at vollebak used lasers to embed over 2 billion microscopic glass spheres into resin on the jacket’s surface. the resulting texture reveals a metallic, oil slick-like effect in daytime conditions, but when exposed to bright light, it reflects every color in the visible spectrum.‘the black squid jacket focuses on replicating the elements of squid skin that make it hyper-visible,’ explains vollebak co-founder, steve tidball. ‘while the squid uses microscopic plate-like structures on the surface of its skin to change color, our jacket uses disruptively-structured microscopic glass spheres.’

the vollebak black squid jacket replicates elements of squid’s biological survival across 3-layers of fabric, resin and billions of disruptively-structured glass spheres. ‘with over two billion of them embedded in resin on the jacket’s surface, and over 40,000 in every single square centimeter, they’re invisible to the naked eye,’ tidball continues. ‘when light hits the jacket, it travels through the curved surface of these black glass spheres and strikes the back of them, before being reflected back at the original light source and scattered away from it simultaneously, so that the fabric looks like it’s emitting light.’

project info:

designer: vollebak
price: $995 / £795 / €895
available in one color edition: metallic black/liquid metal
purchase/more info: www.vollebak.com