Miguel Caballero likes to shoot people whenever he has an audience and a volunteer. ”Take a deep breath and let the air out after the shot,” he said to one recent target. ”You may get a bit of a bruise.”
The range was point-blank, the bang loud and the smell of burned powder strong, but the human bullseye didn’t flinch. The bullet was embedded in an internal protective panel of his brand-new suede jacket.
”We mix trends and security,” Caballero beamed. ”There are over 1 000 companies in the world who make bulletproof jackets, but only we make high-security fashion.”
Having started his company 13 years ago in Colombia, the ”Armani of bulletproof clothing” is now selling garments from his collection in much of Latin America and beginning to expand beyond. He claims that sales in 2005 totalled $7-million — up from $3-million the year before.
Caballero’s client list includes Venezuela’s flamboyant left-wing president, Hugo Chavez, who regularly dons a red guayabera shirt, designed to withstand attack by anything up to an Uzi sub-machine gun. Last week the company received an order from Chavez’s Cabinet for 50 items ranging from cotton vests to raincoats.
Colombia’s conservative President, Alvaro Uribe, also owns one of the protective guayaberas, trusting it to keep him safe but casual at weekly meet-the-people encounters.
Bulletproof trench coats, suits and denim casuals can be spotted on a bevy of Guatemalan politicians, while the heir to the Spanish throne and his wife own matching green-quilted hunting jackets.
The real potential for sales growth, says Caballero, lies in capturing the trust of your common-or-garden wealthy businessman who feels vulnerable. This is why the company is currently focused on consolidating its reputation in Mexico, where the relatively large elite is increasingly concerned about kidnapping.
Last year, local anti-crime activists announced that Mexico had overtaken Colombia at the top of the world abduction league, and that gangs were becoming more likely to kill or maim their victims. Kidnap statistics are difficult to confirm, but few in Mexico doubt that the problem is real or believe that the state has the capacity to deal with it.
”People don’t trust the authorities in Mexico,” says Emma Campos-Redman, an analyst from London-based security consultants Control Risks. ”It’s clear that both locals and foreigners are increasing their investment in security measures.”
A local industry offering everything from the installation of panic rooms to round-the-clock bodyguards in armoured cars has grown rapidly as a result. Caballero believes that bulletproof formal and casual wear could become an essential part of these private security systems. The made-to-measure garments cost anything from a couple of hundred pounds to a couple of thousand.
The most expensive, from the Platinum Line, promise protection from revolvers, pistols or semi-automatic weapons, with inserts weighing a mere 1,3kg. Similar defence against assault rifles, such as the AK-47, requires heavier armouring leaving less room for aesthetics. Caballero said, however, that such hard-to-conceal weapons are not usually used by common criminals or assassins.
The panels are made from a mixture of weaves of specially treated synthetic thread bought in Europe and combined in the company’s Colombian factory. These very dense materials can absorb the kinetic energy of a bullet, stopping it in its tracks.
Business has been growing rapidly in the past few years, said Caballero, who pointed out that 9/11 had made people realise ”that the world is insecure”.
He now boasts sales representatives in much of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in Iraq, Turkey and Hungary. He also muses about entering the British market. Kidnapping or assassination may not be a concern there, he admits, but stabbings are.
”We identify a problem — we identify a market,” he said. Caballero already has a range of knifeproof underwear, originally designed with prison wardens in mind. He thinks they could become all the rage. — Â