Pearl Izumi's New Super-Reflective BioViz Apparel
Twenty years ago, Pearl Izumi changed bike fashion forever with its “screaming yellow” fluorescent apparel. At the time, utilizing fluorescents for safety was a pretty novel concept, but the effects have spoken for themselves: If you’ve ever tried to sneak in a ride in the grey hours before or after work, chances are you own at least one neon yellow jacket.
For fall 2015, the designers at Pearl Izumi decided to refresh that legacy offering, partly to pay homage to its 20-year run and partly because, as line manager Cara Pollock says, “We knew we could do better.” Pearl’s cool-weather-oriented BioViz line of garments uses strategically-placed reflective material and true fluorescent colors to not only make riders more visible, but also to make sure drivers recognize cyclists as cyclists. In its efforts, Pearl ended up creating a new reflectivity standard, which is surprisingly unprecedented in sports apparel. Is it really safer? Here’s how Pearl justifies its design.
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We all want to be seen by drivers from far enough away that they can stop before they hit us, right? Turns out that “far enough away” is a whopping 133 meters—assuming the car is of average weight and traveling at 62mph. With this distance as the benchmark, Pearl set up some simple tests with its own and other brands’ apparel, using their cars' headlights in the office parking lot. “The results were surprising, and frankly a little worrisome,” says Andrew Hammond, Pearl's brand manager.
Outside of construction apparel, there is no existing reflectivity distance standard, so strong athletic reflectives are sold alongside weak ones. Pearl’s tests found that the worst offenders became invisible in fewer than 10 meters, and nothing it tested came close to the 133m mark. To solve the problem, Pearl partnered with Scotchlite 3M, the same reflective material you’ll see in the jackets of firefighters. This powerful fabric exceeds that 133 meters of visibility, giving fast-traveling drivers more than enough time to react
So why not create an entire body suit of this dazzling stuff? For one, it wouldn’t breathe well, but mainly it would be astronomically expensive. So the next phase of Pearl’s visibility strategy was figuring out where reflectivity would make the most impact on each garment, in the least amount of space.
For reference, engineers referenced studies on how our eyes process moving lights, a phenomenon called bio-movement. It only takes a few key points of light to get the eye to identify a cyclist, and these moving points are actually more eye-catching than one solid chunk of reflective material. BioViz pieces feature strategically-placed reflective stripes and tabs on the ankles, thighs, and torso to show different movement rhythms, all of which are interpreted as “cyclist” in drivers' brains.
Pearl then took design cues from commontraffic signals. You’ll find subtle chevrons, diagonal stripes, and X's in the BioViz patterning, while the colorway boasts true-fluorescent yellows, pinks, and greens, which appear to glow in broad daylight. That means they can be seen from up to 671m away when it’s sunny—five times farther than light-absorbing red or black gear.
BioViz gear features the same clean lines and comfortable fit as Pearl’s standard gear, but with colors that would make an '80s rocker drool. Intended for shorter days and cooler rides (when we often get caught in low light), the gear features thermal jerseys and tights, along with gloves and shoe covers. Prices run from $70 for the shoe covers, to $165 for the waterproof P.R.O. Aero WxB Cycling Jacket.
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