Hovding is as foreign an idea as its name sounds. It is the brainchild of Swedish engineering students Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin who made safety precautions for cyclists their master’s thesis.
In 2005, a law was passed in Sweden requiring mandatory protective headgear for under aged cyclists. In order to make mandatory headgear seem like a positive initiative for adult cyclists, Haupt and Alstin reinvented the helmet to accommodate fashion and lifestyle as well as efficiency. The result: a fusion of style, functionality and safety.
To the unassuming, Hovding looks like your average fashionable scarf except it’s actually a hidden helmet that monitors the muscle tension of its users. At the moment of impact, the inflatable helmet pops out of its collar and surrounds the head completely. It provides soft but effective shock-absorption and is made out of a nylon-fabric that makes it resistant to scrapes and tearing. Different shells can be attached to the collar according to season or outfit. I bet your average fashionable scarf can’t do that!
Check out the video below to see how the helmet works: