The way each thing looks depends a lot on what happens when a photon slams into it. A red shirt looks red because red photons are reflected from it. All of the other colors of photons are absorbed by the shirt so you don't see them. This is how colored things get their colors. Things that are black or white are a little different.
Black things absorb nearly all photons, that's why they look so dark.
White things reflect almost all the photons, that's why they look so light. The reflective stuff on your dad's tennis shoes is designed to reflect as many photons as possible back in the direction that they came from. That way when your dad is out walking at night, the photons that come from a car's headlights are reflected back into the driver's eyes and the driver knows that someone is there. The trick is that there can be a long time between when you shoot photons into it and when it shoots photons back out. It's like a battery for photons.