u/crazysnakemanhere

Vollebak News: a new colourway coming for the Sashiko Jacket in September.

Yesterday I was able to have a brief chat with Satish, Vollebak’s Design Director, and compliment him on the Sashiko Jacket he was wearing. Genuinely, he looked really sharp in it and clearly designed it for himself! 

However the version he was wearing was the new military green colourway, which he said was coming out in September. It really works and seems like a great trio of colours to choose from. 

Satish was really pleased with the response to the Sashiko Jacket, and I was able to pass on our enthusiasm and love for the piece. 

Might be worth starting to save your pennies! 

… oh, and I also met Tyler, one of the models (see wearing the full metal jacket). He was a really friendly guy, but he must be 6’7! No wonder the gear is always longer on me than I thought it would be. 

The picture above is him being squeezed into the sonic jacket. 

I spent the afternoon inside the Vollebak Space Shop talking with Steve, Felix and Izzy.

The space is amazing. Steve said they built the place in a single day. The atmosphere and aesthetic are genuinely distinctive and very Vollebak in person: raw and real. Photographs don’t do it justice.

The team are so friendly, as you might expect, and showed us around all the products without ever being pushy. Just passionate about their philosophy and proud of what they’ve achieved. Quite rightly.

They have lots of their gear laid out for a look in person.

If you’re thinking about going, get yourself there tomorrow. I think you’ll have a blast.

The year is 2056 and something has gone very wrong…

You’re not exactly sure what caused the cataclysm. In the final days, the obfuscation and disinformation became so intense that the only clear thing was that collapse was happening. It turns out the darker side of human nature was always there beneath the surface and now — unplugged and unhinged — society has turned upon itself.

But you saw it coming.

You grabbed what mattered and headed for the horizon, towards whatever future still exists.

The good news is that you have access to everything Vollebak has ever made. All the materials. All the science and technology.

So invent a survival bag and tell us what you’re depending on to make it through.

Maybe it’s a backpack made from Blue Morpho material. Maybe it’s a fully shielded rucksack designed to disappear from drones and thermal scans. Maybe it’s modular, self-repairing, waterproof, radiation resistant..l. or maybe it’s surprisingly simple.

Maybe it’s just a couple of ideas. Or maybe you already have sketches and detailed concepts in your head.

There are loads of creative people in this community, and with the Spaceshop launch approaching, it feels like the perfect time to imagine where the brand could go next.

Let’s see what ideas we can come up with - and maybe even spark some inspiration.

The humble chore jacket has already survived a couple of hundred years on the backs of French pig farmers, Jackson Pollock flinging paint around, and Paul Newman eating way too many prison eggs in Cool Hand Luke. So we’ve built an Indestructible Chore Jacket to help it survive another few centuries.

The chore jacket was originally known as the ‘bleu de travail.’ Developed as utilitarian workwear for French farmhands and artisans in the 19th century, it was made of heavy cotton moleskin and dyed with a deep indigo which hid the dirt.
 
It also faded beautifully. Not that French farmers would have cared. They liked that it was tough, roomy and had big patch pockets to stash tools, pipe-tobacco, and maybe a couple of pastries.
 
By the 1890s it had crossed the Atlantic, where Carhartt started mass-producing its own version in brown canvas. Half a century later Jackson Pollock started flinging paint around while wearing a chore jacket. And Paul Newman navigated the American prison system in one in Cool Hand Luke.
 
Having survived a couple of hundred years already – and clearly not going out of fashion anytime soon – we decided to help it survive the next couple of centuries by building the first Indestructible Chore Jacket.
 
We’ve built our own classic chore with a cotton and Dyneema twill, produced in Japan by a 180-year-old textile mill who are famous for making clothing that’s both really strong and really soft at the same time.
 
15x stronger than steel, Dyneema is the single strongest fibre known to man today. If you’re into chemistry, it’s an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene that combines extreme strength with very low weight. It’s 40% stronger than high-strength aramid fibres, and so tough it was originally used in body armour, anti-ballistic vehicle armour, and ropes used to tie down oil rigs in violent, icy seas. And we’ve used it to build the world’s strongest pants, belts, t shirts and jackets.
 
As for the aesthetics, our Indestructible Chore Jacket is a cleaner, more minimal and day-to-night take on the traditional design. Chest pockets are generous but reverse entry and discreet with invisible snaps. A zipped side pocket is all but invisible and there’s also an internal zip pocket, for things you want to keep close to your chest.
 
The jacket comes in Sand and Sandstone… and also has pockets for pastries.
 
 NICK AND STEVE TIDBALL - FOUNDERS
 
BUY THE JACKET
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Good morning r/vollebak

So, Friday 15th May is the launch of the Spaceshop in the UK. It opens at 9am.

I was wondering if any of the loose collective of people here — those interested in impending apocalypse, material science, good customer service, and clothing from the future — might fancy meeting for a cup of tea or coffee before the Holborn launch on Friday.

A couple of us will be at a nearby café (location TBC) from around 8am. Alternatively, you could just meet us outside Space House shortly before opening.

Nothing formal. Just a chance to put faces to names, have a quick chat, and walk over together.

One of the things I like about this sub is that it seems to work regardless of whether people buy everything at full price, hunt archive sales, or buy exclusively secondhand. That mix makes the community more interesting, not less.

And I suspect some of us are probably better at talking about kit online than walking into a room full of strangers. If that sounds familiar, this might be a gentler way in.

If people would rather just go independently and enjoy it in their own way, that’s obviously completely fine too. But if anyone fancies meeting beforehand, comment below or drop me a message.

Would be great to see a few of you there.

https://vollebak.com/pages/spaceshop-london

ON MAY 15TH AND MAY 16TH THE VOLLEBAK SPACESHOP LANDS IN LONDON FOR 48 HOURS. YOU’LL FIND IT AT SPACE HOUSE ON KEMBLE STREET, EARTH, THE MILKY WAY GALAXY, IN THE ORION-CYGNUS ARM OF THE VIRGO SUPERCLUSTER.

On May 15th our first Vollebak shop lands in central London for 48 hours.

For any visitors from Earth you’ll find it at Space House which is Number 1 Kemble Street.

For any intergalactic visitors, just look for the blue planet.

Like any good shop it will of course have things in it that you can buy. And people to help you buy them. And as it’s London, we’re going to land it inside a massive building so if it rains you’re not going to get wet.

Inside you’ll find everything from Martian Aerogel Jackets built from the hypersonic parachutes that landed the last rovers on Mars, Full Metal Jackets built from 11 kilometres of disease-resistant copper, and Electromagnetic Shielding Bombers designed to combat cosmic and earthly radiation.

You’ll also find our Vollebak Spaceshop which we built with SAGA Space Architects, and sonic powerhouse Bang & Olufsen to offer a glimpse into a future of interplanetary drone deliveries between Earth, the Moon and Mars.

The shop will be open from 9am to 6pm each day.

On the evening of the 15th we’ll be doing a talk about how and why we make clothes from the future, and things like the Spaceshop.

You’ll also find limited edition t shirts and screen prints of our friendly little London alien designed by Henrik Delehag.

ThruDark Siege Tech Fleece Hoodie Review

I am not in the SBS… but that is exactly what I would say if I was or had been. But just for clarity, I am not and never have been.

I do have a mate who is former SF and he actually wears a lot of ThruDark. So I’m probably pretty qualified to talk about their clothes. And I blooming love the Siege Tech Fleece. I think it’s an awesome hoodie.

It’s light, breathable and well made. It’s warm and the Polartec® Power Grid fabric is some of the best mid-layer material I have. The open grid construction traps warmth while letting moisture move through, so you don’t end up damp underneath when you’re working hard.

With a good base layer and an AIGIS over the top I always feel like I can pretty much go against whatever the weather throws at me. Normally some light drizzle as I walk a short distance across the New Forest.

Seriously, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t have one of these.

For me, the cut is great. It does look a little weird unzipped halfway, but looks awesome done up all the way. And there’s only one colour: black. I do like the idea of the green, but I don’t like how the pocket looks on it. Maybe better in person.

If you need a mid-layer, or you’ve been on the fence about this then stop doing that and get one. Genuinely some of the best money I have spent.

Vollebak zips. where has the brand got it right, and where has it missed?

I never used to think about zips… Now I’m convinced a good zip can make a jacket, and a bad one can break it.

I have the Indestructible Hoodie in navy. For me it makes more sense than some of the more experimental Dyneema pieces — it’s still cold to the touch, but the four-way stretch version feels like a genuinely protective outer layer, especially over a fleece in the colder parts of winter. It was my go-to when it was cold and dry.

The zip is fine — it works, no complaints there. But it’s on the smaller and fiddlier side, and occasionally takes me a couple of attempts to catch first time. A minor thing, but noticeable on a piece at this level.

The Planet Earth Ultralight Shell is better in my opinion. Once I figured out you need to align it slightly before zipping, it’s been completely reliable. A zip and a piece of gear that just gets on with it.

My favourite zip across all my Vollebak kit is the Ice Age Fleece. Chunky, dependable, works first time every time. That’s all I want from a zip.

So, what are your favourite and least favourite Vollebak zips? Where has the brand nailed it, and where has it missed a step?