FAQ

Without reflectors, a driver can se a pedestrian at night at from about 100 feet. With good quality reflectors, the visibility increases to up to 500 feet. Look for the EN13356 mark to ensure adequate reflective power.  A smaller sized reflector or one made with inferior reflective material (read cheaper) may not increase visibility as much.

Under ideal conditions (dry weather and along dark empty road without distractions), we have measured the funflector® reflectors to be visible from at least 600 feet.

Nothing is wrong. It’s “reflective”, not “glow in the dark”, and there is a big difference!

Glow-in-the-dark products make light on their own, and have a built-in energy source. It can be a battery or a chemical reaction (like in glow sticks that you need to “pop” before they light up). Eventually they run out of power and stop emitting light.  Glow-in-the-dark products often emit light in all directions and light up the nearby surrounding.

Reflective (or more correct “retro-reflective”) means reflecting light back to where the light came from. If you shine a flash light on a pedestrian reflector (or a reflective road sign) the reflector bounces the light back to the flash light. The closer you hold the flash light to your eyes, the brighter the reflector appear.  We like to put the backend of the flash light on our noses and aim the other end at the reflector to simulate a driver with the car head lights. Reflectors work with any kind of light source – flash light, car light, sun light, even candle light – as long as the reflective material is clean and NOT broken, scratched or painted over.

Drivers see it very differently than you. When you wear a safety reflector, a driver with normal headlights (low beam) can see it from over 500 feet. The microprism structure of the reflective layer reflects all light back to where it came from, which is to the car and the driver. Very little of the light is scattered in your direction.  That’s why you don’t see how bright the safety reflector can be when you wear it yourself.

Here are a few ways to test it:

1. Hang the reflector somewhere (preferably outside at dusk or when it’s dark) and take a photo with flash ON (a smartphone works great). See how far back you can go and still see it on the photo.
2. Hang the reflector up along the road (for example in a bush or on a stick) and drive by. Make sure the reflector is facing the car or can dangle freely.
3. Take a flash light and hold it close to your eyes (preferably hold it right in front of your nose, as if you are Pinocchio). Shine the flash light on the reflector, which should be at least 10 feet away. If it is dark enough (like dusk or darker) you will see the reflector turning bright white.

In the US, ANSI standards specify the reflective and conspicuous power of reflective work wear for road workers, first responders etc. However,  for reflective accessories, there is no standard to lean on to know if we are doing our job or not to manufacture effective pedestrian safety reflectors. That’s why we turn to the EN13356 standard.

The European EN13356 standard for “Visility Accessories for non-professional use” has instead become the defacto world standard. Manufacturers and resellers use it everywhere from the Far East to the Americas. It specifies minimum size and minimum reflective power at different angles. Read more about the standard here. 

The higher the quality of the reflective material, the smaller the safety reflector tag can be and still have enough reflective power. For the smallest allowed size, only a few manufacturers make reflective material that is powerful enough. 3M is one of them. The three little triangles on the reflective material tell you that they are made from 3M™ Scotchlite™.

The funflector® tags have the same high quality 3M Scotchlite layer on the back as on the front. When they dangle, they reflect equally well from both sides.

The funflector wrap has a suede like back to make it more comfortable on bare wrists and ankles. It also keeps it from sliding when wrapped around a sleeve or pant leg.

The ball chains are intentionally not too strong. In case you get stuck, the chain is supposed to break before you get hurt or your jacket is ripped. After all, a reflector is cheaper to replace than a torn jacket or backpack zipper.

Please contact us if your chain broke and you need to replace it.

Yes, please recycle your safety reflectors when they have reached end-of-life!

• Reflective tags as vinyl.
• The outer part of slap bracelets as vinyl, also the suede like layer.
• Chains and interior of slap bracelets as metal.
• Labels as paper.
• Clear bags as grocery bags.
• Clear plastic box (for some 2-packs) is PET plastic. (We are working on replacing them with a more sustainable material)

Reduce, reuse, recycle! Eliminating waste and protecting our environment requires a community effort. We do our best to keep down on waste and packaging material and kindly ask you to do your part to recycle packaging material and, at the end of their lives, the reflectors.

If your local recycler doesn’t take the vinyl, please send it back to us and we will make sure it stays out of landfills. (It’s cheaper and easier for you to mail them if you recycle the metal parts yourself.)

Please send it in a recyclable envelope to:
glimling.com LLC
Attn: Recycling
814 Dobson St Ste 3W
Evanston IL 60202
USA

If you include your email we’ll send you a 30% discount coupon for your next purchase in our webshop!

If your safety reflector becomes damaged, scratched or dirty, it looses its reflecting power. A dirty safety reflector is best cleaned with a damp cloth and a damaged one should be replaced. For maximum lifetime, store dark and cool when not in use.

We recommend checking your safety reflector regularly and clean or replace it when needed. Especially children’s reflectors should be checked often.

A good place to hang reflectors are on backpacks. However, when school children throw their bags on the ground while waiting for the school bus, the reflectors will likely need to be replaced after a semester or two.

A funflector® safety reflector tag comes with a short ball chain to hang on jacket and backpack zipper pulls and on bags, purses, strollers, wheelchairs or dog collars. Here are a few things to think about:

• Use two or more reflectors and hang them front and back or left and right to increase visibility from multiple directions
• Hang them low. That’s where cars’ head light beam hits.
• Let them dangle. The dangling makes the light flicker to the driver and motions draws attention.
• Please check out these blog posts for more information on how to use our pedestrian safety reflectors!

Can you imagine how hard it is to see a polar bear in a snow storm? Seeing a pedestrian with dark clothes at night along or crossing a road is equally difficult for a driver. As Anthony Foxx, the former U.S. Secretary of Transportation put it: “Everyone is a pedestrian” when we step out of our cars. You never know when you’ll have to park further away than planned or you end up running errands in the dark.

funflector® safety reflectors are stylish accessories that add a personal touch to jackets and bags also in day light. Let a couple of fun, pedestrian reflectors dangle from your clothes and bags. That will help drivers see you well ahead of reaching you!

Use safety reflectors all the time from dusk to dawn when you walk along or across any streets or roads. It is also a good idea to wear them when you walk across parking lots in the dark. In bad weather conditions like fog, rain or snow, we recommend to use them also during the day.

We have designed the pedestrian reflectors so that they are stylish accessories too, so you can just leave them on your jacket, bag, backpack, purse, stroller, wheelchair or dog leash all the time.

The slap bracelet safety reflectors can be wrapped around straps of bags and backpacks or around stroller and wheelchair parts when not in use to have them on hand when dusk approaches.

The funflector® reflective slap bracelet makes great reflective gear for people on the go like runners, bicyclists, skateboarders, rollerbladers etc. Wear reflective slap bracelets around the wrists or around the ankles. We recommend the ankles as it gives you better visibility because

• it is lower down where the car head lights are brighter
• it gives you pretty good visibility from all directions unless you wear a long skirt or carry bags in your hands that hang low down. If you wear it around your wrist, drivers won’t notice you from behind when you pick up your phone to text!
• Especially when you run, your ankles move more than your wrists and motion draws attention.
• When biking, safety reflectors around your ankles move when you pedal and that really catches the drivers’ attention. Ideally, wear one on each ankle. However, if you only have one, wear it on the side that is closest to traffic, normally on your left ankle.

When not in use, we suggest you wrap the bracelet around the strap of your purse, bag or backpack to always have it on hand when you are out and about and it gets dark before you get home.

Right here, in the official funflector® webshop! funflector.com, is our flagship store where you can buy online. It is located in the US (Chicago area) and we ship world wide with the unfortunate exception of the EU and the United Kingdom (due to VAT rules).

Retailers and shops, please see our wholesale page.

For customized reflectors for marketing or retail, please see our logo reflector page .