Understanding Hi-Vis Classes (AS/NZS 4602.1)
What Class D, Class N and Class D/N actually mean on a hi-vis garment, and two standards that get confused with it but aren't the same thing.
What the classes mean
AS/NZS 4602.1:2011 is the Australian/New Zealand standard for high-visibility safety garments, and it's built around when a garment is designed to be seen.
Class D ("Daylight") means fluorescent fabric with no reflective tape — visible in daylight, not built for low-light or night conditions.
Class N ("Night") means reflective tape with no fluorescent fabric — the reverse: built to catch light at night or in low visibility, not for daytime fluorescence.
Class D/N ("Day and night") means both: fluorescent fabric plus reflective tape, for a garment meant to work in either condition.
Two standards that get confused with it
AS/NZS 1906.4 governs the reflective material itself, not the finished garment. A product that only cites this standard hasn't been shown to meet the garment standard (AS/NZS 4602.1) — the two are routinely mixed up, including in some supplier product data.
AS/NZS 4399 is about sun protection (a UPF rating), not high-visibility at all. It sometimes turns up miscited on a product as if it were a visibility standard.
Choosing what you need
If your team works daylight hours only, a Class D garment covers it. If the job is night shifts or consistently low light, Class N reflective tape is what actually helps. For a role that spans both — or where you can't guarantee the lighting conditions — Class D/N is the safer default.
Every hi-vis product page on this site states its class plainly. If a product's own data doesn't clearly support a class, VANTREK doesn't assign one it can't back up — see that product's own compliance information rather than assuming from the category alone.
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