Wrapped in Wool, Powered by VPN: This £195 Designer Blanket Lets You Stream The World

At first glance, it looks like the kind of design-led blanket you’d casually drape over a sofa in a fashion editor’s East London flat. 

Look closer – or rather, tap your phone – and it becomes something else entirely. Welcome to the VPN blanket: a world-first collaboration between cult London streetwear label Aries and privacy-focused tech company Proton VPN that turns a cosy home accessory into a portal for digital freedom.

This season’s most unexpected fashion-tech crossover fuses physical comfort with encrypted connectivity. Embedded into the blanket’s woven tag is an NFC chip that, when tapped with your phone, opens a URL via Bluetooth and unlocks a free month of Proton VPN. From there, users can access content from more than 120 countries – bypassing geo-blocking, censorship and regional restrictions with the ease of a tap.

For anyone who’s ever stared longingly at a US Netflix catalogue from the UK (or vice versa), the appeal is immediate. But the idea goes deeper than streaming convenience. Designed with international students and expats in mind, the Aries x Proton VPN blanket speaks to a more emotional side of technology: how digital access can ease loneliness, create familiarity and help people feel at home – wherever they are.

The detail that does it all. A woven Aries x Proton VPN label hides NFC technology that unlocks a free month of VPN access — proof that fashion’s smartest innovations can be quietly stitched in.
Credit: Aries

Inspired by research showing that international students say accessing content from home helps reduce feelings of isolation and homesickness, the blanket is equal parts designer homeware and tech tool. It’s a physical reminder that, in an increasingly borderless digital world, connection is key.

“As someone who’s lived away from home for years, I wanted to design something that captures the feeling of connection – that mix of longing and warmth you get when you find small reminders of where you’re from,” explained Sofia Prantera, founder and Creative Director of Aries.

That sentiment runs through every aspect of the project. Aries, founded by Prantera and known for its subversive, punk-spirited take on luxury streetwear, brings its visual authority and cultural credibility to the collaboration. Proton VPN, meanwhile, supplies the technological backbone, rooted in privacy, encryption and digital rights.

“Created with uni students and expats in mind, our new blanket (featuring an embedded NFC chip, allowing users to open a URL that will give them access to a free month of Proton VPN) celebrates the comfort of home in a connected world. It comes as research found that 88% of expats say that accessing content from home reduces their feelings of isolation – whilst 82% of foreign students living in the UK report feeling homesick,” Aries explained in an official statement on Instagram.

From a material standpoint, the blanket delivers on luxury as much as innovation. Made in Italy from an 80% wool and 20% polyamide blend, it measures 126cm by 140cm – generously sized, weighty, and designed to last. It retails for £195 and is delivered in Aries’ signature FSC-certified, fully recyclable packaging, complete with screen-printed tissue paper and branded boxes. DHL Express returns are included, should you decide your digital cocoon isn’t quite your vibe.

The technology itself hinges on a VPN – or virtual private network – a suite of tools designed to protect your privacy online. A VPN hides your real IP address and encrypts your internet traffic, allowing you to browse privately, avoid tracking, stop your data being sold to advertisers, and access websites or services blocked in your country. In short: it’s digital invisibility-cloak, wrapped in wool.

Part blanket, part digital passport. The Aries x Proton VPN blanket blends Italian-made wool with embedded tech, redefining what connected comfort looks like in a borderless world.
Credit: Aries

Proton VPN’s ethos is baked into the collaboration. Founded in Switzerland in 2014 by scientists who met at CERN, Proton was created with an explicitly people-first mission.

“Proton was born out of a desire to build an internet that puts people before profits, create a world where everyone is in control of their digital lives, and make digital freedom a reality.
In this new world, you can communicate with whomever you want, protect your data and identity, avoid having your data sold, and safeguard against cybercrime,” the company explained in a statement on their official site. 

After launching via a public crowdfunding campaign that raised over $500,000 from more than 10,000 supporters, Proton has grown into one of the world’s leading privacy companies – without venture capital backing and with a non-profit structure designed to keep users, not advertisers, at its core.

The Aries x Proton VPN blanket ultimately feels like a sign of where fashion and technology are heading: towards meaningful, human-centred innovation. It’s not about wearing tech on your body – it’s about weaving it into your life, your home, and your sense of belonging.

In an era where borders are both digital and emotional, this blanket doesn’t just keep you warm. It keeps you connected.