A modern bulletproof vest is thinner than an iPhone yet can withstand the force of multiple bullets at once. The backpacks sherpas schlep up Mount Everest easily survive the world’s most challenging terrain yet weigh less than a bag of sugar. norda’s trail super shoes are basically indestructible yet comprise a super thin lightweight upper. How is all this possible? Dyneema.

The world’s strongest fiber is the secret weapon woven into the toughest gear. And most of it is serious outdoor equipment produced for dangerous activities (like mountain expeditions), but some fashion designers are learning to have fun with it. 

Technical fashion label meanswhile has progressed from reinforcing military-flavored cargo pants with Dyneema leg shields into making anything and everything from the fiber that’s 15 times stronger than steel. 

The Japanese label bonds Dyneema to leather for a crossbody phone holder and makes tiny coin purses from Dyneema Composite Fabric. But craziest of all is its Dyneema fan.

This is, to the untrained eye, a traditional handheld folding paper fan held together by wood. But instead of paper meanswhile deploys the world’s strongest fiber to create the world’s most unnecessarily strong handheld fan. 

Dyneema has slowly been creeping into fashion over the years — added to vintage Levi’s jeans by stylish running label Satisfy, used for Vans skate shoes, and woven into C.P. Company’s “Urban Protection” outerwear — but never has the fiber been used for such frivolous means.

The argument normally aimed at outdoorsy fashion types is that wearing head-to-toe GORE-TEX just to drink artisan coffee in a city is absurd. This takes things a step further. Using military-grade fabric as a fan is gorpcore gone wild.

And clearly there’s a budding audience for these uber-strong fans because they sold out the first time around and now meanswhile is restocking them on June 5.

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