BRANDS
FEMALE FOUNDED. UK MADE D
BikeBiz learns about the origins of Dashel helmets from founder Catherine Bedford
ashel was founded in 2017 by Catherine Bedford, after noticing a gap in the market for safe and stylish cycle helmets that are
sustainably made here in the UK. However the origins for Dashel can be traced back a few more years to the London Olympics in 2012.
“It was such a lovely event,” explains Bedford. “I thought ‘oh, surely cycling will take off from being a
little bit niche to more people giving it a go’. “I was looking at people like me, who would cycle to a meeting and then hide their bike helmet or actually hardly ever wear one.”
With a career in marketing and branding, and 10 years’ experience in product development for many recognisable
46 | June 2024
brands across a spectrum of industries, Bedford decided to take the plunge. But why helmets specifically? “I always cycled myself and thought ‘we’ve got [British brands such as] Pashley, Brooks, a never- ending amount of lovely bike bags, but nobody’s done a helmet,” she says. “So it was always there and we were thinking it was a good market to enter.” The lack of UK-based helmet manufacturers at the time added an extra layer of complexity to an already difficult task of launching a brand that has to pass rigorous safety tests. “There was no knowledge I could draw on so I
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