The quest for new light-weight materials with superior mechanical properties is a goal of materials scientists and engineers worldwide. A promising route in this pursuit is drawing inspiration from nature to design and develop materials with enhanced properties. By emulating the graded mineral content and hierarchical structure of fish scales of the Arapaima gigas from the nano to macro scales, we were able to develop bioinspired laminated composites with improved impact resistance. Activated by the addition of nano-particles of Al2O3 and nano-layers of TiN to a thermoplastic fiber substrate, new energy dissipation mechanisms operating at the nanoscale enhanced the energy absorption and stiffness of the bioinspired material. Remarkably, the newly developed materials are easily transferred to the industry with minimum associated manufacturing costs.