Innovative clothing manufacturer Vollebak has created a jacket model made from graphene that conducts electricity, retains body heat and repels bacteria. The innovation in heated clothing continues to impress with a simple and elegant design that is in no way inferior to modern sports jackets. Vollebak's graphene jacket makes a major technological advancement and takes heated clothing to a whole new level. You can find out more about the innovative garment in the article.
An innovation on the market: the graphene jacket
With its jacket model, Vollebak is taking the first step towards...bionic clothing. The double-sided garment externally resembles a regular raincoat. One side is made of a new fabric made of graphene mixed with polyurethane and nylon, while the other is made of matte black, highly elastic and high-strength nylon.
The graphene hybrid material can store and conduct the wearer's body heat, transferring it evenly around the body. It can also theoretically store an unlimited amount of heat from an external source. This means that it can work like a radiator when the men's jacket is worn with the graphene layer touching the skin.
The Vollebak men's jacket not only conducts heat and electricity, but also repels bacteria, allows sweat to evaporate and keeps out wind and rain without being heavy at all. It has no seams as the fabric is laser cut and thermally sealed. The result is a garment with a sophisticated design and impressive material properties.
The properties of the material
When producing the fabric for the innovative jacket, raw graphene was converted into graphene nanoplates - small stacks of graphene. Graphene is actually one of the strongest materials known to science. It consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal shape. Since the material was isolated in 2004, designers have developed a wide range of uses for it, including incorporating it into hair dyes, water filters and night vision contact lenses.
To create the graphene jacket, Vollebak worked with manufacturing partners in Italy and Portugal who made Michael Phelps' swimsuit for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This swimsuit was banned because it was too fast.
“The challenge to date has been getting graphene out of research labs and into the real world,” said Nick Tidball, co-founder of Vollebak.
“When clothing conducts heat and electricity, all sorts of cool things can happen. This means that clothing can become a platform for other innovations in the next decade. And that’s exactly what we’re interested in,” said Tidball.
“Heating is not the end game. We believe wearable technology will become increasingly invisible over the next 10 to 20 years. Instead of wearing it over the eyes or on the wrist, it becomes embedded when clothing and technology simply blend together.”
The jacket is thatlatest innovationfrom Vollebak. The manufacturer has previously produced a model with ceramic panels to prevent injuries to athletes, as well as all-black night vision clothing and a water- and dirt-repellent shirt suitable for all terrains. The company would like to collect the experiences of its customers with the graphene jacket and use it for the next stage of development.
Photos by Vollebak. You can find out more about the manufacturerhere.
