There are countless times when a light jacket comes in handy during an evening bike ride as it can block a cool breeze, but the Badger 360° LED Jacket take the concept of “light jacket” in a new direction. This new jacket, which is being developed through a Kickstarter campaign, features a polyester shell, a mesh interior lining and LEDs sewn into the fabric.
Other jackets have been developed over the years that use built-in lights, but the Badger 360° LED Jacket takes advantage of the latest developments with low-power LED technology.
The hi-vis jacket features LEDs sewn into the fabric
“There isn’t a product out there in the market that uses our LED technology and rechargeable control unit so light weight,” said Quanns Leung, who developed the jacket. “The LED strings are actually sewn inside the fabric material. It is covered up with the fabric.”
“When you put on the jacket, you won’t even know or feel that there are LEDS embedded inside the jacket since it is so small, flexible and light weight,” Leung told BikeRadar. “Because the LED are laminated inside the fabric material it is not distracting the one wearing it nor to any motorist.”
Of course the Badger 360° LED Jacket isn’t meant to replace a headlight and Leung noted that riders will still need headlights to laminate the road ahead. This jacket does have some potential over other wearable lights however.
The jacket allows drivers to see a human shape, not just little lights
“During the development stages on the jacket, we realize that our body is the biggest area that can be seen by motorist when cycling or running,” he added. “Usually people only put a wearable light on their arm when jogging or just a headlight/tail light on their bike. When motorist see you from far away they only see the one light dot.”
This doesn’t give the motorist the correct perspective and in this way the LED jacket can clearly let a driver know that it is a person ahead.
The Badger 360° LED Jacket is still a very wearable piece of cycling/running attire as well. It offers reflective strips along the zippers in case the removable battery dies, and it also features a hood that can be tucked away when not needed or which can provide cover for those cooler/wetter rides. The jacket offers multiple of pockets, including compartments for mobile phone and other important items.
The Badger 360 and its LEDs are waterproof
While Leung and his partners are looking to bring the LED jacket out via a Kickstarter project, they are also thinking ahead to the next bright idea as well.
“Biking and Jogging is our first step because that what we love to do during our spare time,” Leung added. “One area that we really want to focus on are law enforcement agencies and people related to road/highway safety. They dedicate their lives keeping us safe and it will be great if we could do the same for them in return. We believe this LED technology can be applied to many different applications.”