Since 2015, SYZMIK Sports has built its reputation around innovation in sports head health, drawing on a team with backgrounds in athletic-equipment and brain-impact research. Its SYZMIK brand, launched in 2022, is best known for protective headgear developed for football players, including the award-winning ARK ONE helmet and the X7C headband used by athletes from more than 17 national teams.
Saturn SportsFounded by lifelong athletes who have experienced head injuries, Dayton-based Saturn Sports develops connected football equipment that monitors helmet fit in real time. Its platform tracks chinstrap tension and gives athletes immediate feedback when a helmet needs adjustment, while giving teams season-long visibility into fit and equipment use. The company’s work is aimed at making contact sports safer without taking athletes out of the game.CINCINNATI, OH
H.I.P. Head Impact PreventionFounded by former NFL linebacker Tim Johnson, H.I.P. Head Impact Prevention develops biomimetic helmets designed to distribute impact forces and protect the brain for soldiers, first responders and athletes. Its segmented, multi-layered design draws on structures found in ram horns, armadillo armor and woodpecker anatomy, with flexible joints that help move energy around and away from the head. The company participated in the NFL Helmet Challenge and holds a filed U.S. provisional application for its force-distribution helmet.VIENNA, OH
SAFR SportsFrom Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, SAFR Sports makes patented football helmet covers designed to reduce the force of head impacts. Its polyurethane-foam covers fit existing Riddell and Schutt helmets, can be customized with team colors and decals, and are permitted by the NFHS for practice and game use. SAFR backs the product with research including a Virginia Tech Helmet Lab study and a three-year Pennsylvania university field study, while supplying teams from youth football through the college and professional levels.CHESTER SPRINGS, PA
2nd Skull, IncBorn from founder Federico Olivares’s 2010 determination to protect his son after a bicycle accident, Pittsburgh-based 2nd Skull makes thin protective skull caps and headgear designed to add impact protection beneath a helmet or worn alone. Its products use lightweight XRD® material that stays flexible during play but hardens under sudden pressure, and are made in the USA after testing at independent laboratories. The company’s headgear has also been developed for industrial workplaces, extending its original sports-safety idea beyond the field.PITTSBURGH, PA