As the name implies, Vollebak’s 100-Year Vest is a garment designed to last a century, so you can keep wearing the same button-down, sleeveless top until you’re decrepit and festering with every age-incurred ailment known to man. Why would you want to do that? We don’t know. This vest, however, makes it a viable option.
How can a garment last that long? In this case, Vollebak does it by using a material that’s repellent of every possible thing that can damage it through the years. Simply put, this thing can shrug off things that would otherwise ruin a perfectly good vest, making it a particularly durable garment you can rely on for your rough and rugged adventures.
The Vollebak 100-Year Vest is impenetrable to both wind and water, with both just rolling right off the surface, making it perfectly viable to wear in harsh weather conditions. Apart from that, the vest can resistant abrasion and tearing, such that you can wear it in a workshop in the vicinity of sharp tools without any worries, all while coming with a coating that manages to fend off flames in a way that direct exposure to fire won’t even burn a hole through it. That means, the usual things that end up damaging garments permanently won’t even make a dent on the darn thing.
It’s cut in a Schoeller-made material composed of 58 percent polyamide, 23 percent aramid, 18 percent polyurethane, and 1 percent elastane, which turns out a highly-durable fabric that delivers four-way stretch all throughout for excellent maneuverability. All seams on the vest are engineered to enable torsion and stretch during movements, while a back vent opens up when you hunker down to get serious work done. Despite its rugged construction, the garment is perfectly breathable, making it perfectly wearable even in warmer weather.
Designed to be an ideal garment for traveling and expeditions, the Vollebak 100-Year Vest is equipped with enough storage elements to hold a backpack’s worth of gear. This includes two large oversized pockets that run down the sides, from the shoulders to the waist, where you can hold large items that wouldn’t fit anywhere else, along with two zippered pockets on the back with storm flaps to keep its contents dry. There’s a flask pocket out front, two diagonal chest pockets with hidden zippers, one shoulder pocket, and two zippered front pockets with storm flaps. That’s right, the darn thing has a total of 11 pockets, essentially allowing you to cover your whole upper body in gear. It even has three elasticated belt tapes that you can use to strap down even more of your stuff.
While the vest touts its rugged build and storage capabilities as the main draws, the outfit claims it’s perfectly comfortable, too. According to Vollebak, the erstwhile uncomfortable aramid fiber inner layer has been knitted such that it’s soft and ultra-thin, making it feel like you’re draped in cotton, instead of a practical, fire-proof material.
The Vollebak 100-Year Vest is available in two colors, khaki and granite. Price is $495.