The John Tillman Co. has launched a new line of high-visibility, functional safety vests. The vests include features designed to help workers be more efficient on a jobsite.

Tillman designed their high-vis safety vests for welding, construction, manufacturing, and industrial workers. The company says it relied on experience and feedback from workers in the field to ensure each vest is safe and functional.
“When we started designing the Tillman safety vests, we started with the value proposition that the vests must be comfortable, durable, practical, and provide the user and their company a great value”, said Jeff Shipley, Director of Marketing for Tillman. “The baseline when designing the vests were that every vest had to be ANSI 107 Type R, Class 2 compliant. That being said, the family of safety vests had to be comfortable, functional, lightweight and, well, look cool.”
During the development process, Tillman watched how users worked and used their safety vest during daily work. “We quickly realized that a person’s safety vest just isn’t a bright yellow vest with reflective stripes, often times a safety vest is their office, in the field, or the warehouse,” added Shipley.
The result is safety vests that offer quality materials, extra reinforcements, durable construction, and comfort for hours of wear — while ensuring workers are kept seen and safe.
“With the integration of technology in the workplace, vests have to offer features that allow the user to work more efficiently,” he said. “This includes pockets for phones, identification pouches to more around the job site easier and larger pockets for tablet devices, notebooks and larger gloves like welding gloves.”
Tillman included six high-vis safety vests in their line-up, and four of those brands provide fire-resistant materials. One of the brand provides HRC 2 protection. Tillman had to look at those working near welding, grinding or torch work that might require a FR vest. “Often times we saw sparks shooting out from a grinding wheel, as well as sparks and spatter raining down from floors above, our fire-resistant vests are designed to protect workers throughout a job site while being affordable,” said Shipley.
Tillman vests feature designs through proven concepts:
- Chemically treated, lightweight, 100% ultra-cool fire-resistant mesh on the Journeyman, Operator and Performance vests.
- 6.2 oz. Modacrylic flame-resistant material that meets the requirements for ASTM F1506, HRC 2, and NFPA 70E-2012 on the Fire Resistant & Arc Rated vest.
- ANSI 107 Type R, Class 2 compliant on all vests.
- Reinforced black trim for added durability and an added touch of style.
- A Mic tab on the 2000, 2005, 2010, 2020 and 2030 vests.
- Large and numerous pockets for added storage on the Journeyman, Operator and Performance vests.
- Added color contrast on the 2020 Operator model for greater awareness in the field.
- Reflective awareness at dusk, dawn and night.
Filed Under: News, Safety