From the baseball diamond, to the football field, elite athletes could soon be purchasing sporting equipment developed by industrial design students at Iowa State University.
According to an announcement by Iowa State, the driving force for the influx of sporting equipment created by Iowa State students is the relationship the university has forged with Minnesota-based sports equipment manufacturer Shock Doctor.
The genesis for the partnership was established when Shock Doctor’s then V.P. of product development Bill Best joined his son for a visit to Iowa State’s campus in Ames. While on the visit, Best, who is now the V.P. of research and development for Shock Doctor’s parent company United Sports, discussed a partnership that would benefit both the institution and the company.
“Shock Doctor has emerged as a flagship partner for industrial design,” said the Department Chair David Ringholz. “The company has invested significant time in developing a relationship and finding every possible way of engaging with our students.”
Since being formed, Iowa State industrial studies students have received Shock Doctor-backed internships, senior thesis and graduate projects, and sponsored studio work. Students with an idea for a promising project could even be tapped to receive professional consulting.
Some of the biggest benefactors of the partnership thus far were a group of students who helped launch an improved Cutters glove designed specifically for wide receivers. (Cutters is a manufacturer of football and baseball batting gloves.) The students reverse-engineered a previous form of the glove so that they could make it more aesthetically appealing and to incorporate improvements that had been made in glove technology.
The students also took their research to the field by asking high school and college football players what aspects of the previous glove should be maintained, and what details should be improved upon. The students also examined how Cutters’ competitors developed their football gloves so that they could make the next line more unique.
Two students, Colin Behr and Mike Witzmann played the largest role in improving the functionality and “cool factor” of the new glove.
“We looked at knitting technology used in high-performance footwear and incorporated something similar into our glove design,” said Behr, who is now employed as a footwear designer at Nike. “That automatically leads to aesthetics, because knit fabric looks different from the leather used or Lycra.”
Witzmann, who has also graduated from Iowa State since taking on the project, said the glove was inspired in part by the U.S. Air Force’s F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter.
“The asymmetrical ‘cuts’ on the glove mimic the radar-reflecting facets on the fighter but functionally improve dexterity for the wearer,” Witzmann added.
The glove will be sold as part of Cutters’ 2016 product line under the name “Rev Pro.”
Additionally, former Iowa State industrial studies students Adam Graziano and Kevin Durr worked with Shock Doctor as consultants for the development of two products designed to help athletes recover from injuries.
“[Graziano] proposed to bring ice therapy to the retail market in a way that has never been done before. We worked with him to refine the product for prototyping and now have hired a mechanical engineer to help ensure it will meet the highest possible performance standards,” Best said.
Derr’s proposal involved a specialized sports injury recovery sandal that possesses “unique characteristics related to the function of the insole,” according to Best. “Our CEO has identified it as one of the most promising new products on our horizon, and we’re moving forward with factory engineers to finalize the design and materials for sample development.”
Due to the achievements of the Iowa State students, it would appear that the relationship between the institution, United Sports Brand, and Shock Doctor will continue for the foreseeable future. In fact, Shock Doctor signed on to offer Iowa State students more internships and is currently sponsoring a specialized course this semester.