Vollebak creates prototype Wooden Jacket from 250,000 pieces of American walnut

Experimental clothing brand Vollebak has made a prototype jacket from 250,000 pieces of laser-cut American walnut. Vollebak created the Wooden Jacket to show that wood could be a viable material for making clothes.

"As an ex-architect, I have a fascination for all materials and how they can be used," said Vollebak co-founder Nick Tidball. "Wood is one of the most abundant building materials on the planet and it has been since the beginning of mankind," he continued. "Thirty per cent of all the buildings in the world are made from wood, so for me it is a material worth exploring for the clothing industry."

The boxy-looking jacket was made from 0.5-millimetre-thick sheets of American walnut that were laser cut into approximately 250,000 blocks. These blocks were adhered to a woven cotton twill, and the pieces were connected with 60 bonded seams. "We love taking exploratory steps into new materials and ideas," said Nick Tidball. "I believe it will eventually become a highly viable material and we are interested in exploring how we can do this at Vollebak."