Solar Charged Hat

The outside of the Solar Charged Hat is built with a three layered weather resistant material that glows bright green when you expose it to light. To see just how responsive the hat is to light, the simplest thing to do is go into a dark room and start writing on it using the torch on your phone against the surface of the fabric, as if you were using a pen on paper. It will start glowing instantly and leave a trail of light. There is no time lag or warming up. The fabric reacts the moment light strikes it.

When it’s fully charged at night it glows green like kryptonite. As well as being a cool party trick, it can be life-saving on a mountain. No search team would ever fly past a firefly the size of a human head. This image was taken after blasting the hat with multiple high speed 12,000 watt flashes in a studio.

To keep your head warm in the cold we’ve added a layer of insulation underneath the outer material. Made from 100% recycled plastic bottles the engineered microfibres are so light and puffy that they trap enough heat next round your head to recreate the warmth of real down, without needing to pull feathers out of ducks or geese. And while down will clump and stop insulating if it gets wet, the synthetic fibres will continue keeping you warm even in damp conditions. Next to your head you’ll find an ultra-soft brushed fleece for comfort.

The core technology that enables the Solar Charged Hat to glow is the second layer – an ultra-thin membrane just below the hat’s outer surface. Engineered with a phosphorescent compound it rapidly stores any light it comes into contact with, and re-emits it slowly over time. The membrane acts as if it’s alive, absorbing sunlight like a plant. And with the phosphorescence engineered into the membrane itself, the tech sits at the very centre of the fabric, so it can’t wash out or rub off.

The logic behind the Solar Charged Hat is really simple. The brighter the source you charge it with, and the longer you charge it, the more energy it will absorb and the longer and brighter it will glow. The hat will always appear to hold its charge longest out in nature at night where there’s less light pollution. Over the next few hours or minutes, depending on its charge, it will go through several phases as it fades from a radioactive looking green, right down to a ghostly green.

The glow is at its brightest immediately after it has been charged, but retains a ghostly glow for up to 12 hours. So if you leave it hanging up in your room you will see a very pale green light coming from it. If you want it to glow brighter at any point you can recharge it. If you’re heading outdoors you can use anything to hand to top it up – a head torch, your car headlights on full beam, even standing near a light bulb will do it.