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Full Metal Jacket. Black edition

Name: Full Metal Jacket. Black edition
Brand: Vollebak
SKU: JKT010BLKXSM
Price: 1495 GBP
Availability: InStock

Built with 11km of copper, and winner of TIME Best Inventions.

£1,495

Colour: black edition

XS

S

M

L

XL

XXL

Model is 6ft 4 / 193cm with a 42 inch / 107cm chest, and wears size XL.

Jacket built with over 11km of copper
Highly waterproof, windproof and breathable
7 pockets and metal detailing

Hailed by WIRED as “the virus-killing coat of the future,” and winner of TIME Best Inventions, every Full Metal Jacket is built from 11 kilometres of copper.

Copper is one of the most advanced materials in our solar system. Thrown out of supernovas billions of years ago, it became central to the rise of civilisation, creating tools and sterilising water, before enabling modern day communication, transport, and electrical power. Now, as we look for materials that offer us resistance to disease on Earth and up in space, and a base on which to build intelligent clothing, copper is set to be at the centre of innovation again. Its ability to conduct heat and power while killing bacteria and viruses make it a potential first building block for the future of clothing.

To turn the Full Metal Jacket into high-performance, everyday gear here on Earth today, the copper strands in every jacket are measured by lasers to keep them soft and malleable. The jacket is engineered with an advanced waterproof and breathable membrane that can open and close to respond to different weather conditions. It comes with giant pockets, a fleece-lined neck… and it’s also cured for 6 days.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Three layered material made in Switzerland by Schoeller: 59.5% copper, 20% polyurethane, 20% polyamide, 0.5% other metals

Material engineered with Schoeller c_change® membrane

Highly waterproof, windproof and breathable

Fully seam-sealed for waterproofness

2 fleece-lined zipped side pockets

2 giant front bellows pockets with angled storm flaps

2 zipped upper chest pockets concealed behind storm flaps

1 zipped internal pocket

Heavy-duty two-way metal front zipper

Adjustable cuffs with metal snaps

All zippers are water resistant

All zippers and snaps by Riri

High front collar with fleece-lined chinguard

Elasticated cord adjusters at the sides and back of the hood

Elasticated cord adjuster at the hem

Jacket weighs 1400 grams

Wipe clean

Constructed in Romania

Three layered material made in Switzerland by Schoeller: 59.5% copper, 20% polyurethane, 20% polyamide, 0.5% other metals

Material engineered with Schoeller c_change® membrane

Highly waterproof, windproof and breathable

Fully seam-sealed for waterproofness

2 fleece-lined zipped side pockets

2 giant front bellows pockets with angled storm flaps

2 zipped upper chest pockets concealed behind storm flaps

1 zipped internal pocket

Heavy-duty two-way metal front zipper

Adjustable cuffs with metal snaps

All zippers are water resistant

All zippers and snaps by Riri

High front collar with fleece-lined chinguard

Elasticated cord adjusters at the sides and back of the hood

Elasticated cord adjuster at the hem

Jacket weighs 1400 grams

Wipe clean

Constructed in Romania

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Copper has always been at the centre of innovation

Copper is one of the most advanced materials in our solar system. After starting life as a primordial isotope thrown out of supernovas billions of years ago, it became central to the rise of civilisation – creating tools and sterilising water, before enabling modern day communication, transport, and electrical power. Now, as we look for materials that offer us resistance to disease on Earth and up in space, copper is set to be at the centre of innovation again.

Winner of TIME Best Inventions, the Full Metal Jacket was hailed by WIRED as “the virus-killing coat of the future.”

Viruses and bacteria can’t live on copper

Disease resistant clothing will become a requirement in the future, which is why we’re starting to work with copper now. It’s biostatic, so bacteria and other life forms can’t grow on it. It also has exceptional antimicrobial properties which means bacteria and viruses die when they make contact with it. The copper releases electrically charged ions which first make it difficult for a microbe to breathe, before punching holes in its outer membrane, moving in and completely wiping out its DNA, preventing it from developing any future resistance.

Every Full Metal Jacket is built from 11 kilometres of copper

Hailed by WIRED as “the virus-killing coat of the future,” and winner of TIME Best Inventions, our Full Metal Jacket is built from 11 kilometres of copper. That’s enough copper to stretch from one side of NYC to the other and back, if you got bored one day. Of course we’re really just following in the footsteps of the ancient Egyptians who used copper to create the earliest recorded medical tools, and NASA who are using copper to develop the very latest medical tools for deep space missions.

Copper was used to create the earliest recorded medical tools in ancient Egypt, and NASA are now using it to develop new medical tools for space missions.

What the jacket looks and feels like

The surface of the jacket looks computer generated when you’re next to it in real life. And that’s because the hundreds of thousands of moving copper parts warp and ripple like water in the light. But you’d never know the jacket was made out of metal just by touching it. It’s designed to be worn as your everyday jacket and it feels like one. The copper is soft and malleable. It’s only under a microscope you can see the individual copper strands running through every jacket.

Copper’s atomic structure helps us turn it into a jacket

There’s a reason this is the first jacket to be built mostly from metal – and that’s because metal is designed to be strong, not malleable. But copper is different. Its atoms are arranged in something called a ‘face-centred cubic crystal structure,’ which makes it extremely strong but also malleable at the same time. And this is what allows us to create a three-layered jacket that combines a soft inner layer, a high performance waterproof membrane that opens and closes in the heat, and an outer layer built from lacquered copper yarn.

Every jacket used to be an interstellar cloud

Billions of years ago, the copper in every Full Metal Jacket was formed in the cores of massive stars alongside other heavy elements like iron and magnesium in a process known as stellar nucleosynthesis. But as these stars expanded into supergiants, they ran out of hydrogen, started dying, collapsed in colossal explosions known as supernovas, and sprayed the universe with interstellar clouds that went on to form planets like Earth. And that’s why you’ll find copper in Earth’s crust today.

Billions of years ago, the copper in the Full Metal Jacket was floating around in an interstellar cloud.

We use lasers to turn copper into yarn

Our jacket starts life as rods of electrolytic industrial copper. These rods are passed through specialised machinery over and over again to create thinner and thinner copper strands. It’s a bit like turning pasta into spaghetti, only in this instance the diameter of the new strands is controlled by lasers for precision. And every time they pass through the machines they’re also stretched a little longer.

The copper goes through a 6-day curing process

Once the copper strands are the right diameter, they’re heated up to make them easier to work with. We then apply a series of very thin coats of lacquer to the yarn to protect the copper from corrosion. Finally the material enters a 6-day curing process in which the yarn is woven on rapier weaving looms before being scoured, heat-set and dried.

The middle layer keeps out the rain and wind

To turn the Full Metal Jacket into a high performance, highly waterproof and highly breathable piece of gear, the copper layer is laminated with an advanced waterproof and breathable membrane called c_change®. Instead of remaining static, the membrane can open and close to respond to different weather conditions as they happen, while remaining permanently waterproof and windproof.

How the membrane works in the cold

The c_change® membrane mimics natural structures like flowers and pinecones, opening and closing in response to changes in temperature, humidity and sweat. It’s designed to keep you at a consistent temperature by combining really high breathability with heat retention. While it can open up like a series of microscopic vents to let heat escape, in the cold it closes itself like a protective barrier to stop heat leaving. So as soon as the temperature drops, or you stop moving, the membrane contracts to insulate you and retain heat close to the body.

How the membrane works in the heat and wet

As the air temperature rises, the membrane opens up so that excess sweat and heat can escape through the jacket. But while the membrane’s polymer structure opens up to become extremely permeable to water vapour leaving the body, it remains completely waterproof on the outside. It means that even if you held a jacket under a downpour in extreme heat, the jacket will only ever let the water through one way, while still letting heat pass through it.

Every Full Metal Jacket is built from 11 kilometres of copper – enough to stretch from one side of NYC to the other.

The inside is built for comfort

Once the metal face fabric and advanced membrane have been bonded together, a smooth backing is added on the inside of the jacket to make it soft. The high front collar comes with a fleece-lined chinguard, and the side pockets are fleece-lined too. The hood and hem both come with elasticated drawcord adjusters. The cuffs fasten tight with metal snap fasteners. And every panel is stitched then bonded for waterproofness.

Four large layered front pockets

You’ll find two large side pockets that are lined with fleece on the inside and fasten with water resistant zippers. Two giant bellows pockets are layered over these side pockets. The bellows pockets are protected by angled storm flaps and fasten with metal snap fasteners, and each is large enough to fit an iPad or tools.

Three chest pockets

The jacket is fitted with a heavy-duty two-way water resistant metal front zipper. Either side of the zipper on the upper chest you’ll find two concealed pockets. Both come with water resistant zipper entrances and are hidden behind storm flaps. The two pockets are large enough for your phone. And inside the jacket there’s a third, internal pocket on the right hand side.

As we look for materials that offer us resistance to disease on Earth and up in space, copper is set to be at the centre of innovation again.

The Egyptians were using copper medical tools in 2200BC

Copper has been used to combat disease for thousands of years. The oldest medical tools ever discovered were made from copper 4,000 years ago, and were found entombed with the remains of Qar, a royal physician from the Sixth Dynasty in ancient Egypt. The Smith Papyrus shows that 1,000 years earlier the Egyptians were using copper to sterilise wounds and transport clean drinking water. And they weren’t alone. The Babylonians would sharpen their swords and put the copper alloy filings into cuts sustained in battle to reduce infection and speed healing.

Now NASA is experimenting with copper medical devices

4,000 years after the Egyptians, NASA is exploring the use of 3D-printed copper medical instruments on long-duration space missions. One of the issues with longer missions is that astronauts can experience an altered immune response, known as Immune System Dysregulation. It’s a condition that can leave them more susceptible to infectious diseases, which can harm their performance and in turn limit human space exploration. So NASA is now testing medical instruments built from copper for use onboard the International Space Station, to help reduce the risk of infection in space.