Bulletproof jacket is de rigeur in Mexican Survivor's Club

Tag : zip fastener

Miguel Caballero — named after the company's Colombianfounder — sells everything from trenchcoats to dress shirts(to be worn under your dinner jacket) and leather motorcyclejackets. Customers include President Chávez of Venezuela.
Javier Carlo, the shop's marketing manager, can vouch for theeffectiveness of the clothing. When he joined the company a yearago, Mr Caballero escorted him into a back room and shot him in thechest.
“Your body absorbs the energy while the material compressesthe bullet,” he says. “The material we use is a secret,but I can tell you it's not Kevlar.”
The most expensive line, labelled Black, features removablebulletproof panels that are so light and flexible that you canscrew them up in your hand like paper. They are alsothermo-regulating, meaning that they keep your body temperaturebetween 13C (55F) and 17C. The only downside is the expense: $7,000(£4,000) for a single jacket with the highest level ofprotection.
Incidentally, low, medium and high is not the only terminology thatyou have to adopt. A zip fastener, for example, is known as a“ballistic gap” (to close the gap, a special flap ofbulletproof material is positioned behind it).
And when a salesman says that a jacket is “cocktailproof” he's not talking about a cosmopolitan, but the abilityof the material to withstand a petrol bomb.
Miguel Caballero also has stores in Colombia and Guatemala, as wellas distribution agreements in several other countries; this summer,the line became available via special order at Harrods.
Staff can also sell you a bulletproof 4x4 car for $150,000 and abulletproof revolving door for your home or office (it uses weightdetectors to ensure that only one person can use it at a time, andit also serves as a metal detector) for $20,000.
While most fashion retailers offer some kind of loyalty card,Miguel Caballero has its own special scheme for customers —but it's one probably few would ever want to join.
It's called the Survivor's Club.