Vollebak’s new Titan collection, named for Saturn’s icy moon, is cut from a material NASA created
You may not be able to travel to Saturn just yet, but that’s not stopping designers from imagining the kind of clothes you’d need for the trip.
On Wednesday, menswear label Vollebak released its new Titan collection, which takes its name from Saturn’s largest moon. The three-piece line includes a puffer jacket, trousers and a hat, each in blue, black and white editions. Inspired by the sub-cryogenic temperatures on Titan, the pieces are crafted from space parachute fabric developed by NASA, military materials developed for the British Special Forces and insulation made from recycled plastic bottles.
The Titan Puffer is designed with fleece-line pockets, Velcro cuff adjusters and an insulated hood with cord adjusters at either side. Its magnetic front zipper is protected by a storm flap. You’ll also find two zipped side vents located on its hem. The puffer’s most unique detail, however, is that it has been performance tested in a liquid nitrogen chamber.
“The lining of the Titan Puffer is one of the most high-tech fabrics we’ve ever worked with: a super-strong but extremely lightweight polyamide that NASA spent 15 years developing for use in its space parachutes,” says Vollebak co-founder Nick Tidball in a statement. “This material helped to land the Cassini-Huygens probe on Titan and the Perseverance Rover on Mars, and it’ll be deployed again in 2026, when NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft starts its journey to Titan.”
The test was performed on a mannequin with built-in heat sources to replicate the human body. Specialists sprayed the puffer with water and blasted it with liquid nitrogen at increasingly cold temperatures. These tests proved successful in maintaining a warm and stable body temperature at the –85 degree celsius mark, the brand claims. The quilted Titan Pant, also made for freezing weather, pairs nicely with the puffer. Its unique details include oversized pockets with zipper pulls, heavy-duty waistband adjusters and a crotch vent lined with stretch mesh allow for maximum comfort.
But you wouldn’t be fully prepared for below-zero temperatures without the Titan Hat. Its Polartec lining is composed of nearly 75 percent recycled materials. The filled hat also includes a detachable fleece-lined face mask and chin fastener with metal snap buttons to keep blistering winds as bay, no worries where you go. Ripstop fabric, developed for the British Special Forces in Afghanistan, gives each piece from the collection a lightweight feel. Even better, it makes them waterproof, breathable and capable of adapting to weather changes.
Vollebak, was co-founded by Nick Tidball and his twin brother Steve in 2015. The brand places a focus on creating “future proof clothing” that combines creative concepts with tech innovation. So far, they’ve made clothing for Mars, released 100 Year gear designed to outlive you and reimagined how colour is made by using algae to create a new shade of black. What’s next for the wonderous duo you ask? Only time will tell.
“As we continue to build clothing for planet Earth and beyond, embracing the challenges of Titan forces us to push the technological boundaries of extreme cold weather clothing,” says Steve. “Our aim was to create maximum warmth and durability from the lightest possible materials, and we wanted to make sure you’d be as comfortable wearing the gear in mild conditions as you would be in extreme cold.
This article was first published on Robb Report USA
