Glow In The Dark Reflective Fabric

"Glow in the dark reflective fabric is a fabric that can both emit light in the darkness and reflect light when hit by light sources such as a car headlight. It is designed for clothing, gloves, bags, hats, shoes, or any other products that required night glowing performance."

Chinastars newest reflective fabric - Glow in the dark rainbow reflective fabric

What is glow in the dark reflective fabric?

Glow in the dark fabric also called photoluminescence or phosphorescent fabric, becomes a favorite for clothing designers in recent years, to add extra magic to their designs and attract both kids and adults. The glow in the dark fabric can absorb ultraviolet light or other visible ambient light, restore the energy and slowly release the energy in fluorescent color in the dark.

While reflective fabrics are the latest trend these days when it comes to fashion and safety. It can reflect light back to the light source within 200 meters, to protect the wearers' safety on the road. And the reflected light comes in various visual effects to make the wearer an eye-catcher at night. 

Chinastars combine glow in the dark and reflective features together making the fabric ideal for fashion design.

Glow in the dark reflective fabrics we have

For different production technologies and raw materials, we can produce fabrics that differ in daylight colors, reflected colors as well as glow in the dark colors.

• 1. Daylight Color: Milky white,  Reflected Color: Rainbow Color,  Luminous color: Green or Blue

• 2. Daylight Color: Custom pattern fabric,  Reflected Color: Rainbow Color,  Glow in the dark color: Green

• 3. Daylight Color: Milky white with a slight yellowish shade,  Reflected Color: Rainbow,  Glow in the dark color: Green

Luminous Rainbow Fabric Features:

• 1. Glowing: the fabric can glow in the dark for over 8 hours after absorbing visible light for as little as 20-30 minutes. It can be used as human outline markers in the dark and can be seen up to 100 meters depending on conditions.
• 2. Reflective: The fabric can reflect in rainbow aurora color or white color at night with a direct hit of the headlight. The wearers can be protected and seen by the traffic for as far as 200 meters.
• 3. Lightweight: The fabric is made of polyester fiber and is light-weighted with a weight of 170 g/m².
• 4. Water repellent and windproof: The fabric is naturally water repellent with a durable coating, the windproof property makes it perfect for outdoor wear that needs to keep warm in cold or windy weather.
• 5. Skin-Friendly: The fabric is non-toxic, skin-friendly, and has no radioactive elements. It is also child safe and suitable for kids products being phthalate and lead-free.
• 6. Natural recharge: It can be recharged naturally and repeatedly with exposure to any visual light, no need for wiring, batteries or bulbs. Compared to zinc sulfide products, this fabric glow is much brighter and recharges faster.

Luminous Rainbow Reflective Fabric Applications:

How can glow in the dark reflective fabric be used?

• 1. It is perfect for making safety clothing/ equipment/crafting projects for high visibility property.
• 2. The lightweight, water-repellent, and high-visibility properties make it an ideal fabric for sporting goods. For joggers or bikers, cycling apparel made with this fabric will allow them to be seen in the dark for as far as 200 meters.
• 3. It is suitable for casual wear or accessories, such as windbreakers, caps, and backpacks for its windproof and stylish performance. The reflective and glow-in-the-dark performance enables the wearer to be the shiniest eye-catcher at night.
• 4. Costumes or fashion clothes is also a common application for fabric. For anyone who wants to bring some attention to himself/herself at night, this is the way to go!
• 5. Interior decoration is also a novel application. For coffee bars or other shops, the fabric can make it a popular place and attract many visitors to take and share photos.

How does glow in the dark fabric work?

The photoluminescent material is normally sulfide or aluminum silicate. The one we used is aluminum silicate, which has higher brightness, longer afterglow time, stable performance and non-radioactive properties. Sulphide can only glow for up to half an hour, whereas aluminum silicate can glow for more than 8 hours.

The production of glow-in-the-dark materials uses a high-temperature solid-state method, the chemical raw materials are roasted to 1100-1400℃, reacted for 2-3 hours, then cooled and ball-milling into powder materials to be coated onto fabrics.

The glowing light can be in blue, green, purple, or yellow colors, each made of different chemicals. The most commonly seen is in green color, it seems the green light is brighter than light in other colors, is that true? Actually, it's not. The reason why the green glow appears brighter is that human eyes are most sensitive to green light. Human eyes can perceive light between the wavelength of 380nm(blue light) to 780nm(red light), human eyes have the highest sensitivity in the green spectrum region of 550nm. For colored lights at other wavelengths, higher light radiation power is required for human beings to perceive the same brightness.

Normally the molecules of luminescent materials are in a stable state. When it is stimulated by an external light source, the atoms inside absorb light of a certain frequency, obtain energy from it, and become excited and emit fluorescent light. The moment right after light charging, the emitted light is the brightest, and it begins to fade gradually as the atoms slowly calm down. It recharges naturally with exposure to sun or ambient light, no need for wiring, batteries, or bulbs. Maximum brightness can be achieved after being charged by ultraviolet light for 3-4 minutes, direct sunlight for 7-8 minutes, or ambient light for 25-30 minutes.

The ambient light will affect the light brightness our eyes perceive. The darker the environment, the more adapted our eyes are to the darkness, and the brighter the light glow will see. Total darkness is the best for perceiving the light brightness, any ambient light will distract our eyes' attention. 

How does reflective fabric work?

The reflective fabric consists of micro glass beads embedded onto adhesives and attached to a base fabric. The diameters of micro glass beads vary from 20μm to 100μm and are as tiny as powders. The micro-glass beads are semi-coated with aluminum or other optical materials using special coating technology. When light passes through the micro glass beads, it is bent and reflected by the optical materials back to the light source just like a mirror. So at night, when hit by a headlight, the reflective fabric will reflect in silver, colorful, or rainbow bright light, and easily be seen by drivers within 200 meters to avoid a possible car accident. Also, the big contrast between daylight color and light-reflected color makes the reflective fabric a new fashion trend.