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In the News: Sizing up the sports helmet market



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 26th 08, 05:53 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Jason Spaceman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 192
Default In the News: Sizing up the sports helmet market

From the article:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Toronto designer's team creates series of moulds to, at last, fit the heads
of Asian sports buffs

Jul 26, 2008 04:30 AM

Kenneth Kidd
Feature Writer

Ten years ago, Roger Ball was called to a pivotal meeting in Vermont, or
what has since turned out to be one.

The Toronto designer had created one of the first helmets made specifically
for snowboarders. It sold amazingly well in North America and Europe, but
in Japan, the world's third-largest snowboarding market, it was a dud.

Burton Snowboards, the Vermont-based manufacturer of the helmet, wanted to
know why, so they contacted a handful of Japanese snowboarders and flew
them to New England. Was it the helmet's style, the colours?

"They said, 'No, no, we love all that stuff,' " recalls Ball. " 'We just
can't wear it because it's so tight on the sides of our heads. Even if we
squeeze it on there, we get a splitting headache.' "

Then came the party trick. One of the Japanese leaned forward in his chair
and rested a coffee cup on the relatively flat surface at the back of his
head. "We have," he summed up, "a different shaped head than you."

Ball, who now teaches at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, admits that what
might seem obvious in hindsight came as a revelation. "It's just the sort
of chauvinism in the West. It had never occurred to me that (other) people
were a different shape."

He wasn't alone. For decades, manufacturers in the West have been producing
headgear based on the slightly oval heads of Caucasians, mostly using an
industry-standard set of size and shape templates originally taken from
U.S. air force pilots. That was fine for European customers, but it
blithely ignored four-fifths of the world's population, not least Asians,
whose heads are generally rounder in shape. The discrepancy is especially
problematic with protective headgear such as bicycle helmets, where a
proper fit is crucial.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it at http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/467818







J. Spaceman

Ads
  #2  
Old July 26th 08, 11:12 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Marcus Coles
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 197
Default In the News: Sizing up the sports helmet market

I'm at the other end of the graph with a size 7 3/4, airship shaped
melon. It makes the selection of bicycle helmets rather limited.

I can just manage to squeeze into a Giro Atlas II, with no front pad,
not the nicest helmet, but with the visor pulled off it is tolerable for
road use.


Marcus
  #3  
Old July 28th 08, 12:29 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 153
Default In the News: Sizing up the sports helmet market

how many asian cars dont fit Americans? Who needs a helmet
snowbaording or skiing?

On Jul 26, 12:53*pm, Jason Spaceman
wrote:
From the article:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Toronto designer's team creates series of moulds to, at last, fit the heads
of Asian sports buffs

Jul 26, 2008 04:30 AM

Kenneth Kidd
Feature Writer

Ten years ago, Roger Ball was called to a pivotal meeting in Vermont, or
what has since turned out to be one.

The Toronto designer had created one of the first helmets made specifically
for snowboarders. It sold amazingly well in North America and Europe, but
in Japan, the world's third-largest snowboarding market, it was a dud.

Burton Snowboards, the Vermont-based manufacturer of the helmet, wanted to
know why, so they contacted a handful of Japanese snowboarders and flew
them to New England. Was it the helmet's style, the colours?

"They said, 'No, no, we love all that stuff,' " recalls Ball. " 'We just
can't wear it because it's so tight on the sides of our heads. Even if we
squeeze it on there, we get a splitting headache.' "

Then came the party trick. One of the Japanese leaned forward in his chair
and rested a coffee cup on the relatively flat surface at the back of his
head. "We have," he summed up, "a different shaped head than you."

Ball, who now teaches at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, admits that what
might seem obvious in hindsight came as a revelation. "It's just the sort
of chauvinism in the West. It had never occurred to me that (other) people
were a different shape."

He wasn't alone. For decades, manufacturers in the West have been producing
headgear based on the slightly oval heads of Caucasians, mostly using an
industry-standard set of size and shape templates originally taken from
U.S. air force pilots. That was fine for European customers, but it
blithely ignored four-fifths of the world's population, not least Asians,
whose heads are generally rounder in shape. The discrepancy is especially
problematic with protective headgear such as bicycle helmets, where a
proper fit is crucial.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------*---

Read it athttp://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/467818

J. Spaceman


  #4  
Old July 28th 08, 12:35 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
A Muzi
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,551
Default In the News: Sizing up the sports helmet market

Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Toronto designer's team creates series of moulds to, at last, fit the heads
of Asian sports buffs
Jul 26, 2008 04:30 AM
Kenneth Kidd, Feature Writer
Ten years ago, Roger Ball was called to a pivotal meeting in Vermont, or
what has since turned out to be one.
The Toronto designer had created one of the first helmets made specifically
for snowboarders. It sold amazingly well in North America and Europe, but
in Japan, the world's third-largest snowboarding market, it was a dud.
Burton Snowboards, the Vermont-based manufacturer of the helmet, wanted to
know why, so they contacted a handful of Japanese snowboarders and flew
them to New England. Was it the helmet's style, the colours?
"They said, 'No, no, we love all that stuff,' " recalls Ball. " 'We just
can't wear it because it's so tight on the sides of our heads. Even if we
squeeze it on there, we get a splitting headache.' "
Then came the party trick. One of the Japanese leaned forward in his chair
and rested a coffee cup on the relatively flat surface at the back of his
head. "We have," he summed up, "a different shaped head than you."
Ball, who now teaches at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, admits that what
might seem obvious in hindsight came as a revelation. "It's just the sort
of chauvinism in the West. It had never occurred to me that (other) people
were a different shape."
He wasn't alone. For decades, manufacturers in the West have been producing
headgear based on the slightly oval heads of Caucasians, mostly using an
industry-standard set of size and shape templates originally taken from
U.S. air force pilots. That was fine for European customers, but it
blithely ignored four-fifths of the world's population, not least Asians,
whose heads are generally rounder in shape. The discrepancy is especially
problematic with protective headgear such as bicycle helmets, where a
proper fit is crucial


wrote:
how many asian cars dont fit Americans? Who needs a helmet
snowbaording or skiing?


Sonny Bono?
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
** Posted from
http://www.teranews.com **
 




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