Twin peaks: Vollebak’s high-tech sportswear aids recovery

Lee Styer
Hi-tech sportswear generally makes a number of simple promises, usually concentrating on the during of what you do rather than the before or after. New London-based adventure clothing brand Vollebak takes a more experimental, tangential approach to performance enhancement. Founded by twins Steve and Nick Tidball, former creative directors at TBWA who run ultramarathons in the Namib Desert in their spare time, Vollebak launched late last year after years of tests with two jackets, ‘Baker Miller Pink’ and ‘Condition Black’.
‘The Special forces, space exploration, neuroscience, conceptual art, philosophy and material technology were all influences on product development,’ says Steve Tidball. The Condition Black jacket is designed to take almost any eventuality and keep you alive. For example, an outer surface of super-thin ceramic panels means it can survive a skid up to 120kph on any surface. The Baker Miller Pink Hoodie, with its mesh visor and asymmetrical sling pockets, is designed to ease pre-event tension and promote post-event recovery, or ‘enhance your parasympathetic nervous system,’ says Tidball.
Both come with downloadable soundtracks: the hoodie with a relaxing half hour of pink noise, while the jacket soundtrack is more clamour and cacophony, designed to increase your capacity to deal with pure terror.
The hoodie comes with its own soundtrack to slow and regulate the wearer’s brainwaves, aiming to ease pre-event tension and promote post-event recovery
The Condition Black Jacket is designed to help athletes survive in the mountains and comes with its own training program to heighten the wearer’s sensory perception
’We treat athletes like NASA treats its astronauts. Our job is to help them push their physical and cognitive limits in new and unimagined ways,’ says co-founder Nick Tidball
INFORMATION
Baker Miller Pink, £220; Condition Black, £750. For more information, visit Vollebak’s website
Photography: Andy Pò
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
A new Athens gallery is a celebration of old and new, a stone's throw from the Acropolis
New Athens gallery Melas Martinos by Local Local is a contemporary art space, a stone's throw from the Acropolis, in the Greek capital's Monastiraki neighbourhood
-
Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: live updates from the Wallpaper* team
From 7-9 July, Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 arrives in Paris. Follow along for a first look at the shows, presentations and other fashion happenings, as seen by the Wallpaper* editors
-
Boundaries between art and life dissolve in Katherine Hubbard's intimate documentation of her mother's illness
In 'The Great Room', Katherine Hubbard merges caregiving for her mother with an unflinching documentary of the process
-
Neko Health expands in London with a new Spitalfields site. We take a scan
What’s it like to experience Neko Health’s ultra-high-tech health scanning system? Wallpaper* went under the laser lights to find out
-
Wearable tech that’ll help you hack, track and snack your way to success
The latest in discreet wearable tech, from biowearables to smart glasses, is designed to help you be your best self
-
New beauty brand challenges our perceptions of reality
The Unseen, an innovative material science company, is launching its beauty brand with an eyeshadow that looks different in physical and digital realities
-
Technogym’s new Personal Line is an exercise in neat design
Designed by Antonio Citterio, the Technogym Personal Line combines state-of-the-art fitness technology for the home with elevated craftmanship
-
Aether audio eyewear takes care of sound and vision in one
With compact speakers embedded in high-quality sunglasses or glasses, Aether audio eyewear offers a very different listening experience to earbuds
-
Crafted to last: Ten c unveils S/S 2022 collection
The new S/S 2022 collection from label Ten c takes military-inspired technical wear to the next level
-
3D make-up artist Ines Alpha’s favourite Instagram filters
Digital artist and 3D make-up creator Ines Alpha shares her favourite Instagram filters for futuristic facial transformation
-
Robotic tailors to AR trainers. Fashion retail is evolving digitally.
There's a host of innovative and immersive solutions which brands and retailers are bringing to shopping online today, from Savile Row tailor Huntsman to bricks-and-mortar boutique Browns