Clothing Arts: High-Tech Anti-Theft Clothing for Urban Travel
You’re at the airport in Rome, about to launch into the dream vacation you’ve been planning for the last couple of years. Waiting for your suitcase to emerge from the baggage carousel, you instinctively pat down your pockets, double-checking that you have your passport and some cash on you. Of course, you’re not the only one doing the pocket-check dance, as travel security is constantly on everyone’s mind.
And rightly so. All it takes is a brief lapse in concentration (glancing at a subway map, trying to hail a cab) for that dream vacation to turn into an absolute nightmare. Pickpockets are very much alive and well in the 21st century, and they flourish in places where tourists and distracted travelers congregate.
Luckily, the designers at the Clothing Arts company have already recognized the need for specially designed travel clothing to stop these sneaky thieves dead in their tracks. They spent a year traveling through Asia’s major cities and remote rural areas, where they realized that there had to be an easier way to keep personal belongings safe while on the road. “We decided that if no one was making the travel clothes that we wanted and needed, we would do it ourselves,” they explain.
Those clothes had to be comfortable and water-resistant but breathable and durable, and they also had to incorporate a number of integral safety features.
The result was a new high-tech fabric: Clothing Arts’ 3rd Generation Nature-Like Nylon. “Our designers have succeeded in improving all characteristics that make our technical fabric feel and wear just like cotton pants,” the company announced recently. “Plus, we have selected the newest, environmentally friendly water repellant to prevent spills and stains while traveling. We have made the fabric more breathable, more comfortable, and decreased its environmental footprint!”
Clothing Arts now boasts several garments for both men and women in its “Pick-Pocket Proof” clothing line, and it proudly shares travelers’ tales of would-be robberies that were thwarted by the clothes online.
So what makes these clothes so resistant to thieves? Well, let’s take the men’s pants as an example. They boast 11 multi-secure pockets (five triple-secure and six double-secure): two zipper-secured hip pockets, two hidden Velcro pockets, two hidden smartphone/credit card pockets, two slash-resistant expandable back pockets, one hidden passport pocket (no one needs the hassle of losing that…), and two slash-resistant cargo pockets with hidden snap closures. To top it all off, the pants boast a button-secured zipper guard.
Of course, the clothes’ comfort features will be just as important to the average traveler. They include things like self-repairing zippers, a gusset crotch for easy movement, an adjustable waist (probably to let you accommodate all that delicious food you’ll be eating on your travels), and the company’s one-of-a-kind breathable water-repellant fabric, which is extremely quick to dry after being washed. The fabric is even UPF 50+ rated. As the designers say, “think practical nylon but feel comfy cotton.”
Clothing Arts currently offers pants, shorts, skirts, shirts, and a Cubed Travel Jacket, which is lightweight and designed to provide comfort while giving pickpockets all over the world a run for their money.
