Visible reflective strips

[Bikingmomof3]

I checked other: White/Silver. Check for tape made from 3M scotchlite, it is wonderful.

[LBTC]

My commute is a 2.5km walk, completely in the dark in the winter. I cover whatever I'm wearing with my yellow goretex jacket from MEC that has the 3m Scotchlite strips all over it.

I was stopped once in my old town during my commute through a mill log yard. The guy in the truck stopped me, not to tell me I shouldn't be in there, but to tell me that my jacket was great - I lit up like a christmas tree! That jacket was the best birthday gift from my DH in a few years...

Happy night riding!
~T~

[HipGnosis6]

OK, for the record there are two different kinds of reflective material. There's the shiny kind and the usually-grey kind that's dull but lights up when hit the right way with light. The shiny kind (called open lens - it works just like the tiny parabolic dishes that form the reflectors on your wheels) tends to crack an be a bit stiff, but it's widely available as stickers and has a higher candle output than the other type.

The other type is glass-bead reflector. It's made of extremely small glass beads bonded onto a cloth backing. This is the ubiquitous ScotchLITE by 3M that you are all familiar with; it can be printed and is the basis for IllumiNITE as well, although instead of being glass beads, IlluminNITE is created with micropartles of mica. BEWARE - this type of reflector does not work when wet!!!!! A coating of water will stop the refraction properties of the glass beads. However, it's available as tape strip by the yard at most fabric stores and is easy to sew or glue on and is more flexible than the vinyl type. I've even bought reflectorized ripstop nylon at Seattle Fabrics. It's fun stuff.

I just found a site for a company that specializes in this stuff.... it's industrial (as in for manufacturers) but that's cool. They have reflective piping and elastic. AWESOME!!!