A recent crowdfunding effort by Betabrand is leading to the creation of clothing that makes the person wearing it invisible to cameras. No doubt that the celebrities who are constantly hounded by the paparazzi are the ones who will benefit the most from this clothing.
The popularity of the crowdfunding campaign for this type of clothing will dictate how much of it is created. The company’s plans involve manufacturing a certain number of, for example, sweatshirts based on how many sold during the initial campaign. In the event that the company were to sell 100 sweatshirts during the course of the campaign they would have anywhere from 300 to 400 manufactured to stock their online and offline clothing stores.
So far the outfit that has been created consists of a suit, hat, scarf and hoodie all made with reflective glass. When the paparazzi takes a picture of someone wearing that outfit the flash from the camera would cause the person wearing the outfit to appear as nothing more than a silhouette, similar to what a ghost would look like.
This is achieved by affixing the fabric of the clothing with glass nanospheres, which are lenses that reflect the glare of any camera’s flash. The clothing then has a shine to it that clothing has never had before.
Though this will be one clothing line that will be available to the general public it is not likely that anyone other than celebrities would be willing to fork over the cash to pay for one outfit, which would typically cost more than $500.
To prove to people that this clothing does help hide them from the cameras the fashion company manufacturing them has requested that those who have purchased their clothes take a picture of themselves in the outfit and upload it to the company’s website. In turn these customers are given a 20% discount that they can use on future clothing purchases from the company.
Betabrand is fulfilling the needs of a technology fueled world and while they created these clothes primarily for celebrities who want to avoid being photographed by the paparazzi there is always a chance that they are opening themselves up to an entirely new demographic of consumers that don’t even know what life would be like without the electronic gadgets they have come to rely on every day.
On the flip side the idea of creating clothes that have capabilities they never had before opens up more opportunities for up and coming fashion designers. Today’s younger generation has different expectations and perceived needs than we ever did in the past. So the production of this anti paparazzi clothing could inspire young designers to create the kind of clothing their generation wants to wear. Being able to be out in public and still avoid being photographed could even cut down on the number of incidents of women being photographed by those they don’t know, without so much as their consent or knowledge.