We don't understand fashion trends, but this is pretty interesting.
We all know airbags to be inflatable cushions included in our vehicles as part of their safety design. Mercedes-Benz, one of the most successful car companies in the world, has increased the usefulness of airbags. These cushions, originally manufactured to safeguard passengers from injury during an accident, will now be high-quality clothes. Soon, we will be able to wear clothes made out of old airbags, and they'll look great too!
Mercedes is redefining the airbag through the method of upcycling. To upcycle an item means to prepare a used item for reuse in a way that makes the newly improved item to be of greater value than before. Airbags don't look like a conventional material for manufacturing clothes, but Mercedes is willing to take a chance. These stylish clothes made from airbags will form distinct clothing that the world will desire a piece of.
Mercedes' incredibly ambitious bid attempts to shift our minds from seeing airbags as only a safety feature to a clothing accessory that makes audacious fashion statements. It's believed that one of the reasons behind the move to take airbags from the car into the closet is that they perform only one function and after that, they are often disposed of. Sometimes, the way that they get discarded worries some people, especially environmentalists like the designer, Heron Preston. Preston is the designer that, along with Mercedes, will produce unique ready-to-wear clothes from airbags.
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Why has Mercedes chosen to transform the airbag into a potential fashion hit, you ask? Soon, it will be 40 years since the German automobile company first introduced the airbag. Mercedes plans to commemorate the airbag’s inclusion in Mercedes Benz vehicles for 40 years and also the 50th anniversary of the first airbag ever developed.
Mercedes will partner with popular Haute Couture designer, Heron Preston, to transform airbags into the next best thing in the fashion world. Preston has spent time with the concept of transforming airbags into clothes and seems to have made some significant progress already. Images of clothes made from airbags have already appeared online, and while we did not find any Haute Couture details, the pants, coats, and jackets are indeed made from upcycled airbags.
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Rumors have made the rounds that Preston has designed these clothes to inflate whenever an accident occurs. According to these rumors, apart from being the descendants of airbag materials, the images depict clothes that should be able to inflate and deflate. Does this remind you of a familiar item? It should.
For 50 years, the patent for the airbag had existed and now the airbag has become the subject for interesting fashion innovation. Mercedes has left no stone unturned regarding the types of clothes to be developed. We know of pants, coats, bags, and also, there will be jackets, bags, and much more. Soon, people will get to use previous Supplemental Restraint Devices (SRS) in a redefined way.
Fashion designer, Heron Preston, is popular for his elite fashion thoughts on workwear. This clothing line comprises three forward-thinking men's and women's wear designs. We have airbags and a designer’s passion to save the environment to thank for this bold move.
Preston, a sustainability advocate, believes that utilizing old airbags to design the outfits, including patterns and colors, will incite a trend of automotive safety. Some of the images available for public viewing have red, orange, and black markings and text. These things are usually used on crash test cars and dummies. Also, the circles in the designer are split into varying color quarters.
Vice President of Mercedes Benz Communications and Marketing, Bettina Fetzer, recently disclosed that “Working with co-creators in this field that reflect our values enables us to further push sustainable luxury design into the future.”
Fetzer further added that “Heron’s unique take on sustainability and the way he approaches the topic through the lens of culture is what made him an outstanding partner to work with on this project.”
It's safe to assert that Mercedes selected Heron Preston not only because of his avant-garde design but also for his passion for incorporating less environmentally destructive activities in his trade. He is a modern-day monument of environmental sustainability and he, along with Mercedes, will deliver exclusive fashion merchandise.
Mercedes officially announced this terrific concept, designed by Heron Preston, through a giveaway on the global platform, GOAT, on September 10. However, those who were impatient found these designs at the just-concluded Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Berlin.
Kolawole Samuel Adebayo (KSA) is a Tech Writer and Harvard-trained Entrepreneur with 6+ years of experience in SEO Copywriting, Content Strategy, Leadership, Coaching, and Brand Identity Management. He is the Founder of Expolitus NG— one of Nigeria’s fast-rising startups in the content marketing and sales strategy landscape. Kolawole enjoys reading, writing, and talking about the automobile, manufacturing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, generative design, construction, and mental health and addiction recovery industries. He has worked with several organizations all over the world, helping them meet their content marketing goals, as well as multiplying their ROI. Kolawole, a former poetry reader at Feral Journal, is a poet with works published in several journals around the world. His chapbook manuscript, INVOCATIONS, was recently selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani for the APBF New-Generation African Poets Chapbook Box-set Series (Akashic Books, 2021).