A Virginia Retailer's Quest to Make Bulletproof Clothing Look Beautiful

"Most people who walk into our shop don't realize what's going on back there," Abbas Haider tells me as he finishes explaining the intricacies of bulletproof underpants.

Haider is the founder of Aspetto, a custom bulletproof clothier, which he runs along with Robert Davis. The front room of their small store in Fredericksburg, Va., is littered with silk swatches from Italy, wool remnants from leftover suiting and lists of measurements, all the makings of an old-school tailor shop. The back, however, is full of what the owners call "ballistics," but most of us would refer to it as bulletproof gear.