Designer creates bulletproof suit

(Update)

An upscale Toronto tailor has gone to a U.S. military contractor for its latest offering. Customers at Garrison Bespoke had been talking about feeling uncomfortable in some parts of the world where they do business. But they didn’t want to sacrifice fashion for safety. So the tailor has come up with a way to make all its suits bulletproof on request. The price tag is $20,000. Our Lisa Hepfner saw how one suit stood up under live fire at a shooting range in Ajax.

The idea came about six months ago, after one of Michael Nguyen’s customers was shot while abroad. He found a secret military supplier to develop the technology: “The suit membrane is intact. One thing we had complaints about is that after being shot, you collapse from the force. The nanotubes dissipate the force of the bullet. It gives you a chance to run away.”

Any of the suits at Garrison Bespoke can be made bulletproof. David Tran says the conversation kept coming up amongst clients: “They’re going to dangerous places, but they had to make a good impression and look sharp at these meetings. and they weren’t able to focus, because they were nervous. but you can’t show up at a meeting wearing a bullet proof vest, it sends the wrong signal. It’s extremely lightweight and extremely flexible so it gives you a lot of mobility. it molds to your body so it looks great when we work with it”

It feels like wax paper.

David: “Kevlar is twice the weight of what we’ve created, and definitely not flattering to the body, so it’s hard to make a nice looking suit. Sections of the pant can be made bullet proof, but we were joking in the store that if you got shot in the crotch, you’d want to die anyway.”

Michael Lavigne is a customer, and trying out a bullet proof vest. He knows several Bay Street types who are interested: “You said you feel like you could go jogging, but it also helps you with your posture. Yea, I can feel it a little but it feels like an everyday thing.”

Right now, Garrison Bespoke only offers menswear but that could change because women travel to dangerous places too.

David: “We actually have a request for maybe the next leading lady of the U.S. to have one of these done for her.”