Following up on the Illuminated Running Apparel from yesterday which is still at the concept stage, the Endura Luminite 2009 cycling jacket is maybe not as sexy as the NR4 but ready for the action if you are into cycling.

Cyclists have similar safety issues in low light condition as runners – they are easily overlooked or seen too late and accidents happen too often.

One can debate about the looks of additional lighting in clothing but everything that helps increasing the visibility of cyclists (and runners) can minimize if not eliminate the low visibility risk factor.

Endura’s Luminite cycling jacket has a line of battery powered LEDs integrated into the rear of the jacket.

The use of battery powered light, which we call ‘active light’ compared to passive light of reflective materials, increases greatly the visibility and does not relay on light to be reflected.

One battery load will light up the safety feature for around 50 hours.

The jacket is made of waterproof material, fully seam sealed and has additional, reflective areas around the jacket for maximum visibility.

The Luminite cycling jacket comes in 3 colors (black, green, yellow) and is available on various online stores like this one for $125.96

Two highly creative design companies, Goose Design (Jenni Arksey) and product design agency PDD (Simon Browning), developed the coolest cycling jacket concept on the planet. If there would be an Olympic medal for sport apparel design, I would give the ILLUM Cycling Jacket the gold medal.

Combining safety and fashion, the ILLUM jacket is based on emerging wearable technologies such as printed electroluminescent ink and printed photovoltaic technology (solar power), 360 degrees around the body and cut into several ergonomic panels with red light at the back and white light at the front.

The illumination effect is powered by a solar charged thin film battery which activates the lighting via a transparent conductive layer.The photovoltaic elements are placed at the shoulders and top of the back. The illumination elements can be switched on/off via a soft switch on the sleeve at will making them discretely hidden when not used.

The collaboration between PDD and Goose Design merge technology with fabric in a piece of apparel designed that addresses aspects of safety, fashion and day-to-day functionality.

The jacket is designed to meet the needs of all types of cyclist in a style that would comfortably help cyclists to stand out on the road, but not in a crowd.

The ILLUM Cycling Jacket is the coolest cycling jacket on the planet – once it becomes reality.