09/19/2022
Hi, my name is Dairis and I'm a mountain biker from LA who in 2021 had a pretty bad crash. The resulting injuries ended up removing me from cycling for 3 months, and I'm still trying to regain full shoulder mobility (more than 1 year later). Mountain biking is an awesome sport, and I still love it as much, if not more than I did prior to the accident, but there's no denying it - MTB injuries can get rough.
See, when I first started, I got a pair of MTB specific knee and elbow pads, but I wore them exactly once, and realized that they were way too clunky to do any sort of climbing with. I just didn't like the idea of having to pack them with me, only to put them on for descents. But after the crash, I started looking at other options. I ended up ordering 7 knee pads and 5 elbow pads, in multiple sizes, all from the top brands in the industry and returned all of them. Every single option had issues: they were either too long, too short, too wide, too loose, poorly made or just too uncomfortable.
I was shocked and thought, how come no one has solved this? And then I realized that the main problem is that we're trying to fit thousands of body shape variations into just 3-5 stock sizes, and that might work fine for a basic t-shirt, but not for technical performance clothing and gear.
So I started FORM FWD (www.formfwd.co), an on-demand tailor made technical clothing brand, and our first 2 products are knee and elbow pads for mountain bikers. We've gone through numerous prototypes and vigorous testing, and we're now very close to releasing the final version.
They're light, breathable, impact absorbing, super comfortable, and most importantly - they'll fit you perfectly! We use the industry leading XRD® Extreme Impact Protection pads on the inside, and cover them with the flexible, but cut and abrasion resistant Venom™ fabric. Everything has been thoroughly considered, including thread type, seam locations, cut patterns etc. to make these the most comfortable protective pads ever made.
Our beta website just launched, and we're hoping to start accepting orders in October of this year. If you're interested, or have any questions about our products - please visit the website and subscribe or send us an email at [email protected]. Happy riding, and see you on the trails!
Instead of forcing you to fit in 1 of 3-5 standard sizes, we build our performance apparel and gear based on your custom measurements. This approach not only guarantees the perfect fit, but is also more sustainable compared to traditional manufacturing methods.
