Meet The "Armani of Armor" Behind America's Growing Bulletproof Clothing Industry

[link to www.zerohedge.com]


In the early 1990s, Colombia was locked in a brutal drug war, led by Pablo Escobar, that saw homicide rates in Medellin surge over 8x in a matter of just a few years...

...and it was that surging violence that first prompted Miguel Caballero to start his line of bulletproof clothing some 25 years ago.

Now, as Racked points out today, with violent crime in Colombia back to levels not seen since at least the 70s, Caballero is looking to bring his bulletproof fashions to the United States where he's hoping that growing fears of gun violence, combined with an eager American consumer that is always willing to part with his/her hard-earned cash in pursuit of the next fad, will be a boon for his business.

That was then. Homicides in Colombia have since declined, and Caballero — sometimes called the “Armored Armani” — turned his savvy eye to another country besieged by gun violence and grasping for a sense of security: the United States. Earlier this year, he opened a distribution center in Miami to sell his clothing line to wary Americans. His bulletproof apparel includes all levels of protection as standardized by the U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ): IIA, II, IIIA, III, and IV. (More on what those levels mean in a minute.)



Within this industry is a small but growing sector of manufacturers and retailers that, like Caballero, are proffering upscale bulletproof apparel that’s light-years beyond the standard bulletproof vest, both sartorially and functionally. From bespoke suits to safari jackets, the new breed of bulletproof clothing is comfortable and undetectable.