Hi!
We've ridden thousands of miles in the original Supershirt.
It's become the foundation of my own personal layering as well as many of yours.
Now, I'm not a molecular scientist, but I do know a thing or two about falling off a motorbike.
Falling off adventure bikes with style since 2013.
And what I want, and don't want out of my armour.
Fortunately, as part of our research into improving the armour options in our clothing, we partnered with a genuine molecular scientist.
His name is Jerry.
Jerry heads up a whole team who have dedicated their craft into creating materials that bend, stretch and react to violent impacts.
Their molecular expertise has allowed them to create armour that is light, thin, breathable, but most importantly changes its molecular structure in response to sudden forces.
Under normal conditions, the armour is soft. The molecules look like this.
When a sudden force is applied, like falling off the bike and hitting the road, the molecules snap together making the armour composition stiffen to create a protective shell.
But that energy has to go somewhere right?
The energy absorbed in the impact is released as the molecules revert back to their original 'soft' state.
All in a fraction of a second.
These guys know their stuff, and we are proud and excited to have worked with them to create our own range of armour specifically developed for lightweight adventure motorcycling.
Let me introduce you to Flow armour.
There's far too much to tell you about in one email, we will have more time to tell the whole story, so today let me focus on this.
While we were testing our new armour, we realised we had choices.
Armour 1:
Armour 2:
Both offered very similar level 2 certified protection.
Our scientists were super proud that they had managed to cram all their molecular knowledge into Armour 1, the thinnest, lightest, most flexible package.
But, when I put this super thin pad into our test jacket and ask Michael my guinea pig to throw himself on the floor he looked at me like I was a mad man.
Michael gets a feel for floppy Armour 1.
"But it's level 2 armour Michael, you will be fine"
"I know but look at it, I can't even feel it. I don't know if it will stay in the right place. I don't trust it"
Hmmm, interesting.
I swapped Armour 1 for Armour 2.
And now for Armour 2.
"How about now?"
"Yeah I'd fling myself on the floor with that. It feels right. Light and comfy but I know it's there and it's not going anywhere".
Michael taught us a valuable lesson.
There's science, and then there's human nature.
Figuring out how the two fit together isn't always as obvious as you might think.
Our updated Supershirt 2.0 will ship with our new Flow elbow and shoulder armour. Flow chest and back armour can be added separately.
It's tough, breathable, light and thin, but not so thin its going to move around your armour pocket.
It's moulded to keep its shape, fit around the contours of your body and stay where it's meant to be.
I've found it to be a big upgrade to our previous armour, and as it warms with your body heat it becomes even more comfortable.
The Supershirt 2.0 launches very soon.
🙂
Greg Villalobos
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