Inside America’s Growing Bulletproof Clothing Industry

This past August, Miguel Caballero shot his wife, Carolina Ballesteros, for the second time in nine years. Since 1993, the Colombian designer has literally pulled the trigger on more than 230 people to prove the efficacy of his bulletproof clothing. (All participants were volunteers.) The August demonstration was part of Caballero’s campaign to introduce his eponymous line of upscale bulletproof (sometimes called bullet-resistant) apparel — ranging from blazers (4,343.50 euros) to tank tops (2,023 euros) — to the United States, his newest market. When Caballero founded his company in his native Colombia in 1992, the country was teeming with gun violence and homicide due to the still-ongoing conflict among factions there. In fact, that summer, notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from prison, ratcheting up public anxiety even more. It was a scary time to be alive, and Caballero started making armored backpacks and bullet-resistant Bible covers to help assuage the fears of his countrymen. Read more at Racked.