For those of us that like to wear all-black, all the time, things can get really stuffy on the sunniest of days. The struggle to keep cool in the heat while wearing black is real. Thus, we were pretty excited to discover a black tee that's engineered to keep you cool(er) in very sunny settings: the Vampireblack shirt.
The shirt comes from German label Phoebe Heess, a line comprised entirely of black clothing, including pieces made of Viperblack, a.k.a. blackest-black fabric in the world. It utilizes a nano-tech coating of Coldblack technology, created by Swiss company Schoeller. Coldblack first debuted in 2008, and was originally marketed for use in car interiors and outdoor furniture. The fabric treatment has already been used by brands like Under Armour, ski brand Bogner, and The North Face's Korean products.
But this is a much more fashion-y take on the magical technology, which purports to make the wearer's skin temperature 9 degrees cooler than it is in a regular tee. "It freakishly works by reflecting the infrared part of the light spectrum, whilst absorbing the visible and UV parts," Gabriel Platt, head of communications at Phoebe Heess, told Refinery29. It's a performance fabric, fit for all your athleisure-y pursuits, to boot: the Vampireblack tees contain silver ions to prevent bacterial buildup (which leads to B.O.).
The shirt retails for 69 euros ($77 at current exchange rates), and you can preorder it now on Phoebe Heess' site. The men's version is a classic tee silhouette, while the women's iteration has a lengthy, rounded, butt-obscuring hem in the back. Both styles sport mesh paneling and sleek, shiny detailing throughout.
"We came up with Vampireblack because, being an all-black fashion brand and being the inventors of the blackest shirt on the planet, we constantly think about the subject [of black clothing] and its limitations," Platt explained.
So, here's to not straight-up boiling while wearing black in the heat.
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