There’s an old adage that if you show a gun in act one, it has to go off by act three. The idea being that if you don’t deliver on a promise, you’ll let everyone down.
Consider this your first glimpse of the weapon, only on this stage — the theater of outdoor gear — it’s one extraordinary jacket. Today, Vollebak brandished a concept that by its very nature, should be impossible: A coat that’s made of wood.
The Wooden Jacket exists only as a prototype, a one of one. But the London-based purveyor of the outdoors’ most outlandish apparel appears poised to make good on its theatrical promise. The waitlist is open for The Wooden Jacket, which, assuming it comes to market, will carry a retail price as baffling as its construction.
For $3,000, you can find out firsthand what it feels like to, in Vollebak’s words, “wear your own tree.”
Want to learn more about the outdoors’ wildest gear brand? Listen to the GearJunkie Podcast interview with Vollebak co-founder Steve Tidball.
Vollebak Wooden Jacket
Details on this flight of product design fancy are as thin as paper. But Vollebak outlined its mission in developing this bizarre concept:
“We’ve just made our first prototype Wooden Jacket. Why? Because turning a tree into a jacket is an absurdly difficult technical challenge. It’s all about the technical feat vs the performance advantage of the material. It builds innovation muscle as it’s just so hard. It’s the equivalent of Daniel-San and Mr Miyagi practising the crane kick on the beach in The Karate Kid with no opponent in sight. It forces us to tackle, then solve, technical challenges that would otherwise remain completely theoretical.”
From the photos, The Wooden Jacket looks a bit like an anorak, with two big front pockets and an ample hood. A one-way zipper runs the length and is covered by a storm flap with snaps.
As for how Vollebak managed to solve wood’s most challenging textile attribute — you know, it’s really hard — it looks like the brand divides the garment into tiny crosshatched tiles of wood. It’s unclear what membrane holds the whole jacket together.
Still, I wouldn’t advise betting against Vollebak here. This is a company that has built its entire reputation on pulling off ultra-imaginative, seemingly impossible materials innovation, from Invisibility Cloaks to Stainless Steel Jackets and “Indestructible Puffies.”
If you’re ready to join the madness, sign up for The Wooden Jacket waiting list. No word on a release date, but it could be a while. After all, Vollebak said the jacket will be ready “once we’ve grown it.”
