DuPont Protection Technologies will feature Adidas football cleats, Walls workwear, Draggin motorcycle jeans and Reebok CrossFit apparel and footwear engineered with Kevlar at ESPN’s X Games Austin 2015, June 4-7 to mark the 50th anniversary of the material.
Dupont will also release a new two-minute R&D film featuring Kevlar as a critical component in Big Wave surfboards.
The film features surfboard shaper and Big Wave World Tour founder Gary Linden and professional big wave (30+-feet) surfer Nic Lamb as they collaborate to design a unique line of surfboards engineered with DuPont Kevlar.
“My goal was to make a surfboard that wouldn’t break as easily,” said Linden.” A broken board turns everything into a possible worst-case scenario. My surfboard is my survival vehicle.”
The film extends the Dare Bigger brand platform for Kevlar, launched in 2014 at ESPN’s X Games Austin. Kevlar was invented by DuPont after DuPont scientist Stephanie Kwolek made her discovery of the first liquid crystal polymer in 1965.
Expanding beyond body armour
Kevlar is lightweight, extraordinarily strong and flame resistant. Best known for its use in ballistic and stab-resistant body armor, Kevlar has helped to save the lives of thousands of people around the world. The use of Kevlar has been extended to everything from fire fighter and industrial protective clothing to vehicles, fiber optic cables, mining belts, commercial aircraft and city roads. Kevlar fiber also is used in many consumer products such as mobile phones and tires, in addition to sporting apparel, accessories and equipment.
This month, DuPont and Reebok International partnered to launch the first head-to-toe line of Reebok CrossFit apparel and footwear with DuPont Kevlar. Reebok athlete Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, who holds the “Fittest Woman on Earth” title following her win at the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games last July, will make an appearance at the DuPont booth in Austin to promote the new line.
“While we are in the midst of celebrating 50 years of DuPont Kevlar, this tougher-than-steel technology is being incorporated into cutting-edge, high-performance sporting equipment every day,” said Marc Doyle, president, DuPont Protection Technologies. “Engineers and designers across many industrial and consumer markets are finding the science behind DuPont Kevlar helps them innovate to meet ever increasing performance challenges.”
The DuPont booth in Austin will feature appearances by professional athletes, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet and Chad Kagy, who is tied for the third most decorated BMX athlete at X Games, and a Kevlar Up contest where contestants can take a selfie with gear that helps enable firefighters and law enforcement heroes, industrial workers, and athletes to Dare Bigger. Winners will be selected each day for prizes that include consumer products made with DuPont Kevlar.
