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p36 :: Apparel & Footwear
How reflective keeps runners safe By JoHLEttE DE JAGEr*
For most runners, their daily programmes and job obligations
force them to jog early morning or late afternoon.
Both periods of the day unfortunately pose the challenge
of being visible to other road users. In more than 80% of
accidents involving runners in lowlight conditions, the driver
expressed shock that he or she only became aware of the
runner on impact — when it was already too late to do anything
about it.
Almost everybody wants to look good in their running
clothes and dark clothing is generally more flattering …
which explains why many runners do not seem to realise
the importance of hi-visibility clothing. The dressing behaviour
of runners do, however, change after a near accident
or the loss of a buddy in an accident in lowlight conditions.
Fortunately, the major athletic brands have incorporated
reflective in their gear, which made runners more aware of
reflective. It has also made the concept more acceptable.
Reflective piping, strips in various formats, heat transfers, sew-on embossed
badges — all can be applied in such a way so that it can be a true
lifesaving feature. A manufacturer incorporating reflective should use products
with high candela counts, suitable for multiple washing cycles, which are
light and durable.
Any reflective is better than no reflective. The application of reflective has,
however, unfortunately not always been done effectively. High visibility items
need a certain amount of reflective per square meter on apparel to make the
wearer fully visible. High visibility colours like the well-known lime-yellow and
orange are only day glow and add no value to visibility at night. Tops or shorts
need good standard silver reflective to be visible in darker periods i.e. after
dusk and before dawn.
A little reflective is better than nothing, but the larger the reflective strips,
or areas covered with reflective, the better. The ideal is for the runner to be
360° visible — so that it does not matter from which angle the vehicle approaches
him or her. That means that the reflective ideally needs to be applied
360°around the garment. This will ensure that the runner is seen from
all sides and as far away as a kilometer in the light of a car.
Nowadays, there are various attractive options to make runners visible in
lowlight and dark conditions — and at the same time still enable them to
express individuality through their running gear.
• The starting point is to incorporate the reflective
on those items the runner cannot go without — for
instance, running tops or shorts, or shoes. This is a
classic example of “passive prevention”. The runner
will be visible, without having to add anything special
to their gear, such as a running belt, wristband, headgear
or gloves.
• Hi-viz or neon bright tops or T-shirts and shorts ensure
the wearer can easily be seen before daybreak/
dawn and dusk — those in-between periods of night
and day when the effectiveness of reflective materials
and car headlamps start to wane — when the
brightness of the neon colour garments become vital.
In the dark, these colours will, however, only be visible
when combined with reflective.
• Bright coloured socks add visibility — although very few sock manufacturers
add reflective as a trim.
• Running shoes have reflective piping incorporated in the shoe designs, or
added as a functional item, such as a pull-on strap in reflective. Other reflective
items can be done in logos, laces, or heat-applied designs.
• Reflective armbands are a great way to add more visibility to running outfits
and the movement of the arms attract attention while running.
• Reflective running belts are excellent as they ensure 360° visibility in the
light of a car.
• Hi-visibility neon or day-glow yellow or orange caps or hats with reflective
detail all around the brim, or sides of a cap, can incorporate 360° reflective
— which can be a very economical way to add reflective.
• Reflective running gloves — the up and down movement of the hands
makes it very easy for a driver to spot movement
• Headlamps and torches enable motorists to see an approaching runner,
but often not from the back. LED flashing lights that clip on are better for
walking the dog, than running as too much bumping around may cause
them to go off from time to time.
Nowadays, hi-visibility day-glow colours, reflective trims and materials, as
well as glow-in-the-dark, are used together as mountain bikers doing night
rides in unlit areas need the glow-in-the-dark trims as safety feature too.
*Johlette de Jager became concerned about the number of pedestrian deaths in low-visibility conditions when working at the Medical Research Council. Research
showed that in Europe the use of reflective reduced the danger. She then became co-founder of Glow Gear, a South African manufacturer of reflective products.
Running products cont from p34
the entire bottle glows when light shines on it.
New Balance also uses graphic details in order
to increase visibility. “Most of our technical
running apparel has reflective piping, trims
and or graphic detail on them, which is suitable
for any runner, but would definitely benefit
the road runner in lowlight conditions,”
says Katharine Tromp from New Balance SA.
Their WRP4105 Boylston Capri (for women)
has large reflective graphic at the knee while
the MRJ4100 (for men) and WRJ4100 (for women)
has large reflective graphic on the sleeve.
The WRP3315 Impact Tight (for women) has
a reflective material strip running down the
side as well as reflective details on the back
whereas the MRP3315 Impact Tight (for men)
has reflective detail at the zips and graphics
on the back.
All their Nbx running styles also usually feature
3M reflective trimmings on the back or
front of the shoe, to help increase runner visibility
in lowlight conditions.
“We also carry a reflective belt, which is adjustable
and fits most sizes, as well as a strobe
light which can be attached to a belt or waist
band and can be set to flash,” says Tromp.
Puma’s reflective running gear is called Nightcat,
consisting of jackets, shorts and t-shirts
made with visiCELL highly reflective material.
“This is is designed to enhance others’ awareness
of runners in dim light situations” says
Collin Allin from Puma SA. All Puma shoes also
feature reflective stripes.
Reebok running apparel have reflective
and fluorescent prints to give runners maximum
visibility during lowlight running, says
Tezanne Shunmoogum from Reebok SA. Their
colour and overall design all incorporate
bright, bold graphics and colours, which aids
maximum visibility.
Salomon offers shoes with reflective branding
that makes runners visible in lowlight.
Many clothing manufacturers combine reflective
with bright colours in order to offer
visibility in both light or lowlight conditions.
“Our technical lightweight running apparel is
suited to any type of runner in lowlight conditions
as we have a variety of light colour garments
which all have reflective branding on
the front and back,” says Jackie Moore from
Salomon SA.
For road or trail runners, she would recommend
their Exo S-Lab TwinSkin short, which although
dark in colour, has sufficient reflective
branding all around to offer greater visibility.
Skechers has introduced Photoluminescant
technology to make their runner gear more
visible in lowlight condition. Skechers’ Nite
Owl range of running shoes only need exposure
to a light charge in order to remain glowing in
lowlight or no light conditions.
“These shoes are ideal as they use photoluminescant
technology that produces a glow
effect in darkness or lowlight conditions,” says
Derick Koen from Footwear Trading, local distributors
of Skechers. Short exposure to a light
source causes the shoe to glow in the dark and
the more it is exposed to a light source, the
longer it will glow, he says.
Light in the dark
Some running garments incorporate blinking
or steady LED lights in their designs to make
the wearer more visible to passing to p38
Sports Trader :: 2014 March