NEW YORK — Seattle-based football helmet technology company Vicis had a table set up last month at the New York Marriott Marquis. The Times Square hotel was the place to be as some of the most powerful people in college sports attended the Learfield Intercollegiate Athletics Forum. The Vicis helmet was displayed just outside the doors to the ballroom.
“NOTHING WORTH HAVING COMES EASILY,” read the Vicis advertisement in the program guide that accompanied a photo of a football player with dings to his helmet.
Vicis has experienced that feeling while creating a $1,500 helmet that is supposed to more effectively absorb impact forces. It was during the conference when a blog post appeared on the company website updating the status of the Zero1 helmets that it pulled shortly after having been introduced to every University of Washington and University of Oregon football player last August. Players testing the helmet — a small subset of them, according to Vicis — experienced forehead pressure that caused discomfort over time.
But now, Vicis is bouncing back from the setback after what it called “post-trial refinements.” The company declared that the issues with the helmet have been addressed and that it was performing even better after five weeks of exploring concepts and conducting thousands of impact tests.
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Vicis vice president Clark Hood pointed to the snap location of the upper chinstrap, which was now on the exterior of the helmet rather than the interior. Vicis previously placed them on the interior in order to better absorb forces from impact, but that occasionally caused the straps to pop off. In order to address forehead discomfort issues with some players, there was padding added to front of the helmet.
At the time when Vicis pulled the helmets, a spokesman told Geekwire, “This is not a surprise. We expected the need for refinements.” In the latest blog post, Vicis CEO and co-founder Dave Marver conceded that it was “a difficult decision on many levels.”
“Most of the players liked the helmet and were having a great experience,” Marver explained. “It was also challenging financially. We are a start-up and depend on a steady stream of support from our investors. A decision to scrap 450 helmets and delay launch is a very meaningful expense. In the end, though, it was the only decision we could make. Our founding mission is to protect athletes and we can only do that by offering the best possible technology.
“Our engineering team shook off its disappointment and immediately went to work on refinements. We made the decision Saturday night and Sunday the team got together to start brainstorming ways we could improve the helmet’s performance.”
Vicis had announced the week after the unveiling of the original Zero1 model last year that it had raised $8 million in seed funding, and millions more in funding has followed. It’s back in business now with what it believes is a better helmet based on tests in the lab and on the field. The company has plenty of backers with NFL ties and reported that it was scheduled to be part of the league’s helmet testing this winter.
And Tuesday, it was announced that Vicis would partner with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, combining to explore new technology to make helmets effectively safer. Vicis will have access to UAB’s engineering that tests helmets against forces that can cause concussions, the new helmet material that the school is developing, and the school’s expertise in neurological science.
The Zero1 is currently targeted toward elite athletes, and the partnership looks to help protect players at all stages of the game from Pop Warner to the NFL.
“The ZERO1 football helmet we are launching this year delivers a significant leap forward in technology and performance vs. conventional helmets,” Marver said in a statement.