d3o Lab intros protective suit for Athletes

d3o Labs has launched a special flexible foam material that has the ability to harden into a protective shell on impact.

Five years ago an Engineer Richard Palmer was hit with an idea for which he had to quit his job and sell each and every thing which he owned. He even had to live at his friends place for 18 months. That friend trusted Richard and invested $50,000 in his unique idea. By 2003 Richard had standard samples of his product, a web-site, three employees but no customers, no products and no money.

He then tried his luck at a Trade show in 2004 where finally he gained attention and Cortland Schurian, footwear director of a California-based Globe, launched an icon range of snow Boarding shoes embedded with d3o in the heel to absorb shocks and these shoes soon became a trend for snow boarders.

Today this material finds its use in a wide range of sports equipment and apparel ranging from soccer goalkeeper gloves to skate boarding shoes, even the U.S. and Canadian Olympic slalom ski teams used d3o-enhanced Spyder racing suits in the 2006 Winter Olympics.