OUR METAL RANGE IS CONSTRUCTED FROM COPPER AND STAINLESS STEEL

We're exploring metal as one of the future building blocks of bionic and intelligent clothing. Our Full Metal Jacket was hailed by WIRED as “the virus-killing coat of the future” and won TIME Best Inventions, while our Steel Blazer is made from 24% stainless steel, the same material as the first SpaceX starship.

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.

WINNER OF TIME BEST INVENTIONS, THE FULL METAL JACKET WAS HAILED BY WIRED AS “THE VIRUS-KILLING COAT OF THE FUTURE.”

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.

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.

Buy now

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.

THE STEEL BLAZER IS BUILT WITH 24% STAINLESS STEEL

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’S BUILT WITH THE SAME MATERIAL AS THE FIRST SPACEX STARSHIP BOUND FOR MARS.

STAINLESS STEEL IS TAKING US TO MARS

While the human body is not built for the cryogenic temperatures of outer space, stainless steel thrives out there. At about 2.7 Kelvin, or -270°C, its strength increases by 50%, which is one of the many reasons the entire outer body of the SpaceX Starship will be built out of it. The most powerful rocket ever built has been developed so it can not only be reused, but relaunch just an hour after each landing. So stainless steel’s toughness and extreme temperature resistance won it the job. It can cope with temperatures of up to 870°C – allowing Starship to withstand the hundreds of re-entries into Mars and Earth’s atmospheres it’s being designed for.

Buy now

The 20th century was practically built from stainless steel. Now it has its sights set on building the 21st century too. Starting with rockets and clothing.

Based on the M-65 field jacket

Few pieces of clothing on Earth are more iconic than the field jacket. Designed as a lightweight, utilitarian solution for the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific during WWII, it evolved into the famous M-65 jacket in the jungles of Vietnam, before being reborn as a Hollywood icon on the backs of Pacino in Serpico, De Niro in Taxi Driver, and The Terminator. As one of the most versatile and functional jackets ever invented, it was the perfect template to help us turn steel into lightweight, wearable clothing.

How the jacket looks and feels

It doesn’t feel like you’re wearing metal when you put the Steel Field Jacket 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.

Buy now

THE METAL RANGE

01 07