The story of high-visibility clothing is a fascinating journey that traces back to the 19th century with early experiments in artificial fluorescent pigments, followed by the development of Day-Glo pigments in the 1930s. Fluorescence found practical applications during World War II. Post-war, its use exploded commercially. One of the pioneering instances of hi-vis fluorescent workwear emerged in 1964 in a major city in the UK, where the railway company introduced an optional orange vest for track workers. 

However, the workers were initially resistant, concerned that the vests made them overly conspicuous or made them seem less courageous. It wasn't until the 1970s that the railway workers started to reluctantly accept them. In contrast, adoption in Australia was slower. The harsh heat and the uncomfortable synthetic materials used in early vests likely contributed to this delay. An early example of hi-vis attire, a postal delivery vest from around 1975 made from plastic webbing, can be found in a museum in Sydney. At that time, soft synthetic fibres were not widely available, and natural fibres did not effectively retain fluorescent pigments. After state-level changes to work health and safety laws in Australia in the 1980s, the presence of fluoro vests on worksites gradually increased, though photos from the era suggest that their use still seemed somewhat awkward. 

Throughout the 1990s, politicians visiting worksites typically wore suits and sometimes hard hats, while only trades and labouring workers wore the vests. But by the early 2000s, politicians began to regularly don hi-vis vests. From the mid-1980s to the early 2000s, the use of hi-vis clothing grew steadily, before experiencing a rapid expansion in the first decade of the 21st century. It transformed from an unpopular, rare, and sometimes embarrassing safety measure into an everyday, mass-produced "consumable" and a significant cultural symbol of the era.