In the wake of Maple Motorcycle Jeans‘s demise, a new fiber rises to save your moto-riding ass. Meet Dyneema. Essentially, it’s a polyethylene fiber with an unusually long molecular chain structure, what that means though is that Dyneema claims to be 15 times as strong as steel. When the filaments are used in conjunction with other fibers, say cotton for instance, the result can be stronger than typical fabrics by a factor of seven. For context, they’ve used it for bullet proof vests, cut resistant gloves, and even mooring oil rigs in harbor. Kevlar jeans? Motorcyclists, get ready to go Dyneema.
Dyneema partnered with Italian denim mill Berto E.G. Industria Tessile S.r.l. as well as technical yarn spinners Filtes International S.r.l. to produce a Dyneema blended denim. Australian moto-inspired clothing company, Saint, has used this new denim to make their Unbreakable line, and this is likely just the start. Because it’s super lightweight, too, you won’t have to always go to the heavyweights at Iron Heart for your duds.
All this new technology means longer lasting jeans with less rips and tears overall. While this also means you’re less prone to crotch blowouts, your jeans will still smell. So you’d still want take your funky fades to some water and detergent once they grow that high tide odor. Dyneema denim’s resistance to abrasion will not only lead to a longer life for your jeans, but also potentially higher contrast fades simply because you can keep going.
We’ve yet to see how these fare in real life applications, and how they age in comparison to your de nîmes au naturale, so it’s a mystery still.
For more information head to the Dyneema Project website.
