Rider Renaissance – Designing the AIR Helmet
February 20th, 2010This is a collection of observations and predictions about snow sports culture in 2010, an area we’re pretty actively interested in (our collective experience climbing, falling, riding, jumping and diving gives us some pretty clear ideas about what makes great gear design). This work culminated in the in-house design and development of the AIR helmet, documented below.
Over the past few months we’ve immersed ourselves in the products riders care about, trying to understand what has influenced the market to date, and where the opportunities lie to create simply better equipment. The focus of this work narrowed to head-protection relatively quickly, exploring the history of the product, isolating the areas where products are potentially missing, and finally developing the AIR helmet in response.
“…helmet use has nearly doubled over the past seven seasons…”
Source: 2009 National Ski Areas Association (NSAA)
Adoption of head protection on the slopes has been widespread, with the US releasing the figures above at the end of 2009. However, this isn’t happening in isolation, this exponential growth hasinfused with two diverging on-piste trends.
Not necessarily recent, but compounded with every season, is the divergence of both skiing and snowboarding into two distinct styles; Street and Back-Country.
“Street”, with it’s urban, hip-hop, sometimes even crunk influences has evolved over time. Where it once fueled the anti-establishment persona of early nineties snowboarding, it now crosses the boundary into skiing, and has matured. Outerwear is still loose and oversize, but this has been married to technical materials and more than ever, pattern. Found in the park more than the powder, Street riders now match the athleticism of their Back-Country compatriots.
Back-Country on the other hand, is a technical, equipment-driven style which too has matured with time. Where technical riding once was the antithesis of Street and Park, the style has now relaxed. This season, skiers and snowboarders wearing this gear can be found riding kickers and rails, not something associated with this style half a decade ago. Mainstays of the Back-Country image include backpacks, Camelbacks™, shovels, and Gore-Tex™. Outerwear is leaner than that found above with tighter cuts and solid colours.
Mapping Opportunity.
Ferocious growth gives little time for products to reach maturity. Instead they develop rapidly to meet demand, falling naturally in line with the pre-established trends in their market. The helmet is no different in this regard, distinct helmet archetypes have evolved quickly around the street and back-country models.
Street
The more fashion orientated street helmets are military influenced and seamless. Venting gives way to solid surfaces of loud colour or graphic decoration. Fabrics used are patterned and chosen for aesthetic purposes as equal to functional reasons.
Back-Country
On the other extreme lies the technical, fully vented helmets of the back country stable. Styling is aerodynamic and almost automotive, while fabrics and material are technical in the extreme.
A space…..
Therefore an opportunity becomes evident. Where is the offer for riders seeking a less traditional approach to full venting? Which product does not draw direct influence from military, bicycle or climbing head protection? The evolution of snow-sports helmets to date has responded to market need, and has leaned on analogous protection products to do so.
We developed AIR in response to the empty space between the two established helmet archetypes identified above. The aim being to develop an object which is new, which has no previous reference point. It’s a helmet dedicated to piste, park and powder.