Waterproof and windproof seem like small bonus features next to the dazzling look of this jacket design, the shell of which is covered in microscopic spheres that mimic the adaptive camouflage of squids.
Developed by Vollebak, this high-tech creation used lasers to embed these tiny balls into resin along the triple-layered surface of the garment, creating a slick metallic oil-like effect by day and then a dazzling spectrum of reflective wonder at night.
“The Black Squid Jacket focuses on replicating the elements of squid skin that make it hyper-visible,” explains the designer. Whereas “a squid uses microscopic plate-like structures on the surface of its skin to change color, our jacket uses disruptively-structured microscopic glass spheres.’
“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.”
