Why Does Fluorescent Green Become the Dominant Color of Reflective Clothing?

2025-07-31

Decoding Manufacturers' "Color Selection Science"

Besides road construction sites, on streets traversed late at night, and in the cabs of high-speed trucks, that striking fluorescent green always catches people's eyes at first glance. As an important carrier of safety protection, the color choice of reflective clothing is no accident. The fact that fluorescent green has become the absolute mainstream in manufacturers' production.


From the perspective of visual science, the "presence" of fluorescent green stems from its unique optical properties. The human eye is most sensitive to green light with a wavelength between 500 and 570 nanometers. This wavelength of light can more efficiently stimulate the cone cells on the retina, making it more easily detectable than other colors, such as red and blue, under the same light conditions. Moreover, fluorescent materials can convert absorbed ultraviolet rays into visible light, making the color brightness several times higher than that of ordinary pigments. In low-visibility environments such as dawn, dusk, or haze, this "active luminescence" effect extends the visible distance of fluorescent green reflective clothing by more than 30% compared with other colors, gaining crucial reaction time for users in dangerous scenarios.


The safety requirements of different application scenarios have further consolidated the dominant position of fluorescent green. In the field of road construction, the contrast between fluorescent green and the surrounding environment can be called a "natural advantage": whether it is the dark gray of asphalt pavement, the dark green of green belts, or the khaki of building materials, fluorescent green can form a strong visual impact, enabling drivers to identify construction areas from 100 meters away. In traffic law enforcement scenarios, the combination of fluorescent green and reflective strips has become an internationally recognized "safety signal". For sanitation workers and logistics sorters working at night, the reflective effect of fluorescent green under light can effectively avoid collision risks caused by mechanical operations and vehicle traffic.


The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) lists fluorescent green as a "high-visibility color" in the safety protective clothing standards, requiring its mandatory use in high-risk industries such as road and construction. This standardized production not only reduces the design costs of manufacturers but also enables downstream customers to form a stable purchasing perception. When construction units and logistics companies purchase reflective clothing, fluorescent green has become a synonym for "compliance" and "reliability", further promoting manufacturers to concentrate their production capacity on this color.