You are in:
Armadillo
Armadillo Sports Managing Director Mark Sims took the time to speak to SGB - Sports and Outdoor about Armadillo, a new calf and Achilles protector for the active sports person. The idea is simple - it's a flexible 'reverse shinpad', for wont of a better phrase. It slips inside the sports sock to protect from the top of the boot to around the calf muscle. The brilliant design also inspired the product's name, as it emulates an armadillo's natural armour which increases the pad's flexibility.
SGB: Where did the idea come from?
Mark Sims: The idea came up from one of the guys involved in Armadillo Sports called Tony White, a keen amateur Saturday afternoon football player. A few years ago he was playing and a mate of his got a fairly horrendous calf injury; the skin actually split, one of those injuries that nobody really wants to see. So Tony thought, why is it that there's no protection for that part of the leg? And he came up with what we call our multi-plated protection system which is based on the natural armour of an armadillo, which has a multi-plated back. Basically all of our products are of the same construct as an armadillo's back plates, interwoven and overlapping, though made out of a variety of different materials; this particular product is made of a unique combination of materials.
So Tony designed that concept, then got patent registrations globally for the idea and the product, so everything we do is patented, established trademarks and registration for the armadillo name and our little armadillo character.
SGB: So when is the calf protector going to be hitting the shelves?
MS: It should be in market during the course of March and April.
SGB: How rigid is it? If it gives protection it has to have some strength, but you want mobility there too...
MS: The calf and Achilles product actually has a number of specific functional properties. Obviously it goes on the back of the leg inside the sock. It is an extremely lightweight product weighing less than 50 grams per pair.
Everything that we do is scientifically proven and tested as far as is practically possible, to do what it says. When I say that this product will help to reduce the risk of impact injury on the back of the leg, I can provide the scientific evidence and testing that shows that it does what it says. We have worked with a body called SATRA over in Kettering who are a globally renowned testing authority for sports shoes, sports products, shin guards and more, and they put this through the rigours of their testing. We can now prove that a stud impact on the back of the leg, the amount of energy or penetration that goes through to the leg when wearing our product is substantially less than if you're not wearing any protection and it will go a long way to reducing any injury you're likely to get. Nothing is fail safe, quite obviously, but there are certain testing protocols that are recognised by the football and rugby authorities that we have gone through and we can say with confidence that this product will significantly reduce the level of energy that impacts the body from a stud impact or weight impact in football or rugby.
We have had various people at various levels of the game wearing this product for some time in various different manifestations because we've been going through prototypes, but one of the common responses we get back is "It feels like a second skin, I don't even know I'm wearing it." We've got testimonials and feedbacks from people at amateur level through to semi-pro and even at professional level.
lt's made of materials that are micro-porous, so they absorb perspiration off the back of the leg and kick it out the other side, basically. So the back of the leg stays at a relatively modest, constant temperature. I suppose if you think about a normal shin guard, you often end up with fairly disgusting, sweaty insides to your legs when you wear them. This product won't do that because the perspiration shifts straight through and disappears.
SGB: Does it come in different sizes?
MS: It comes in small, medium, large, extra large and the whole product is CE certified and approved under their series of body protection standards that we have adhered to and passed. Sizing is aligned with CE sizing regulations.
SGB: It certainly sounds like quite an innovation...
MS: It's a brand new product, there's nothing else quite like it on the market. We've had a lot of conversations with people from the FA, we did a lot of work with the FA medical council and people, and we exhibited at a few FA medical council exhibitions during the course of last year. We've also had an extensive dialogue with the PFA [Professional Footballers Association] and will be working closely with them on marketing and sales opportunities for the product.
Everyone comes back with the same reaction - I can see how that works, why has no one ever done a calf and Achilles product before? It works, it feels right, it looks great, this is a great idea.
SGB: What sort of price is this going to retail at and what's the margin going to be like for the retailer?
MS: This will be priced between £9.99 and £14.99 depending on size and the margin for the retailer is something we're still looking at, depending on how we take any particular route to market.
We are striving to primarily go out to independent retailers and we will also have online retailers working with us, and we'll have our own website [which went live early March].
SGB: Is there any sort of display packaging to back this up? How are you going to market it to raise awareness that it's in shops?
MS: There will obviously be in-store merchandising materials. We'll tailor-make those to the outlet depending on size and location and environments and we're working with various people on putting those together.
In terms of marketing, we are a small start-up company, we don't have a lot of advertising dollars. One of the simple ways we believe we will make this work is through the power of the internet, and we will be utilising everything from YouTube to our website to Facebook and MySpace to spread the word. We'll be using viral marketing, email marketing, web based marketing. There will be nothing that works better for us than somebody wearing the product, loving it and telling their friend who will tell their friend and their friend and then it will go. Sports, particularly football, rugby, hockey, are club games and we will get our business out there and awareness driven by people, basically. It won't be complicated, we'll just be creating a wave of awareness.
