Vollebak carbon composite pants and a carbon composite bike.
In Flann O’Brien’s darkly comic novel The Third Policeman (1967), a character muses that “people who have spent most of their natural lives riding … bicycles over the rocky roads of this parish are confusing their personalities with the personalities of their bicycle as a result of the alternation of its individuals any of them and you’ll be surprised at the number of people in these places who are almost half people and half bikes.”
Experience similar vibes wearing the latest stretch pants from London outfitters Vollebak. That is if you have a bike with a carbon composite frame, because Vollebak’s snappily named Carbon + Dyneema Pants are partially carbon composites. OK, a little, but it’s still a neat trick: riding a carbon bike with carbon pants. (The pants are multipurpose, but work great as bike pants.)
Woven vertically through the polyamide and elastane fabric are threads of black carbon fiber. Horizontally, there are white strands of Dyneema, an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) 15 times stronger than steel. And that’s why these elastic pants are checked. Dyneema content is 5%, with carbon fiber just 1%. Weighing in at 350 grams, the pant can be stretched in any direction at the same time, while being able to withstand rough handling.
Vollebak makes high-tech curtains from advanced fabrics that also shed water, wick away sweat and even prevent fire. The company claims to sell clothing that “feels like you’re buying from the future.”
Technical clothing
Volleyball is a tech adventure clothing brand that’s outrageously expensive (the carbon fiber/Dyneema pants are $617 and the company’s 100-Year Hoodie is $570), but because they’re super tough, these clothes should outlive him who wears them, so in theory, this is a bargain compared to in fast fashion. Other products of the company are even more expensive. The Apocalypse Jacket retails for $1,510. But then, it’s “annihilation proof,” boasts Vollebak. It is 40% polybenzimidazole, a material that can withstand temperatures of “at least 2,370 F (1,298 C), the same temperature as black lava.
“We know of no other commercial clothing items where the main material can survive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere,” says Vollebak. The jacket is not only “crazy fireproof”, but also has ten times the tear resistance of a fireman’s suit.
Vollebak’s composite pants are extremely stretchy.
Some of Vollebak’s other products, like the $625 Solar Charged Jacket, are intentionally awful. This jacket is so progressive (Brad Pitt has one) that it has previously won WIRED Sports Gear of the Year and Time magazine’s Best Inventions awards.
There’s also the Thermal Camouflage Jacket clad in wonder material graphene billed as a step towards a Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak. Vaporware, of course, but it’s also an envelope-pushing challenge that could, one day, work.
“We’re working on clothing and innovation designed to help us survive the next century—whether it’s exploring the farthest corners of Earth or colonizing Mars,” said Vollebak co-founder Steve Tidball. He founded the company in 2015 with his identical twin brother, Nick.
They are adventure athletes, competing in long-distance endurance events such as 78-mile marathons in the Namibian desert and week-long Amazon races. They are also creative, having worked in advertising for 15 years, including four years as creative director at the prestigious TBWA agency in London, an international advertising agency “with disruption at its core”.
Nick and Steve Tidball, co-founders of Vollebak.
As thrill-seeking, highly paid advertising executives, the 46-year-olds spotted a gap in the market for the kind of progressive yet durable clothing they craved for their adrenaline-fueled adventures.
“Surviving heatstroke, broken bones, ants, angry snakes, tarantulas, hallucinations and falling asleep while running, we decided that starting our own company wouldn’t be that hard,” said Steve Tidball.
The bright idea for the Solar Charged Jacket came while the pair were running the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in low visibility. The jacket has a membrane with a phosphorescent compound that allows it to absorb and store light, then release it again at night, like a firefly—no wiring or electronics involved.
The check pattern on the Vollebak carbon pants is made of black carbon and white Dyneema.
The two billion structured tiny glass spheres in the Black Squid Jacket give it adaptive camouflage capabilities: it changes colors in different settings, just like the sea mollusk it’s named for.
The company’s Plant and Algae T-shirt is made from pulped eucalyptus and beech from sustainably managed forests and algae grown in bioreactors—it’s compostable and came from the brothers competing in a six-day Amazon ultramarathon and watching their competitors burn their oatmeal . clothes after the race. This t-shirt can simply be buried afterwards — it biodegrades completely within three months.
Vollebak’s $3,100 suit of armor blocks electromagnetic radiation, protects against infrared cameras, Ku-band satellites and radar systems, and has pockets that act as Faraday cages.
Vollebak’s new Shielding Suit.
“On the one hand, you can put your phone in your pocket to go off the grid for a while, and on the other hand, have a safe place to put your car keys to prevent cloning,” he says Vollebak. The suit may be expensive and look exotic, but it sold out before Christmas after a soft launch.
die-hard
Innovative. Controversial. Out there. “Vollebak” is a Flemish term coined by hardcore cyclists that means “break yourself – go as hard as you can,” says Steve Tidball. Chosen for his undiscoveredness throughout the action rather than any association with Belgium.
Should I ride a carbon bike? Ride the Vollebak carbon pants!
The Tidball brothers freely admit to using their early adoptive clients as lab rats. These die-hards enjoy being R&D testers willing to spend lavishly on prototype outfits that may take several iterations before they become fully practical. In this way, Vollebak looks more like a tech start-up than a traditional clothing company.
“We see our equipment being tested in the extreme scenarios it was designed for and in some of the most remote parts of the world,” said Steve.
Where can you buy Vollebak kits? Only from the company website. Steve Tidball said there are no plans for Vollebak high street stores because that would involve significant costs, which would eat into the company’s R&D budget.