High-Visibility Vest
A hi-vis vest lasts about 5 years — or roughly 25 washes — before UV light and laundering dull the fluorescent fabric and reflective tape below the safety standard.
Two things wear out
A high-visibility vest works in two ways: fluorescent fabric that glows in daylight and retro-reflective tape that throws headlights straight back at a driver. Both wear out. Sunlight bleaches the fluorescent dye, and every wash abrades the reflective tape, so a vest that met EN ISO 20471 when new slips below standard after roughly five years or about 25 launderings — whichever comes first.
Spotting a worn-out vest
Hold the vest up in a beam of light after dark: if the tape no longer lights up sharply, it is spent. In daylight, a yellow that has turned pale cream or a green gone grey has lost its fluorescence. Cracked, peeling or stiff tape is the clearest sign — once it flakes, it cannot reflect, and the vest is replaced.
In the car
In Germany at least one hi-vis vest is compulsory in every car, kept within reach of the driver — in the door pocket, not the boot — so it goes on before you step out onto the road after a breakdown. If several vests live in the car for the whole family, check each one; the one that rides on the parcel shelf in the sun ages fastest.