Selfridges Are Now Selling Jet Suits

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 68 months ago
Selfridges Are Now Selling Jet Suits
A jet pack. Not the jet pack. We couldn't get pictures

You indeed read that correctly. Selfridges — one of the world's most famous department stores — is now stocking jet suits. Well, nine of them anyway.

Created by inventor Richard Browning, each 'Iron Man' jet suit propels the wearer into the ether. How high into the ether? One Redditor posted this video of Browning taking a jet pack for a spin round the back of Selfridges. And the answer appears to be 'not especially high, but enough to make one guy go "Oh My God!" a lot'.)

At £340,000 a pop, you'll need a bank balance that goes to infinity and beyond. There's also the fuel costs involved: according to The Mail, the jet suit rinses four litres of diesel a minute — meaning you can only stay airborne for about nine minutes before needing to come back down to earth, and fill 'er up again.  

A Selfridges ad for light aircraft. The Tatler, 15 April 1931. Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of The British Library Board

Though a jet suit might seem a bizarre item for Selfridges to sell, let's not forget that in its time, the Oxford Street store has peddled everything from chauffeurs' outfits to light aircraft.

Last Updated 19 July 2018