Guardian Football Caps

The Guardian Cap brings a padded, soft-shell layer worn on the outside of the decades old hard-shell football helmets. The Guardian Cap was created in 2010 to address the clear need to advance the standard football helmet, which has changed little since the 1960’s.  Erin and Lee Hanson, owners of The Hanson Group LLC, utilized their 20+ years in the material science business to engineer, patent, and manufacture the Guardian Cap.

They began the process consulting with another company on a fully encompassed soft-shelled helmet.  They presented the helmet to football executives but did not get the buy in.  Erin and Lee realized that changing the look and sound of the game was a big “no” for a lot of football players, fans, and coaches.  They decided to take to market the affordable Guardian Cap that could be easily attached to the helmet during practices and taken off during games.  Reducing impact in practice was more than nothing.

Physics say that an outer “soft” material of the proper density, stiffness and energy absorbing properties reduces the initial severity of the impact. The hard shell then has lower forces transmitted to it, and in turn conveys lower forces to the interior soft helmet padding and then lower forces to the head. Very similar to a NASCAR driver and the soft wall technology that tracks have adopted or even automobiles and the soft bumpers and airbags that are now required. The Guardian serves the same purpose for an athlete’s head—a soft shell barrier between it and impact.