Across global cities, once-occasional gestures have become routine: the pocket pat, the zip check, the instinctive tug of a strap closer to the body. These movements reflect a rising everyday caution on city streets, and an uptick in crime content online, including viral TikToks of attempted theft and clips of people discreetly twisting their engagement rings while on the tube. In a moment of heightened vigilance, fashion is being asked a new question: how do we dress for lives lived on alert?
Enter ‘guardian design’, a term identified by trend forecaster WGSN to describe a 2026 macro-trend in which anti-theft and privacy-protection features are aesthetically integrated, built-in components of clothing and accessories. It marks a move toward protection that’s discreet and embedded from the outset — a response to a rising sense of ambient risk.
This shift is landing at a pivotal commercial moment. In a prolonged cost of living squeeze, shoppers are reassessing every discretionary purchase. KPMG research shows that more than half of UK shoppers have cut non-essential spending, with clothing among the first categories to go. The result isn’t a consumer who buys nothing, but one who is far more analytical about why they should buy. Guardian design speaks directly to that calculus. A bag that demonstrates lockable compartments and secure anchor points is perhaps more compelling than a luxury logo in today’s socioeconomic environment.
A background hum of risk
The cultural backdrop to guardian design is difficult to ignore. In the UK, there are more than 200 phone and bag snatch thefts every day, according to crime survey data for England and Wales, with around 78,000 people affected in the year ended March 2024 — a 153% year-on-year increase. Across Europe, police-recorded thefts increased by 4.8% and robberies by 2.7% in 2024, according to the European Commission. In the state of New York, pick-pocketing reached a 10-year high in December 2023, with 410 pick-pocketing reports per 100,000 people in one month, per the FBI crime data explorer. That number has since fallen to 150-250 reports, but has never returned to pre-2023 levels.
WGSN identifies “shared vigilance” as a core emotional driver for 2027 and beyond — a proactive mindset in which consumers look to safeguard what they value most. “Particularly for Gen Z, there’s a sense that you need to protect yourself, whether from big data companies or everyday risks,” says Sara Maggioni, WGSN’s head of womenswear. Professor Andrew Groves, director of the Westminster Menswear Archive, describes it as “a background hum of risk”, which is shaping younger consumers’ expectations.
The challenge for designers now is to respond to this rising vigilance without slipping into fearmongering and to embed protection without sacrificing style. From reworking silhouettes to rethinking closures, materials and pockets, the next wave of innovation will hinge on how seamlessly these features can be integrated into everyday design.
Getting behind guardian design
Most anti-theft innovation has clustered around travel accessories. Brands like Pacsafe have built entire ranges around lockable zippers, cut-resistant fabrics and RFID-blocking pockets, explicitly marketing “anti-theft travel gear” as their core proposition. Premium travel labels such as Tumi and Away foreground TSA-approved locks, secure tech compartments and modular add-ons in their luggage and backpack lines, folding security into a broader promise of performance and seamless mobility.
For fashion brands, though, guardian design is present in isolated details rather than a coherent offer. Maggioni sees accessories as the most immediate on-ramp. Phone slings, wristlets, belt bags and crossbody pouches are already familiar; what’s missing is a systematic approach to security. “We’re looking at things like lockdown hardware and RFID-blocking pockets — simple additions that can prevent card cloning and integrate easily into existing bag shapes,” she says.
Casetify offers one such model. The phone case brand has built a sizable business around phone straps and slings that sit at the intersection of lifestyle and security. Their strategy is to treat straps as fashion objects — metal chains, beaded wristlets, curated colorways — rather than simply safety gear. “Consumers don’t want to choose between a secure product and a stylish one, they expect both,” says a spokesperson for the brand.
When it comes to apparel, the interesting thing is how accessories and clothing talk to each other, Maggioni adds. “If you have a phone sling hanging from your neck, why not work with your apparel designer so there’s a front pocket built to accommodate the sling? The sling stops being just a wristlet, it’s integrated with how your clothes function.”
Even classic pieces offer openings. “Take a leather jacket,” she suggests. “You know the button or epaulette on the shoulder? If you reinforce it, you can actually hook your bag there and close it. We’re not saying reinvent the wheel, we’re saying: look at your essentials and think about how you can supercharge them. Something as simple as reinforcing that area keeps your bag from being snatched — you just have to be clever in how you engineer it.”
Opportunity in the challenge
For designers, the challenge is leaning into these real-world needs while upholding a brand’s DNA. Johanna Parv, for example, comes from a background in tailoring and high fashion, but her designs are shaped by the realities of women moving through the city — particularly cyclists carrying bags, phones and laptops, all while looking put together. “My thinking is how could we take the traditional understanding of how women want to look but adapt it for movement,” Parv told Vogue Business. The brand’s jackets and pants feature discreet, strategically placed pockets for securing phones or handbags; and dresses are cut from soft jersey or water-resistant fabrics that allow the wearer to run if they need to.
For other brands looking to explore functional design, there’s no shortage of historical references. “We have many pieces that feature stowable pocket systems,” says Jonah Franke-Fuller, co-founder of Constant Practice, a studio and retail space that curates new and vintage designer pieces, with a focus on function and utility. “There are many ways to execute this idea.” Pieces range from the hyper-technical, like the 2001 Burton Analog Q Cargo jacket, to the understated: a pair of 1980s Issey Miyake pleated pants, where invisible welt pockets are tucked neatly beneath the pleats.
As security becomes a growing priority for consumers, even design-led innovations are being scrutinized for real-world practicality. Fashion critic Odunayo Ojo, better known as Fashion Roadman, highlighted this tension in an Instagram post arguing that the recent Issey Miyake x Apple iPhone pocket made “absolutely no sense” from a practical standpoint. Although the concept behind the design was “the joy of wearing iPhone in your own way”, discerning consumers complained that the brightly colored knitted pochette causes the phone to dangle at chest height, fully exposed. The product signals tech-forwardness, but overlooks the realities of urban risk with no structural reinforcement or theft deterrence and high visibility.
At the more radical end of the spectrum, Maggioni points to experiments in surveillance-resistant textiles, such as RFID-blocking underwear or garments marketed around obstructing certain signals. “Some of it can sound extreme — protecting your genitals from 5G — but it speaks to a real anxiety around being tracked or scanned,” she notes. “There’s something there around counter-surveillance and protection in general.”
Positioning without fearmongering
For brands, the core question is less can we do this and more how do we position it?
The main risk is veering into doom marketing. Analysts warn against framing guardian design as a response to spiraling crime, so travelwear can offer a natural bridge between functionality and positivity, says Maggioni. It carries optimistic associations around holidays and provides a safe testbed for more technical features like anti-slash straps, hidden passport pockets and lockable zips. From there, these details can diffuse into core collections and the reframing becomes simple: you don’t have to be traveling to use it. The same backpack that secures your phone on the Barcelona metro protects it on a crowded London Overground.
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Designers are already responding. Oregon-based Gnuhr, an “ultra-light gear brand” that designs for backpacking and everyday life, believes versatility is the real path forward. “We focus on versatile designs rather than specific anti-theft features,” says Gnuhr founder Nur Abbas. The Warp Knit Vest illustrates this approach: though not marketed as security wear, its warp-knit construction integrates storage and load-carrying directly into the fabric, creating a body-hugging piece that can hold water, cards, keys or tech without the need for a separate bag. “Rather than overly specific protective features, we create pieces adaptable to different uses. The stretch of the fabric and the simplicity of the design make it functional without becoming niche.”
It’s brands like this that will win by integrating security into design with subtlety and aesthetic intelligence — expanding the definition of luxury to include not just what we wear, but how safely we move through the world in it.
