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globalindustryresearchnews · 2 years

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Australia Clear Aligner Market Size and Forecast 2028

Australia Clear Aligner Industry Overview

The Australia clear aligner market size to be valued at USD 534.3 million by 2028 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.7% during the forecast period.

Clear aligners are a series of tight-fitting custom-made mouthpieces or orthodontic systems that are useful in correcting crowded, misaligned, or crooked teeth. Clear aligners are virtually discreet and removable alternatives to braces designed around patients’ convenience and flexibility. Factors such as the growing patient population suffering from malocclusions, rising technological advancements pertaining to dental treatment, and growing demand for customized clear aligners are driving the overall market growth.

Gather more insights about the market drivers, restrains and growth of the Australia Clear Aligner Market

Clear aligners brought in technological advancements and became an effective alternative to traditional braces which has held to its high demand globally. In Australia too, the demand for clear aligners provided by Align Technology and other direct-to-consumer aligner companies has seen a surge, especially among the teen population. This is because clear aligners are more comfortable and are very cheap as compared to conventional metal braces. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the average cost of a doctor-directed clear aligner system ranges from USD 1,500 to USD 2,500, and metal braces treatment cost is around USD 9,000.

According to Health Government Australia, even though the overall dental health of the country’s population has improved in the last 25 years, there is still room for improvement. They also reported that three out of ten Australians avoid visiting the dentist due to the high cost associated with dental treatments. To tackle this, state and territory governments provide public dental services. From 2018 to 2019, private health insurance providers in the country subsidized over 42.9 million dental services, and over 5.4 million dental services were subsidized under the Australian Government’s Child Dental Benefits Schedule.

Moreover, the Australian government is also increasing its funding for dental services to improve oral health in Australia and has launched National Oral Health Plan 2015 to 2024 to provide more public dental services for adults. Moreover, cosmetic dentistry procedures in Australia have also witnessed an increase. Various factors such as increasing dental disease burden, a large pool of skilled dental practitioners, high access to healthcare service, and growing government initiatives to raise awareness about dental health are expected to boost the growth of the clear aligners market in the country.

According to Orthodontics Australia, 60% of the Australian population perceives that a good smile gives a boost to confidence and 46% of the population would like to change the appearance of their teeth if given the chance. Over half of the Australian population stated that they would smile more if they had a perfect smile and these facts will prove to be a driving factor for the market growth. However, according to Sydney Morning Herald, many industry leaders have warned against direct-to-consumer operators or mail-order aligners that sell directly to consumers without any clinical oversight and may pose an irreversible health risk. This factor will most likely hinder market growth.

The coronavirus outbreak had resulted in historic losses across markets, pushing countries into a financial crisis. According to Oral Health Group, in March 2020, regulators and health authorities ordered all dental offices to immediately stop seeing patients, with an exception for emergency treatment, resulting in office closures and unprecedented revenue declines across the sector. Companies like Align Technologies faced supply chain and distribution hurdles for their clear aligner systems which affected their sales growth. However, the third quarter of 2020 witnessed a gradual increase as the lockdown was eased and dental practices were cautiously resumed, but at capacities less than pre-pandemic levels. As a step to assist doctors and stimulate the demand for their products, in 2020, Align Technology did not implement annual price increases on its clear aligner products.

Browse through Grand View Research's Medical Devices Industry Research Reports

Cellulite Treatment Market: The global cellulite treatment market size was valued at USD 1.25 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.3% from 2022 to 2030.

Urethral Dilators Market: The global urethral dilators market size was valued at USD 218.71 million in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% from 2022 to 2030.

Australia Clear Aligners Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the Australia clear aligners market on the basis of age, end-use, and distribution channel:

Australia Clear Aligners Age Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Adult

Teenage

Australia Clear Aligners End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Hospitals

Stand Alone Practices

Group Practices

Direct to Consumer

Australia Clear Aligners Distribution Channel Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Offline

Online

Market Share Insights

June 2022: Beam’s subsidiary Beam Clear Aligners a Sydney, Australia-based brand acquired anthonyspinkdentalsuite.com.au. The acquisition will boost the company’s mission to make dental care more accessible and affordable for all Australians.

Key Companies profiled:

Some of the key players operating in the Australia clear aligner market are:

Align Technology

Byte

SmilePath

EZSmile

Beam Australia

WonderSmile

SmileStyler

SmileDirectClub

Order a free sample PDF of the Australia Clear Aligner Market Intelligence Study, published by Grand View Research.

#Australia Clear Aligner Market

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multipleservicelisting · 4 years

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Trump’s Ideas Flourish Among State and Local Republicans

In Cleveland County, Okla., the chairman of the local Republican Party openly wondered “why violence is unacceptable,” just hours before a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol last week. “What the crap do you think the American revolution was?” he posted on Facebook. “A game of friggin pattycake?”

Two days later, the Republican chairman of Nye County in Nevada posted a conspiracy-theory-filled letter on the local committee website, accusing Vice President Mike Pence of treason and calling the rioting a “staged event meant to blame Trump supporters.”

And this week in Virginia, Amanda Chase, a two-term state senator running for the Republican nomination for governor, maintained that President Trump might still be sworn into a second term on Jan. 20 and that Republicans who blocked that “alternative plan” would be punished by the president’s supporters.

“They’ve got Mitch McConnell up there selling out the Republican Party,” Ms. Chase, who spoke at the protest in Washington last week, said in an interview. “The insurrection is actually the deep state with the politicians working against the people to overthrow our government.”

As Mr. Trump prepares to exit the White House and face a second impeachment trial in the Senate, his ideas continue to exert a gravitational pull in Republican circles across the country. The falsehoods, white nationalism and baseless conspiracy theories he peddled for four years have become ingrained at the grass-roots level of the party, embraced by activists, local leaders and elected officials even as a handful of Republicans in Congress break with the president in the final hour.

Interviews with more than 40 Republican state and local leaders conducted after the siege at the Capitol show that a vocal wing of the party maintains an almost-religious devotion to the president, and that its members don’t hold him responsible for the mob violence last week. The opposition to him emerging among some Republicans has only bolstered their support of him.

And while some Republican leaders and strategists are eager to dismiss these loyalists as a fringe element of their party, many of them hold influential roles at the state and local level. These local officials not only serve as the conduits between voters and federal Republicans, but they also serve as the party’s next generation of higher-level elected officials, and would bring a devotion to Trumpism should they ascend to Washington.

The continued support for the president is likely to maintain Mr. Trump’s influence long after he leaves office. That could hamper the ability of the party to unify and reshape its agenda to help woo back moderate suburban voters who play a decisive role in winning battleground states and presidential elections.

At the same time, stepping away from the president could cost the party his supporters — millions of new working-class voters who helped Mr. Trump capture more votes than any other Republican presidential candidate in history.

“It is priority No. 1 to retain Trump voters,” said Harmeet Dhillon, an R.N.C. member from California. “There is no way to do that with rapid change, tacking in a different direction. Voters are looking to the party for continuity and to stay the course.”

An Axios-Ipsos poll released Thursday showed that a majority of Republicans support the president’s recent behavior and say he should be the Republican nominee in 2024.

Already, some from the Trump wing are threatening primary challenges to Republicans deemed insufficiently loyal to the president and fierce opposition to any Republican who works with the new Biden administration. With Mr. Trump barred from prominent social media platforms, they’re immersing themselves in right-wing media outlets and waiting for new conservative social media platforms many say are being set up.

“The party is definitely with Trump,” said Debbie Dooley, a conservative activist in Georgia. “I’m seeing anger but it’s kind of nuanced. There are people that are angrier at these Republicans that have turned their backs on Trump than they are at Democrats.”

That was evident shortly after 10 Republicans joined with Democrats to support impeachment on Wednesday. Within hours of the vote, Drew McKissick, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, blasted out a statement attacking Representative Tom Rice, a Republican from his state who had backed impeachment.

“We completely disagree with this sham and to say I’m severely disappointed in Congressman Tom Rice would be an understatement,” Mr. McKissick said.

Several House Republicans also called for Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a high-profile voice for impeachment, to step down from her leadership position in the party’s caucus.

Anthony Sabatini, a Florida state representative, described Ms. Cheney and other Republicans who voted for impeachment as “artifacts,” saying they were out of step in a party that has embraced a more populist platform opposed to foreign interventions and skeptical of free trade.

“She’s like a fossil,” he said of Ms. Cheney. “The party is completely and totally realigned. Mitt Romney wouldn’t win in a primary today. He would not be able to be elected dogcatcher today.”

For years, opponents to Mr. Trump argued that he would lose his hold on the party after a devastating event — like unrest or violence that would shock the nation. Last week’s breach of the Capitol appears to have presented that opportunity to Republicans who want to refocus the party around Mr. Trump’s policies, and dispense with the polarizing language and divisive unrest that marked his four years in office.

“In this world, I think there’s lots of room for the Republican Party,” said Juliana Bergeron, an R.N.C. member from New Hampshire. “I’m not sure there’s room for the Republican Party of Donald Trump.”

But for many grass-roots Republicans, the episode at the Capitol was not the inflection point that some Republicans in Washington assumed it would be.

“No, Trump does not have any blame, but the Democrats certainly do, along with all the Republicans that follow with them,” said Billy Long, the Republican Party chairman in Bayfield County, Wis., who said he was planning to break away from the G.O.P. to start a local Trump-centric third party. “The Trump movement is not over; like Trump said himself, we are just getting started.”

Republican voters, too, have largely drawn a sharp distinction between the president and those who stormed the Capitol, with 80 percent saying they do not hold Mr. Trump responsible for the riot and 73 percent saying he is protecting democracy, according to polling released by Quinnipiac University this week.

Even in blue states, Republican leaders find themselves still grappling with Mr. Trump’s politics of grievance. In the New Jersey State Senate, Republicans were split on a resolution condemning Mr. Trump for inciting the riot in the Capitol. The majority of Republicans chose to abstain, and many used their time on the floor to try to flip the debate to the protests against racial injustice over the summer, and had to be reprimanded by the Senate president for veering off topic.

Even if Mr. Trump fades from political life, losing his social media megaphone and bully pulpit, his supporters say his message will be carried forward by a party remade in his image and with strong structural support at all levels.

Since Mr. Trump’s 2016 victory, 91 of the 168 positions on the Republican National Committee have turned over, with virtually all of the newcomers elected by Trump-aligned state parties.

The president received widespread praise at a national party meeting held two days after the siege, and was greeted with applause when he called into a breakfast gathering.

Already, battle lines are being drawn between the Trump wing and those who would like to move past the president.

Efforts to mount primary challenges to incumbent Republicans are already underway in several states, with the encouragement of Mr. Trump. In Georgia, potential primary candidates are reaching out to conservative activists about challenging the Republican governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state. Other targets may include Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Thune of South Dakota.

“The election was crooked and Republicans who could have done something did very little,” said Dave Wesener, the chairman of the Republican Party in Crawford County, Wis. “Those Republicans who have not been supportive I affectionately call RINOs. All RINOs should be primaried by conservatives.”

Along with his Green Bay Packers season tickets, which he is giving up to protest the team’s painting of racial justice slogans on its home field, Mr. Wesener plans to give up his role in his local Republican Party next month to demonstrate his disappointment that the party did not fight harder to overturn the results of the election.

In Virginia, Ms. Chase is likely to face a multicandidate Republican field for governor, which will be decided at a convention of party activists this summer. Though state G.O.P. officials opted to avoid a primary in hopes of denying Ms. Chase their nomination at a convention, the party’s activist base is filled with Mr. Trump’s most die-hard supporters.

“I’ve been called Trump in heels,” Ms. Chase said. “The regular grass roots of Virginia who are not part of the Republican establishment elite, they’re supporting me.”

The siege at the Capitol last week has drawn an even brighter line dividing the party. State legislators from more than a dozen states attended the protest, with at least one facing criminal charges for breaching the Capitol as part of the riot. Meshawn Maddock, an activist who is poised to be the incoming Michigan Republican Party co-chairwoman, helped organize busloads of supporters from her state to travel to the Capitol. In the days after the violence, she joined a conservative online group where some participants openly discussed civil war and martial law.

Many continue to defend their role in the event.

“Those who hold sway in Congress today look out on much of the country with disdain. Trump has never done that,” said State Representative David Eastman of Alaska, who attended the protest. “I, along with nearly a million other Americans, was glad to travel to D.C. to hear the president speak and thank him for his four years in office. Those in today’s ruling class will never truly understand why.”

Nick Corasaniti contributed reporting.

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hyipblog · 5 years

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Key Financial Events of the Decade

New Post has been published on https://blog.hyip.com/2019/07/key-financial-events-of-the-decade/

Key Financial Events of the Decade

Chris Skinner, financial analyst and the best-selling author of “Digital Bank” shared his opinion, which led us to a new financial world.[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”The Global Financial Crisis” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Since September 14, 2014, the global banking system has changed forever. These days not only Lehman collapsed — Washington Mutual was absorbed by JPMorgan Chase, the Royal Bank of Scotland could not resist, and many others struggled to stay afloat. As a result of the crisis, the regulation of the banking system has become much tougher, and capital requirements have increased more than ever before. In addition, there was a tightening of loans and opening of credit lines, and many credit cards were defaulted – within two years after the crisis, American banks wrote off over $ 100 billion of credit card debt. It is interesting that today the use of credit cards has returned to the pre-crisis level. Are we waiting for the new 2008 in the near future?[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”The Growth of Mobile Social” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”8177″ img_size=”1280×720″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]In the early 2010s, most people have not yet used social networks, at best they have heard something about them. The idea of the smartphone was also a novelty, the first Apple iPhone was released only in 2007, and many doubted that phone without a keyboard could be successful. But the manufacturers of the phones of the previous generation overlooked that the iPhone is not a phone, but a pocket computer. In combination with social networks, this has given an explosive growth in the user base, and today we live in a world where people speak little on their phones and look at their screens much more. In addition, the mobile revolution has led to large-scale changes in the field of payment services: today, any bank offers mobile banking services, and a mobile phone has become the main channel of communication with the client.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”The Application Revolution” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Payment solutions have become the most important applications on smartphones, mobile wallets work in almost all countries, from America to Africa. The leaders of the Chinese market, Alipay and WeChat Pay applications, over the past year conducted transactions worth 15 trillion dollars. The union of payment services and mobile applications has changed everything: a phone has become a cash register, and in the case of Square in the USA and iZettle in Europe it is quite literally. According to the forecast of Global Market Insights Inc, in 2024, mobile phones will process payments of more than 55 trillion dollars.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”The Emergence of Fintech” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”9433″ img_size=”1280×720″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Ten years ago there was no Fintech as a major phenomenon — there were only a few companies that planned to work with finances on the Internet. Today, thousands of companies are engaged in this topic, and each of them specializes in its own way – for example, Stripe, Klarna and Adyen. They do not try to grasp the immeasurable, but rather they each concentrate on one narrow area and write software to solve the chosen problem. We have already seen the emergence of powerful brands in this field, including unicorns, some of which began in the early 2000s, and today their capitalization exceeds $ 1 billion, for example, SoFi, Kabbage and Robinhood. These companies, dominating in their fields, have grown from scratch, and many of them operate globally. Some of them are beginning to merge, like TransferWise and Wirecard, and the output will be regional or world market leaders.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Pan-European movement — and a laggard” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Europe was working toward adopting a single currency in 2008, with regulations for the euro driving changes across all aspects of finance. One was the first iteration of the Payment Services Directive, bringing with it efforts to harmonize all of the payments products used in 28 nations. To make this happen, the banks were working co-operatively through the Euro Banking Association (EBA) to build the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). This would allow standing orders, direct debits, credit transfers and any form of payment to move across Europe’s countries as though they were domestic payments. Meanwhile, over in the United States, a different type of herculean effort was unfolding — the move from magnetic stripes to EMV. Ten years after the UK, the United States finally fully mandated chip-and-PIN cards. Much like the Eurozone, it experienced growing pains with getting all players on the same page. Even today, fractures remain, with some merchants opting to take the liability risk associated with mag-stripe cards rather than making the switch to chip.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Satoshi Nakamoto and Bitcoin” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”8129″ img_size=”1280×720″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Another important point is that in 2008 an unknown (to this day) scientist named Satoshi Nakamoto published an article titled “Bitcoin. Peer-to-peer electronic money system” and proposes a model, which allows participants to transfer funds among themselves without the intermediation of a financial institution. After that, in January 2009, he released the first version of bitcoin.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”The Race to Cashless” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Mobile wallets, digital currencies, peer-to-peer payments – all this put pressure on the consumer, encouraging him to get rid of cash in his pocket, and in some countries this process has already gone very far, it is expected that Turkey, Sweden and China will completely give up physical money in the next decade. Of course, it’s convenient for governments: automated payments that go through a single system are much easier to track. There are clear advantages in this for private individuals as well: the risk of robbery or loss of money is lower, there is no contact with bacteria that abound in banknotes and coins, and so on.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

#Blockchain #cashless #cryptocurrencies #online banking

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newstfionline · 7 years

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Inside America’s Growing Bulletproof Clothing Industry

By Chelsea Greenwood, Racked, Dec 14, 2017

This past August, Miguel Caballero shot his wife, Carolina Ballesteros, for the second time in nine years.

Since 1993, the Colombian designer has literally pulled the trigger on more than 230 people to prove the efficacy of his bulletproof clothing. (All participants were volunteers.) The August demonstration was part of Caballero’s campaign to introduce his eponymous line of upscale bulletproof (sometimes called bullet-resistant) apparel--ranging from blazers (4,343.50 euros) to tank tops (2,023 euros)--to the United States, his newest market.

When Caballero founded his company in his native Colombia in 1992, the country was teeming with gun violence and homicide due to the still-ongoing conflict among factions there. In fact, that summer, notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from prison, ratcheting up public anxiety even more. It was a scary time to be alive, and Caballero started making armored backpacks and bullet-resistant Bible covers to help assuage the fears of his countrymen.

That was then. Homicides in Colombia have since declined, and Caballero--sometimes called the “Armored Armani”--turned his savvy eye to another country besieged by gun violence and grasping for a sense of security: the United States. Earlier this year, he opened a distribution center in Miami to sell his clothing line to wary Americans. His bulletproof apparel includes all levels of protection as standardized by the U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ): IIA, II, IIIA, III, and IV. (More on what those levels mean in a minute.)

He’s not alone. In the United States, body armor manufacturing is a $465 million-a-year industry, according to an August report from Market Research. And the global market for such wares is expected to be worth $5.7 billion by 2024, according to a 2016 study by Grandview Research.

Within this industry is a small but growing sector of manufacturers and retailers that, like Caballero, are proffering upscale bulletproof apparel that’s light-years beyond the standard bulletproof vest, both sartorially and functionally. From bespoke suits to safari jackets, the new breed of bulletproof clothing is comfortable and undetectable.

The NIJ sets the only nationally acceptable standards for body armor, ranked by level. According to the Justice Technology Information Center, a subsidiary of the NIJ, Level II body armor is tested to stop 9 mm and .40 S&W ammunition fired from short-barrel handguns (no rifle ammunition protection); Level IIA is tested to stop 9 mm and .357 Magnum ammunition fired from short-barrel handguns (no rifle ammunition protection); Level IIIA is tested to stop .357 SIG and .44 Magnum ammunition fired from longer-barrel handguns (no rifle ammunition protection); Level III is tested to stop 7.62 mm FMJ lead core rifle ammunition; and Level IV is tested to stop 30-caliber steel core armor-piercing rifle ammunition.

Abbas Haider, CEO and president of Aspetto Inc. in Fredericksburg, Virginia, claims to have been the first US purveyor of high-end bulletproof fashion. While Aspetto offers normal apparel and accessories, its best-seller is the bespoke Ballistic Suit Level IIIA ($5,000), comprising lightweight bullet-resistant panels. It can stop a bullet at point-blank range from most handguns and meets testing standards by the NIJ, DEA, and FBI.

Haider started his custom clothing brand in 2008 as a college freshman. As seniors, he and fellow student Robert Davis, now Aspetto’s chief operating officer, teamed up to create high-end bulletproof fashion as part of an international marketing class. The duo met with a ballistics producer and built a prototype suit. “Before we could even present our project to the class, we were already talking to some ‘three-letter’ agencies [e.g., CIA, FBI, NSA, etc.] who were interested in what we had developed,” he says. “After receiving an A on the project, Robert and I decided that we wanted to turn this into a real business and continue expanding on it. The typical body armor user is tired of not seeing any innovation in the industry for years.”

For others in the bulletproof apparel industry, their initial motivations to enter the marketplace were more emotionally charged. Damian Ross, owner of the Self Defense Company, which provides self-defense training, was spurred to action when a shooting took place in 2013 at Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey--a mall that he frequents with his family. “I realized I needed a real solution, and set to work on finding an affordable, effective, realistic solution,” he says. “Sure, I could avoid going to the mall altogether--there are certain times we don’t--but it’s just not pragmatic. So now, I just throw on my jacket and go.”

He’s referring to his Bodyguard Tactical Jacket, which comes in Street ($467) and Beast ($597) styles. The former provides Level IIA protection for everyday wear, and the latter offers Level IIIA protection for high-risk situations. Ross, who has 20 years of self-defense training experience, collaborated with Israeli military contractors to create the garment. “My goal has always been to help people fit self-defense into their everyday lives without having to commit to years of classes,” he says. “Unfortunately, no matter how hard you train, there are some impossible situations. So ballistic protection was the next logical evolution for self-defense.”

Ross notes that most people don’t realize that owning body armor, including bulletproof clothing, is fully legal and doesn’t require a special permit, waiting period, or background check. However, felons cannot legally purchase it, and some buying guidelines vary by state.

Yet another bulletproof apparel manufacturer and retailer, BulletBlocker, was born as a direct result of violence. After the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, Massachusetts resident Joe Curran feared that a similar tragedy might strike closer to home. “The safety of my two school-aged children motivated the creation of the bulletproof backpacks,” says the former Army ranger, deputy sheriff, and firearms instructor. He founded the company that same year and soon expanded to selling bulletproof clothing, such as the NIJ IIIA Bulletproof Leather Jacket ($875) and NIJ IIIA Bulletproof Classic Two Piece Suit ($1,200).

Clearly, judging by these price tags, bulletproof fashion doesn’t come cheap. So who are the customers lining up to purchase this stylish form of security? Hint: It’s not Joe Sixpack. Caballero counts world leaders from South America and the Middle East among his clients, as well as international business bigwigs. Haider says 85 percent of his business comes from government employees, including members of the Army, Department of State, Air Force, and Marine Corps. “There is a decent portion of commercial and private clients as well,” he says, “which includes foreign dignitaries, oil executives, and regular citizens looking for covert protection.” He estimates that half his customers are also gun owners.

Ross says his clients--who are mostly college-educated, professional males ranging in age from 34 to 75 years--are simply reading the writing on the wall. “They see what’s happening on the news, and, any time they’re in a crowd or an area that can be prone to attack, they are concerned.”

He guesses that many of his customers are gun owners, too, noting a correlation: “Gun owners accept the fact that they may have to use deadly force to protect their loved ones or themselves, and that most likely means facing an armed subject,” he says. “Logic dictates that, if you think someone is going to shoot at you, you should probably be wearing some protection.”

As more and more bulletproof apparel retailers emerge across the country, it begs the question: Should we feel comforted by the supply of such protection or alarmed by the fact that there’s such a demand for it? Haider, somewhat surprisingly, leans toward the latter. “It is very unfortunate that we see more and more bulletproof fashion pop up across the country,” he says. “It means that the demand is rising. People don’t feel safe anymore in public gatherings, and it’s sad. Right after the Vegas shooting, we had so many hits on our website and so many inquiries. One request in particular sticks out: There was an older lady who called for a bullet-resistant sweatshirt because she did not feel comfortable going to the grocery store.”

Ross, once again, takes a pragmatic view: “People used to believe that violence only happened in the ‘poor section of town,’” he says. “Well, now, people are waking up to the fact that it happens everywhere--where you work, live, and play. Violence knows no socioeconomic boundary.”

Bulletproof fashion shouldn’t necessarily be cause for alarm, Yamane argues, because it’s just another contingency plan. “People understand that you can lower your risk of being a victim of violence by observing the ‘Rules of Stupid’: Don’t go stupid places with stupid people at stupid times and do stupid things,” he says. “However, even someone who follows these rules religiously can be victimized. This violence could be a random thug in a parking lot or a terrorist attack in a church. Although these events are low odds, they are high stakes or consequence, so some choose to prepare for the worst.”

#bulletproof clothing #body armor manufacturing

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