Volvo Cars Bracelet
Safety woven into a wearable
A paracord bracelet designed in collaboration with Volvo Cars — featuring reflective cord and a rhodium-plated toggle clasp engraved with the Volvo wordmark. Produced in an edition of approximately 2,000 pieces.
The brief
Volvo Cars approached Naimakka — the outdoor lifestyle brand I was running at the time — to develop a co-branded bracelet. The brief was to create a wearable accessory that felt authentically Naimakka in construction while embedding Volvo's brand DNA in a way that went beyond surface-level badging.
My role
I led the design of the bracelet from concept through to production-ready specification. This included the clasp design, cord specification, material selection, and the integration of Volvo's brand identity into the product. The collaboration was initiated by Volvo Cars.
Highlights
- Reflective threads woven into navy paracord — Volvo's safety DNA made wearable
- Custom rhodium-plated toggle clasp with engraved Volvo wordmark
- Cobra weave construction — flat, tactile, low-profile on the wrist
- Nautical toggle-through-loop closure — secure and one-hand operable
- Restrained Scandinavian palette: navy blue + mirror chrome
- Brand collaboration initiated by Volvo Cars
Process
The design started with the question: how do you express a car brand's identity in a bracelet without it feeling like merchandise? Volvo's brand is built on safety — that became the design concept.
Specified a custom paracord with integrated reflective threads woven into the braid. Under normal light, the cord reads as a tonal navy blue texture. Under direct light — headlights, flash — the reflective fibers catch and flash. Safety made wearable.
Designed a custom rhodium-plated toggle clasp — a cylindrical bar with a D-loop attachment, engraved with the Volvo wordmark. The rhodium mirror finish reads as automotive chrome, a subtle nod to the client's world. The toggle-through-loop mechanism is nautical-inspired: secure, operable with one hand.
The bracelet uses a cobra weave (Solomon bar knot) — a flat, uniform, tactile band that sits low on the wrist. The same weave pattern used in survival and military paracord bracelets.
The color palette — navy blue cord with rhodium chrome hardware — is restrained and Scandinavian. The only branding is the engraved toggle. No tags, no labels, no overt logos on the cord itself.
Final product
Outcome
Approximately 2,000 bracelets were produced. The design demonstrated that a brand collaboration can be more than a logo placement — the reflective cord made Volvo's core value physically present in the product without a single word of explanation needed.