There’s a crossover item for fashion and space enthusiasts at the moment, and it’s not just because it has stars and moons on it. According to Fast Company, the Air Swipe Bag, designed by French luxury brand Coperni, is composed solely of silica aerogel, a nanomaterial developed by NASA. The material was initially developed by scientist Steve Jones for NASA’s 1999 Stardust mission, which returned samples from the Wild 2 comet.
The Air Swipe Bag weighs only 1.1 ounces, with just 0.2 percent of its matter actually tangible. The rest is air that moves through the Aerogel’s trillions of channels. Aerogel is renowned for its lightweight build, taking the title of lightest matter in the 1990s, with a second version breaking that record. NASA previously dubbed the substance “solid smoke,” and one look at the bag shows how true that statement is. Coperni’s Instagram post even had one Instagram user comment: “This looks like my bong when it’s filled with smoke and I’m obsessed.”
While Aerogel is just being used to create a small bag, in this case, it’s one sturdy accessory. The substance can hold 4,000 times its weight (far more than this purse can fit) and withstand up to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s no surprise then that, when not being made into bags, Aerogel has been used for tasks such as insulating Mars rovers.
The Air Swipe Bag isn’t listed for sale on Coperni’s website yet, but if you want an accessory this powerful, it’s likely going to cost you. Space travel and fashion are two things that never come cheap.
