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.