Bulletproof cars are so passé, that's Al Capone stuff. We'll see your Tom Cruise and raise you one better- bulletproof clothing.

In Mexico there have been 1,400 drug-related deaths this year alone. Obviously that isn't something to be taken, or discussed, lightly. However, it does appear to be a pretty good marketing campaign for Miguel Caballero, a clothing maker from Colombia who recently opened a shop on Avenida Presidente Masaryk, "a high-end shopping thoroughfare in the Polanco neighborhood, one of the most upscale in Mexico City." [NPR]
Caballero makes fashionable bulletproof clothing starting at $2,000. Among his creations are "blazers, women's suede jackets that'll stop a .44 Magnum, T-shirts lined with body armor, and guayabera shirts for catching sun or bullets...bulletproof business suits, long Burberry-type raincoats, slick biker jackets and a women's ski parka in orange with a fake fur collar."

Says Cabellero, "In all the clothing that we have here, it's 100 percent flexible. With the bulletproof vests of the police force, you can't find that.

"We can make any type of bulletproof vest, but the basis of the company is design, fashion, discretion. And what we are doing all the time - the discretion - we are working to develop the concept of fashion and, in this way, it's very comfortable and flexible." According to NPR, "Caballero boasts that his clients include the presidents of Colombia, Peru and Guatemala."

How long before we see Tom Cruise walking down the red-carpet in a Cabellero tux?

[via NPR]