Whatever else you might think about London-based high-tech garment makers Vollebak, you have to admit that they’re having fun. Founded by twin brothers (and designers) Nick and Steve Tidball, Vollebak bills its garments as ‘clothes from the future’. In practice this means coats, jackets, t-shirts and more woven with a blend of eccentric materials, from silver-plated wood pulp, to graphene, ancient dyes, copper and even electromagnetic shielding.
FWAHBL Jacket presentation box
The firm also loves its stunts, from the recent Sonic Jacket (loaded with 180 speakers to pump frequencies from 4 Hz to 20,000 Hz across your body for a transcendental experience) to the Spaceshop, a futuristic retail unit created in collaboration with Bang & Olufsen. There was even a plan for a Bjarke Ingels-designed island retreat in Nova Scotia.
FWAHBL Jacket from Vollebak
Their latest release comes drenched in unabashedly AI-generated imagery. This is the limited edition FWAHBL Jacket, designed ‘For When All Hell Breaks Loose’. Made in a strictly limited edition of just ten units, the jacket uses the vivid yellow material seen in fully airtight chemical protection suits.
Care instructions on the FWAHBL Jacket from Vollebak
Transformed into a stylish trench cut, the material was developed in collaboration with the Fothergill Group, a 179-year-old British company with its roots in cotton weaving and Khaki uniform manufacturing. Fothergill still supplies the British Army with cutting edge protective material.
Vollebak have amped up the accompanying lore for the FWAHBL Jacket
The enemy here is strictly virtual, conjured up in a vivid, eye-melting comic book that’s all part of an elaborate packaging and promotional strategy. This also includes a film trailer and retro-game style packaging, with the promise of a playable video game down the line. The slightly dead hand of AI can be easily detected in all of this, but the curation is on point and, frankly, Vollebak just ploughs on regardless, armed with a manic grin and enough chutzpah to sink a battleship.
DayGlo graphics accompany the FWAHBL Jacket
The material itself is a double-faced polychloroprene rubber, coated onto both sides of a woven polyester core. When deployed in disaster zones – chemical spills, industrial accidents, etc., - the material is tough enough to resist oils, ozone and fire. Hence the creation of a virtual world of peril to accompany the launch, struck through with 8-bit video game aesthetics, the language of final boss fights and pixelated explosions.
The packaging is a love letter to pixel art, video games and AI-generated chaos
‘The design is a love letter to 40 years of gaming, moving through the 8-bit arcade cabinets of the 80s, the home console adventures of the 90s, the shooters and action epics that followed, and today's near photorealistic worlds,’ Vollebak says, before rowing back a little on the garment’s impervious and impermeable status. ‘The FWAHBL Jacket is not certified safety equipment. It's built for bad weather and existential dread, not actual chemical spills.’
FWAHBL Jacket from Vollebak
It might not save you from vomiting unicorns, but if you’re after instant mad scientist/superhero vibes, the FWAHBL Jacket certainly stands out from the crowd.
Vollebak FWAHBL Jacket, £2,995, Vollebak.com, @Vollebak