Bulletproof Clothing Is The New Fad In Mexico

Manuel Caballeros is clothing designer with a mission: to protect and prolong the lives of his most loyal customers. Especially the ones that are against druglords. He recently opened up a clothing shop in Mexico City with some high-end design that customers would die for. Rather, they’d prefer to cheat death with his state-of-the-art, bulletproof designs.

His racks are lined with bulletproof blazers, women’s suede jackets that’ll stop a .44 Magnum, T-shirts lined with body armor and guayabera shirts for catching sun or bullets.
“In all the clothing that we have here, it’s 100 percent flexible,” Caballero says. “With the bulletproof vests of the police force, you can’t find that.”

Our t-shirts are also aligned with body armor. A six-pack worht of body armor. Ey? Ey? So, what inspired Mr. Caballeros to scare the hell out of us before we move to Mexico?

Caballero first started making bulletproof clothes in his native Colombia in the early 1990s. It was at the peak of the Medellin drug cartel’s power and Colombia was awash in violence. Now the multibillion-dollar drug trade is dominated by Mexican cartels. And as Mexican president Felipe Calderon confronts the gangs, violence here has skyrocketed, killing thousands. In one week in May, six high-ranking police officials, including the nation’s top cop, were assassinated.

Well, that’s one board meeting we’d like to hear out.
“How are we doing this month?”
“500 more people died from drug cartel fighting and people are scared shitless.”
“Sweet. Tell the workers to speed it up. We need 1000 more bulletproof chones, stat.”

Starting at around $2,000, Caballero offers bulletproof business suits, long Burberry-type rain coats, slick biker jackets and a women’s ski parka in orange with a fake fur collar.
“We can make any type of bulletproof vest,” he says. “But the basis of the company is design, fashion, discretion. And what we are doing all the time — the discretion — we are working to develop the concept of fashion and in this way, it’s very comfortable and flexible.”

Truly impressive. But does this mean he’ll start making bulletproof burkas for the Middle East and skull-protecting du-rags in South Central? We’ll keep a look out for them!

Clothier’s Bulletproof Designs Merge Style, Safety [NPR]
Image [NPR]