Vollebak, the brand that made a real-life Matrix suit and lab-grows its sweaters, is back with another drop that reminds you this brand doesn’t riff on trends: it raids survival systems.
Its newest release, the Deep Sea Diver Hoodie and Vest, takes the insulation found inside Special Forces drysuits and rebuilds it into everyday armour for cold weather.
And because this is Vollebak, the transformation is characteristically extreme.
Both pieces use the densest fleece the company has ever touched: a colossal 539 g/m² Polartec Power Stretch, originally chosen for divers working beneath Arctic ice where temperatures dip below 10°C and the ocean becomes an active threat.
In a drysuit, this fleece sits at the core of the insulation system, trapping warm air, resisting moisture and maintaining loft even when damp. On land, that translates to a hoodie and vest that feel more like portable microclimates.
A short history of staying alive when you really shouldn’t
Drysuits emerged in the 1930s and ’40s for military and commercial divers operating in the coldest, darkest waters on the planet.
By the ’60s, advances like waterproof zips and trilaminate fabrics turned them into proper survival systems, relying on trapped air and, crucially, thick fleece for insulation.
Vollebak has lifted that principle wholesale and applied it to clothing designed for everything from the school run to storms in the Highlands.
The Deep Sea Diver Hoodie goes one step further and features a double-lined snorkel hood inspired by 1950s USAF cold-weather parkas, a design that zips into a narrow tunnel to protect your face and create a warm air pocket around your head.
The vest offers the same heavy-duty insulation but with full freedom of movement for climbing, hiking or layering.
Both pieces offer four-way stretch, fast-drying fibres, odour resistance, flatlock seams and zippered hand pockets.
The vest weighs 700g, the hoodie 1200g, and both are built for the kind of cold that makes normal fleece tap out early.
Vollebak’s mission has always been to drag extreme engineering into everyday apparel, and this collection nails that ethos.
The Deep Sea Hoodie and Vest are available directly from Vollebak, with prices from $495 / £395 / €445 / AU$795.
