People wearing masks in urban areas to protect themselves from various respiratory problems is commonplace these days. Taking measures to fight pollution is the need of the day and protecting oneself from pollution has become a necessity.

Taking this a step ahead, the company Aerochromics has created a shirt that changes its colour after coming in contact with airborne pollution and will protect you from various diseases.

The three shirts, made by Aerochromics, are each built to detect either carbon monoxide, particle pollution, or radioactivity. Basically, when the shirts find dangerous levels of pollutants in the air, they change color, displaying a bold geometric pattern and alerting the wearer.

These shirts work in a pretty complicated way. The shirt that detects particle pollution, for example, has two small sensors, one on the front and one on the back. When particle pollution is detected, the shirt activates heat pads that change the white dots to black. In the carbon monoxide-detecting shirt, contact with carbon monoxide initiates a reaction with chemicals in the shirt’s dye to turn its black stripes white.

These unique shirts are meant to inform wearers about the air quality in their cities, according to Aerochromics founder Nikolas Bentel. “Knowing if an urban area is safe should be public knowledge,” he says. “The shirt completely changing colors allows people around the user to also be aware of their surroundings.”

Ultimately, he hopes the shirts will create a dialogue surrounding the dangers of pollution in our daily lives. For those willing to shell out $500 to start that conversation, they are a great way to get the message across. For the rest of us, however, planting a tree might be the better option.