Project

AiR Batters Helmet

Client

Schutt Sports

As part of an initiative to reinvent the Schutt brand, fredsparks was tasked with designing a batter’s helmet to recapture market share and re-energize the Schutt name in the Baseball/Softball category. Market research showed an overwhelming demand for a lighter, cooler batter’s helmet had been overlooked by market category manufacturers. At the time, companies designed shells to perform one task, keep the player safe. Passing the standardized NOCSAE testing was first priority. Unfortunately, in Schutt’s past quests to engineer the safest helmet, aesthetics and brand identity were largely ignored.

Time Is of the Essence:

From our initial kickoff meeting, we learned Schutt’s deadlines gave fredsparks just three weeks to deliver a fully developed concept from pencil sketch to final CAD. In addition, tooling costs and manufacturing realities had to be maintained to stay on budget. Short timeline or not, meeting the needs was critical. With their reputation on the line, Schutt insisted the final concept be something the market had never seen. The final design was used to launch a family of products with a design language based on the aesthetics of the helmet.

Cutting to the Chase:

After a day of intense market and design research online and in-store, we began the initial concept sketches to be sent to the Schutt team and actual softball players for feedback. After some minor alterations to the design to ensure structural stability, we moved immediately into building a CAD model in SolidWorks. The final design balances the required traditional curvature of conventional helmets with significant material elimination. To accomplish such a highly ventilated shell, the concept employed a series of corrugated rows of ventilation (the most ventilated on the market by over 50%), while engineered to provide the necessary level of protection required by NOCSAE standards for end-user safety.

Design Highlights: Perfect Style / Critical Material Specification

• Highly ventilated shell engineered to withstand the extreme impacts necessary to pass NOCSAE standards testing
• Two Interior padding systems produced to provide options at point-of-purchase
• Bi-laminate foam padding system of open cell/closed cell foam for ultimate fit and protection
• AEGIS Anti-microbial Treatment to fight mold, mildew, fungus and bacteria, while eliminating odors

For Schutt Sports, the world’s largest helmet manufacturer of football and baseball/softball helmets (and at that point predominantly a football company), the AiR Batter’s Helmet quickly became the highest selling model. [Patents Pending]. The design gained high visibility in 2008 when the USA Softball team donned them and the Scorpion Catcher’s Gear as their official protective equipment.
On a more humorous note, we were also elated to see our design used in a TRON skit on Comedy Central’s Tosh.0!