The right suit can make a guy feel invincible - especially if it's bulletproof. Colombian fashion designer Miguel Caballero specializes in Euro-style men's ready-to-wear that's light, elegant, and can stop a 9-millimeter slug. "Colombia is an ideal place for this business," Caballero says. "First, because of the high quality of its leather, and second, because of its high index of violence."
The failsafe fashionista has spun paranoia and vanity into a $3 million-a-year international business. The clothes look nothing like body armor: The trench coat, for example, is a beltless, full-length number with a slim line, made of gabardine and Kevlar.
"I don't use Kevlar alone any longer, because it is heavy and rather uncomfortable," Caballero says. "We've just created a hybrid fiber, a mix of Aramid, nylon, and polyethylene. It's more resistant to heat, weighs only about 6 ounces a yard, and is several times more flexible and soft than Kevlar."
Caballero makes denim and suede jackets, sport coats, and a line of armored T-shirts popular in Spain. He says he has hundreds of fans throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Colombian president-lvaro Uribe Vélez and Bogoté mayor Lucho Garzén have suited up in his clothes. And South Korea's former prime minister Lee Hoi-Chang and Guatemala's former president Ramiro de Leén Carpio each paid $900 for a trench coat.
Caballero explains: "People abroad think that if our bulletproof clothes work here in Colombia, they'll work anywhere."
- Angela Posada-Swafford
credit Photo by Ernesto Navarro Jaimes
GQ meets Janeés Defence: Miguel Caballeroés suits resist stains and gunfire.
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