uvex achieves innovative breakthroughs to create professional protective products

      On January 16, 2019, ISPO Beijing 2019 — the 15th Asia Outdoor & Sports Trade Show — grandly opened at the China International Exhibition Center (New Venue). As the most influential and largest industry benchmark exhibition in the Asia-Pacific sports and fashion sector, the internationally renowned brand uvex showcased its new products for the first time at ISPO, attracting numerous professional visitors. The event was bustling with attendees and lively with business discussions.

        Founded in 1926 in Fürth, Germany, uvex started as a workshop and has since grown into a multinational enterprise. "Protecting People" has been the core mission of the uvex brand for 92 years. uvex has now become one of Germany’s key international brands, dedicated to providing head-to-toe safety protection for people in sports, leisure, and industrial settings. Although uvex is divided into sports and occupational protection systems in China, they belong to the same brand and share the same mission.

        In the outdoor field, as early as 1930, the company successfully produced its first pair of ski goggles. In 1936, it launched a series of protective eyewear, with uvex (uv excluded, meaning UV protection) as the main feature of the products at that time, and has continued to uphold this as its brand identity in the following decades.

        German precision technology and rigorous craftsmanship have earned German quality a global reputation. In the fields of skiing and cycling in Europe, uvex has become a household name, all thanks to its commitment to using the needs of elite athletes as the source of technological advancement. For uvex’s sports series, especially the competitive line, every technological upgrade begins with testing by top athletes, followed by refinement based on test results and final application in competitions.

        The uvex sports protection series includes: ski helmets, ski goggles, bicycle helmets and goggles, casual sunglasses, and equestrian helmets, among others. The trust of top athletes in these sports in uvex’s technology and product innovation is evident in their performances at world competitions. In the recent 18/19 Ski World Cup, several uvex athletes, including Thoma and Josef, stood on the champion podium. In China, uvex also provides ski helmets and goggles for the Chinese national freestyle aerials team and ski jumping team.

        Due to participation in ISPO 2019 Beijing, uvex urgently air-freighted most of its latest technical products for the 19/20 snow season. Moreover, ISPO Beijing was nearly a month earlier than Munich, so some products hadn’t even been exhibited in Germany. It can be said that Beijing hosted the global premiere of uvex’s new products.

        For the next snow season, uvex has made multiple innovative breakthroughs in ski goggles. Not only has the Supravision® 60-second core anti-fog technology been applied to all uvex ski goggles, but the anti-fog duration has also been increased to four times the international standard (the international anti-fog standard is 30 seconds), or even higher.

        New Series 1: Thanks to its outstanding anti-fog technology, uvex has overcome the industry challenge that single-lens designs cannot provide long-lasting anti-fog performance. For the first time, uvex has applied its Colorvision “Sharp Vision Single Lens” technology to large spherical and cylindrical lenses (currently, only cylindrical lenses in the industry can achieve efficient anti-fog with a single lens). The three standout features of the uvex Colorvision series goggles are: enhanced sharpness and contrast; improved color saturation and brightness; and a 15% wider field of vision. This series comes in three lens colors to suit three common skiing weather conditions, eliminating visual obstacles while skiing.

        New Series 2: GGL3000, an upgraded magnetic clip-on dual-lens system with trendy oversized cylindrical lenses, not only adapts to various weather and lighting conditions but is also compatible with more frame styles and prescription glasses, allowing skiing enthusiasts to say goodbye to butterfly-style lenses.

        New Series 3: uvex’s excellent Variomatic® photochromic and polarized technology also debuts this season in several new color options.

        Helmets: This season introduces “Heavy Duty” as the innovation element, launching two dynamic and cool helmet-and-goggle combos: the 700 Visor and 600 Visor, featuring deeper ventilation and matching photochromic lenses. Unfortunately, the samples did not arrive in China during the exhibition.

        Also new is the children’s helmet Manic, which extends protection over the temples and back of the neck.

        In recent years, through collaboration with ski resorts and various skiing organizations, uvex has gained a better understanding of the different needs of Chinese skiers compared to Europeans. In China, awareness of sports safety is still far behind that in Europe, and skiers know little about protective technology. Therefore, uvex will strengthen promotion in market activities. At the same time, uvex will collaborate with more ski resorts and clubs, starting with a partnership with the well-known domestic ski club 1031, aiming to better understand the needs of skiers and engage in close communication to share knowledge about protective gear for extreme sports. Additionally, Chinese skiers often engage in more experiential skiing and focus heavily on appearance, but these aspects have also inspired uvex’s innovation. In recent years, the traditionally cool European-style uvex has introduced more fashion elements and colors. Examples include the 400 Visor helmet-and-goggle combo and Primo models this season, as well as the upcoming 700 and 600 Visor series next season.

        Customers are always king — there is no room for arrogance in front of them, only premium service. uvex hopes to showcase its high-end technology, brand image, and more information to consumers in every region of China through online platforms. At the same time, it will deepen cooperation with existing offline partners, increasing experiential activities in physical stores, as trying on products in person is the best way to find the most suitable ones. Furthermore, through e-commerce big data, uvex has found a large number of skiing enthusiasts in southern China who struggle to find physical stores locally, missing out on experiential opportunities. uvex will expand its distribution channels in central and western China as well as the south to meet the needs of skiing and outdoor communities in more regions.

        In the future, uvex will strive to explore areas such as enhancing the experience for mid-to-high-end users on the slopes, collaborating with clubs for elite and public experiences, youth development, improving Asian-fit models, and actively facilitating exchange activities between Europe’s top athletes and China’s elite groups or athletes.