selling cricket
A breath of fresh ayr for the cricket trade?
Billed as the ‘next generation cricket helmet’, Ayrtek has made vast strides in the market despite being very much in its infancy as a brand.
C
onceived in 2007 by Bristol engineering student Tom Milsom, Arytek has quickly grown
into one of the premier cricket helmet brands currently on the market with England cricketers James Taylor, Jonny Bairstow and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara amongst those sporting the new strikingly designed product. Milsom, a passionate cricket himself, witnessed several high profi le players receiving serious head and facial injuries caused by ill-fi tting helmets and sub-standard materials. This includes the likes of ex Kent captain David Fulton who received a serious blow to the head, which almost blinded him, after a ball from a bowling machine entered the gap between peak and grille. This prompted him to design a helmet that would reduce the chance
of injuries yet still maintaining a lightweight and sleek design. With this in mind, Ayrtek has aimed
to market the product to both the professional and club cricketer market. “Ayrtek had created an outstanding
embryonic reputation amongst a handful of professional clubs and players”, said CEO Jim Grant. “We needed to create a brand that appealed to not only the pro, but the mass-market club player too.” Ayrtek helmets contain a patented
Air Cushion Impact System (A.C.I.S) helmet liner. This enables an individual to customise the helmet by defl ating or infl ating the inner lining for your own bespoke fi t. The products have also been under BSi testing and can provide as much as 3 times more protection than other leading cricket helmet brands. The A.C.I.S liner works by dispersing air within the liner on impact and not
transferring the impact to the skull and thus reducing the chance of injury to the brain. “The peak design of our helmets
signifi cantly reduces the risk of facial injury from direct impact to the face and grille area of the helmet”, says Tom Milson. “The peak is less likely to fl ex and allow the ball to penetrate the gap between peak and grille.” Ayrtek has ambitious plans to expand the brand in 2012 after recruiting a number of online and retail distributors and carrying out a nationwide marketing campaign to launch the new Ayrtek Premier range.
Although at the high end of the
The peak design of our helmets signifi cantly reduces the risk of facial injury from direct impact to the face and grille area of the helmet
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market, the majority of cricketers realise that you cannot put a price on safety. With the cricket market traditionally a highly competitive area fl ooded with products, it appears Ayrtek has bowled over cricketers with an original, safety conscious product. It could be foolish for retailers to
leave a straight one if ignoring the potential benefi ts of this fl edging new brand.
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