The lightest bag in the world made of air

The lightest bag in the world is now a reality thanks to the French fashion brand Coperni and with technology from the American space agency ( NASA ). It is a bag made of 99% air and 1% of a nanomaterial ‘silica airgel’, the lightest solid on planet Earth. Therefore, the innovative and futuristic bag only weighs 33 grams.

How did they make it?

Silica airgel is currently the solid material with the best thermal insulation properties. Aerogels were initially developed by NASA in the 1930s as a new form of insulation to help spacecraft withstand the intense conditions of space. Therefore, it has been used to capture stardust and isolate the Mars rover, but now it is used for high fashion. The space agency used it on its Stardust mission, the first spacecraft to bring comet samples to Earth in 1999, as it can withstand extreme heat of up to 1,200 degrees Celsius and pressure of 4,000 times its weight.

It is capable of “withstanding” extreme heat of up to 1,200 degrees Celsius and pressure of 4,000 times its weight, according to the company’s description. Like some extremely rare materials that we can find on the planet , such as fingerite, this product or material is also very fragile. According to the designers, they needed up to 15 prototypes before having the final one ready . NASA previously called this substance, the protagonist of creation, “solid smoke”, and we can say that the name is very accurate at a glance.

Aerogels are full of pores at the nanometer level, like a sponge full of incredibly small holes. These pores trap air, creating a delicate but not fragile material, solid and extremely light. And when you combine this polymer and solvent and let the mixture settle, you get a gelatin gel. But aerogels manage to maintain their gel-like structure even after all the solvent has been removed; creating materials that are stronger and lighter than anything else. In this case, the liquid is removed or extracted from the mixture to be replaced by air and a solid, light material is achieved that allows the air inside to appear trapped and frozen in the structure.

The bag was created in collaboration with Greek professor Ioannis Michaloudis, who specializes in research and creation of products from silica airgel, according to the American University of Cyprus.

Peculiar qualities

Although it is clearly a rather unusual bag, Coperni insists that the bag is capable of supporting the weight of an iPhone without problems. They have named it the Air Swipe Bag and, as we can see in the images, it is translucent and has a cloudy whitish color that gives the impression of having smoke or gases trapped inside it. A CD player-looking bag ‘made of frozen clouds’.

Regarding the rest of the design, we can see that despite looking certainly translucent, it has the word “Coperni” in white on the front of it. It has a rounded handle with curved edges, similar to the brand’s signature Swipe bag, and has dimensions of 27x16x6 cm.

Although it is unknown when it will be available, it is assumed that its price will be somewhat exorbitant, probably costing tens of thousands of euros per unit. Let us remember that space travel is not a cheap undertaking and this haute couture accessory will not be either.

“This Air Swipe bag is the largest object ever made with this space technology nanomaterial,” says Coperni, who argued that the bag was made as part of the designer’s fall and winter 2024 collection .

A futuristic fashion

It is clear that this brand wants to bring the future to fashion. Founded in 2013 by Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant, Coperni immediately distinguished itself with a new perspective that seamlessly combines technology, minimalism and a keen sense of the modern spirit. The brand’s name, a deliberate nod to the Renaissance mathematician who postulated the heliocentric model of the universe, signifies a departure from traditional fashion norms, much as Copernicus’s theory displaced the Earth from the center of the universe. cosmos.

Coperni’s aesthetic can be described as a fusion of clean lines, sculptural forms and an underlying appreciation for the elegant and the functional. His collections evoke a revolutionary spirit with futuristic airs , challenging conventional silhouettes and proposing a completely innovative and transgressive clothing system.