Pearl Izumi puts the spotlight on visibility in fall clothing line

SUPERIOR, Colo. (BRAIN) — Pearl Izumi's "screaming yellow" wind jackets, and similar items from other makers, have been a staple for many shops for about 20 years.

Now the Shimano-owned brand is taking a more thorough approach to developing and marketing high-visibility road cycling clothing, starting with its Fall 2015 collection, which will be arriving in stores in about two months.

Road cyclists, especially new riders and women, are increasingly concerned about road safety, and being more visible during the day and at night makes them feel safer, said Andrew Hammond, Pearl Izumi's global brand manager for its cycling products.

Starting with the new line, Pearl is promoting its BioViz feature, which relies on fluorescent colors, carefully placed reflective material and contrasting color blocks to optimize visibility.

The company is putting the BioViz feature label on items across its line, including gloves, shoe covers, tights, shorts, jerseys and jackets. The company said BioViz will be expanded and refined in coming seasons.

The BioViz program began with a question from the company's designers: since reflective material is relatively expensive, how can we get the best bang for the buck in positioning it on clothing?

The question led to some fairly simple experiments, with a quiet road near Pearl Izumi's Colorado headquarters serving as laboratory. The company decided that at a minimum, a cyclist should be visible in car headlights from 100 meters. That would give a car traveling 100 kph (62 mph) adequate stopping distance if approaching a cyclist traveling 25 kph (15 mph). This internal standard was used to develop the BioViz items, Hammond said.

Testing soon showed that reflective material up high on a jersey, on the front or back, is not an optimum use of the material. It is better used near the lower back and the feet.

Pearl Izumi also looked at research showing how certain combinations of moving lights help the brain identify a pedestrian, runner or rider as a human being, not just a ghostly reflective presence on the road. Putting reflective material on the shoulders, knees and ankles, can create this effect, as implied by the video below this article.

Reflective material is useless in daylight, however. So BioViz items feature "true fluorescent" colors — green, yellow and pink this season. True fluorescents are more than just bright colors, Hammond said. They convert invisible UV light into a shimmery visible light that increases perception distance.

As with the reflective material, fluorescents are often best used strategically: a jacket with fluorescent forearms and rear pocket area, combined with dark colors elsewhere, is more visible to drivers than a solid-color fluorescent jacket. It's also, stylistically, more palatable to riders who aren't interested screaming yellow (or pink or green) at the top of their lungs.