A hoodie isn’t really the kind of thing you ever consider passing on to your children and grandchildren, but then again, most hoodies aren’t made from Kevlar or designed to outlast their wearer.
Adventure clothing brand Vollebak has been in the business of creating “cutting edge adventure sports clothing using insights and discoveries from fields as diverse as neuroscience, physiology, material technology and space exploration” for years. Their previous products include a fabric that uses nanotechnology to camouflage things like sweat, salt, dirt and even blood, and an abrasion-resistant jacket able to scar rock and tolerate high-speed falls of up to 120 km/h. But their latest invention is easily the most impressive – an ultra-durable hoodie designed to outlive its wearer.
Called the “100-Year Hoodie”, this incredible garment has been in the works for two years, during which time Volleback has put it through all kinds of tests, including dragging it on tarmac behind motorbikes and 4×4 trucks, hitting it with sparks from an angle grinder and drying it with an open flame from a blowtorch. It survived all their tests, so the company is now marketing it as the world’s toughest hoodie.
The 100-Year Hoodie feels as soft as your favorite cotton sweatshirt, but it is actually made from Kevlar fibres and other industrial materials used in spacesuits, body armor and in the manufacturing of aircraft carriers. It is highly resistant to rips, burns and abrasion, and can survive extreme temperatures ranging from 300°C to -200°C, which means that, if you can ever get there, you can wear this thing on Mars with no problems.
According to the Vollebak website, the 100-Year-Hoodie will last through 2,000 washes, 4,000 wears and around 100 accidents, which means you’re likely to pass it on to your children. It comes in two color options, charcoal and pale yellow, but the company claims that exposing it to sunlight will make it look different every day.
“We have already dyed and washed the aramid fibres to a dark grey. Once they’re exposed to sunlight the surface fibres will go lighter in colour, giving you an aged and lived-in look within days,” Volleback says. “This process of sun-dyeing means that even the same hoodie can look different from one day to the next. Lines, markings and colour shadings that emerge and fade each day, are all part of its unique character telling the story of its journey.”
The 100-Year Hoodie retails for $295, which may sound expensive for a sweatshirt, but for one that can withstand serious punishment and still outlast you, it’s pretty much a bargain.
