Tired of getting battered and bruised while playing basketball? You’re not the only one. The folks at Blindsave feel your pain and are working to lessen it with a new line of protective gear for indoor sports. Unlike anything else on the market, the company claims it is the the world’s first protective equipment that conforms to the body and is light enough to wear while shooting hoops.
The use of protective athletic gear is nothing new. Football players, hockey players, and other high-impact sport participants know the value of wearing a layer or two of padding before the game begins. What makes Blindsave different from traditional equipment is the company’s minimal design. It is this quality that provides outstanding impact protection and flexibility. Athletes playing sports like basketball can experience the benefit of padding without being slowed down by all that extra bulk.
Blindsave achieves this lightweight protection through a combination of materials and design. The company created a patent-pending elastic foam technology that is similar to the material used in the military’s protective gear. The foam is thin and light, measuring a mere 2-8 mm thick. Despite its low profile, the padding can take a beating — hit absorption tests show that the Bindave padding is 20 percent better at shock absorption than competing materials. The company also developed its padding to be spherical, a shape that allows it to conform more closely to the body than existing square and rectangular padding.
The company has already created prototype designs of its protective shorts and shirts, but it needs additional funds to complete the cycle of product design, testing, and eventually mass production. It is using Kickstarter to raise this additional capital in a campaign that was launched on October 18 and will last until November 21. Blindsave is selling several different products including a protective arm sleeve ($20), knee pads ($39), shorts ($55), shirts ($60) and more. If production proceeds as expected, the company plans to ship the first generation of its gear in January 2017.
