Exploring the Future of Reflective Materials: ANREALAGE & LIGHT FORCE

When you hear 'reflective materials', the first thing that often comes to mind are those used for safety purposes, such as preventing nighttime accidents. In recent years, we've also started to notice an increase in their use during nighttime sports activities due to the rise in health consciousness. Amongst these, the material used in ANREALAGE's 2022 Spring Summer fashion show was 'LIGHT FORCE', a reflective material that glows brightly, resembling an aurora.

How was this 'show-stopping' reflective material born, and what future does it aim for? We had the chance to speak with Kengo Amemori, the director of the company Marujin, which is behind the creation of LIGHT FORCE.

Exploring Casual Wear

Our company was founded by my father in 1984, and I am the second-generation owner. Fukui is a city with many textile-related businesses, and my predecessor was an employee at a nearby textile company before starting this business. Initially, we were engaged in creating printing plates for what is known as 'direct print' and 'silk print', which is a method of printing on clothes.

Realizing that this alone was not sustainable, we shifted the focus of our business to printing. However, we didn't just print directly on ordinary fabrics, but instead adopted a method called heat transfer printing. With heat transfer printing, you first print the design using silk printing onto a film, along with a heat-melting adhesive. Then, by placing the printed film on the clothing and applying pressure and heat through a heat transfer machine (which resembles a large iron), the design is printed onto the clothing. This heat transfer print mark manufacturing business is our main operation.

Initially, our business focused on sports apparel brands, which were compatible with heat transfer print marks. However, it was quite challenging to get significant projects. Amid this, Mizuno took on the task of making uniforms for the J.League, and we stepped up to take on the role of mark manufacturing. This was a major task for us, being the first of its kind, and the scale was incredible.

However, successfully completing the J.League project served as a significant accomplishment, and the name Marujin started to become recognized in the sports apparel industry. At this point, we were still just a regular heat transfer print mark manufacturer; we didn’t yet have brand names like LIGHT FORCE.

Amidst all this, we started thinking about contributing to society. We chose to focus on reflective materials because our main business of heat transfer printing technology was well-suited for applying reflective materials to clothes. At that time, most reflective materials were designed to stand out and were available only in colors such as silver, yellow, and orange, which gave an impression of safety. While they were used in workwear for those working in hazardous conditions and for sportswear, it was relatively rare to see them on casual clothing worn by the general public.

We thought that no matter how much we advanced the technology of reflective materials, we wouldn't be able to protect ordinary people unless these materials were incorporated into the clothes we usually wore. Hence, we decided to start developing reflective materials that didn't quite align with the typical image of such materials. We experimented with different approaches and ended up creating a new kind of reflective material that could change colors freely and, on exposure to light, would exhibit graded changes like an aurora. This was something the world had never seen before. We have patents for this technology in Japan, the United States, Germany, and France.

Our series of reflective products (including heat transfer prints, fabric, and threads), specialized for their fashionability—an attribute not found in conventional reflective materials—were named 'LIGHT FORCE' by my predecessor. This name has been passed down and is now used to represent our new brand of reflective materials.

Was there a technical reason why traditional reflector materials tended to be specific colors like silver and yellow?

Reflector materials need a layer like a mirror to reflect light. Using aluminum for this layer is the most efficient way to reflect light and is also cheap. This is why silver is often used.

Beyond silver, you might see a lot of orange and yellow. These colors are chosen because they stand out even when not illuminated. Especially on the road, to ensure the safety of workers, easily identifiable colors like fluorescent yellow began to be widely used as reflectors.

Historically, the demand for reflector materials started from a need for safety. Thus, visibility has been the most important factor. That's why reflector manufacturers have only developed these particular colors.