Steel Blazer

Back on Earth – after 4 years of R&D – we’ve finally turned the same corrosion resistant, stainless steel, into lightweight and versatile clothing. The Steel Blazer is a two-layered jacket reinforced with 24% stainless steel. Malleable, strong and weather resistant, it comes with a convertible collar you can wear two ways, four pockets, and a soft, breathable lining on the inside.

It doesn’t feel like you’re wearing metal when you put the Steel Blazer on. It’s malleable, soft and lightweight. But it holds its shape slightly more than normal materials, so each jacket develops unique crease patterns in areas like the sleeves. You’ll also feel a subtle grain under your fingers when you touch it – and these are the steel fibres you’ll be feeling. The shoulder construction looks like overlaid steel plates. And by combining 24% stainless steel with 76% nylon, we’ve created a fabric that appears to warp and shift as the light hits it.

The jacket’s design is based on original workwear jackets – like the chore jacket and the architect’s jacket. So you’ll find three patch pockets on the front – one on the chest and two lower down. There’s also an internal chest pocket designed to hold your phone or wallet.

Each jacket is lined with a lightweight material that combines cotton for softness and nylon for durability. The lining adds wind resistance while remaining breathable in the heat. And we’ve constructed it with an inverted pleat in the middle of your back for freedom of movement.

Humans haven’t been wearing much steel since the last suits of armour a couple of centuries ago, and the reason is pretty straightforward. Turning metal into a soft material is incredibly difficult and takes more time and more money than it does to build a conventional fabric. Even after years of R&D, making the material is still a multi-week process. Our stainless steel is first stretched out into super thin strands by an advanced Italian facility to create steel yarn. The yarn is then woven with nylon on looms which have to be specially adjusted to accommodate the steel fibres.

Stainless steel is steel fused with a few other raw materials. Typically it’s made up of 10% to 30% chromium, which is the main element that makes it corrosion resistant. Corrosion happens when materials interact with water and oxygen, but the chromium in stainless steel creates a passive film that protects the metal from rusting when it’s exposed to weathering. It will even self-heal when it begins to oxidise. This is what makes stainless steel a perfect metal for building durable, weather resistant clothing. We’ve also treated the outside of the jacket with a water repellent coating so that light rain will roll off its surface.