Even though there is a lot of evidence that a helmet can prevent head injuries, children don’t wear them often. Mostly because they think it does not look cool. Besides that, it is also very unpractical. Parents like the protection of the helmet, but when they let their child wear one, they have to carry the helmet around after the bike ride.

We designed HeadFirst, a foldable helmet that is integrated into a jacket. The helmet is hidden inside the back of the jacket and can be taken out and folded into the right shape by pulling on the wires. To fold the helmet back, the safety locks need to be pressed to slide open.

The helmet consist of different layers. The fabric on the outer layer gives the helmet a nice finish and prevent scratches. The Pet-G is the middle layer and gives the helmet its shape. This layer spreads the impact force, when you fall, over a bigger area. This force will be absorbed by the third layer, the expanded polystyrene, also called blue board, by deforming and making the time to decelerate longer.

While I was part of the design process, my main responsibility was material research and the realisation of the prototype. Furthermore, I looked into the business aspects of the project.