Black is arguably the most flattering color to wear, but now there literally is a new black: the blackest black.
Phoebe Heess and Gabriel Platt, founders of German fashion label Phoebe Heess, have created a new fabric — called Viperblack — made of high-tech, treated cotton that reflects 40 percent less light than regular black fabric.
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The designers, obsessed with the basic nature of black and intrigued by the darkest black materials on the market, set out to create the blackest wearable shirt.
Of course, scientists have already delved into the dark side. There was NASA’s debut of super-black back in 2011 and last year’s Vantablack. However, while these materials can absorb nearly 99 percent of light and appear dimensionless, they’re derived from growing carbon nanotubes, which aren’t fit to be worn.
Instead, the designers turned to the Gaboon Viper, a venomous snake that uses ultra-black scales to camouflage itself from prey. Heess and Platt teamed up with experts to replicate the nanotube’s light-trapping methods and the viper’s dark scales in cotton that is safe when worn.
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The designers recently reached their Kickstarter goal of $11,342, raising more than $20,000 in funding. The shirts, which are all black and have small inserts of 3-D black mesh on the sleeves, are available for men and women for $75 and will be shipped in March 2016.
In the future, the designers’ commitment to darkness could go even deeper. On their Kickstarter page, they’ve pledged: “If possible, we will continue to work on making the fabric even blacker.”
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