A jacket for cyclists that marries safety with style

The brief

PDD Futures is an initiative we run to investigate and inspire the development of new products and services. We then take our ideas off the page and create solid examples, so our clients not only get to see the future on paper, but hold it in their hands too. One of our favourite Futures projects is the Illum - the result of collaboration between PDD and Goose Design. A combination of style, safety and innovation, it’s a jacket for cyclists.

What we did

The Illum is a jacket that lights up. But only when you need it to. So it looks as good when you’re on your bike as it does when you’re off it. In coming up with the design, we employed a range of technologies to drive lighting, power, conductivity and switching in a discreet and elegant way. The outcome was that by utilising graphical soft switches, an electroluminescent print would give you a 360-degree light source that disappears when switched off. And all powered by the sun, through a conductive solar layer connected to a thin film battery woven inside.

Result

The Illum is a washable, lightweight, solar-powered, self-charging external 'shell' that is lightweight, waterproof and - above all - safe. Watch this space – we hope it’ll go into production