Protecting players is one of the rising attention getters across the world of sports, especially in the game of football with head injuries. Hundreds of players every season suffer concussions and other head injuries across the sport. However, leaders such as Riddell, Schutt and Xenith should be looking over their shoulders as another protective gear company is looking to enter the market.
Vicis, a new wave helmet distributor has been raising millions of dollars towards their football helmet technology. Whether it’s the partnership with the local, University of Washington Huskies, or its push towards U.S. expansion, Vicis is making noise.
But there was a slight hiccup with their progress recently.
The company recently pulled its helmets from the Huskies football training camp due to “non-safety related refinements toward fit and comfort,” according to a UW statement. For the first time since their deal with Vicis, the Huskies will be wearing their old Riddell helmets during practice, and are planning to wear them during the 2016-17 season.
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The move is frustrating for the relatively new company. “Obviously a little bit disappointing,” said UW coach Chris Petersen. “But I have a lot of respect for Vicis, getting it right, wanting them back, and we’ll fix it. I think when you’re trying to be on the cutting edge of innovating, it’s never going to be seamless process. They’re the ones that came to us (Wednesday morning) and said we want them back to look at them and make them right.”
This misstep is unfamiliar territory for a company that has thrived during their rise. Vicis has performed 20-50% better in head trauma reduction tests in comparison to Riddell and Schutt. Along with that, Vicis also won the NFL’s Head Health Challenge (winning $750,000) and $4 million more in funding from 60 other investors. Combine that with their already accumulated $10 million in 2016 and bang, the company has raised over $14 million while perfecting their version of the “safety helmet on the market.”
With UW being one of two college teams (the other being Oregon University) to test out the helmets during camp this month, both teams had their helmets recalled. The specific issues involved the forehead padding and chinstrap, but there is not an accurate timetable mapping out when Vicis plans on having the helmets back to the universities.
The helmet itself, the Vicis Zero1, was created to lessen the impact on a player’s head and size the helmet specifically to a player’s head so there is no movement when impact occurs. The helmet itself is devised into three parts which ensure maximum safety. The “Lode Shell” acts like a car bumper deforming on impact, the “Vicis RFLX” features a hard shell exterior and padding on the interior and finally, the “FORM Liner” is the inner foam surrounding a player’s head.
In addition to the issue with the Huskies, the helmet price point is set at $1,500 which is a pretty big gap from the competition which sells their helmets at $200-$300. Thus, a lot of pressure is placed on the Vicis helmets truly helping with head injuries. So it makes sense that the company wanted to get things right with the first two schools using their featured product.
Regardless, once Vicis is back on the field the helmet will be hoping to continue its battle against the growing concussion epidemic with science and technology used as its main weapon of attach.