Why Gold Crown Doesn't Use MIPS (Yet)

A little transparency about helmet safety, why we don't currently use MIPS, and what we're doing about it.

When we started Gold Crown, we knew there were a few things we couldn't compromise on.

Safety was at the top of that list.

We wanted to build helmets that looked different. Helmets with color, personality, and a little more attitude than the typical black, white, and gray helmets you see everywhere.

But underneath all of that, they're still helmets, and their most important job is simple: protect your head.

That's why we've spent a lot of time looking at helmet safety, testing, certifications, and the technologies being developed to improve protection.

And one question we've expected people to ask is:

Why doesn't Gold Crown use MIPS?

The answer is pretty simple.

Not because we haven't tried.

MIPS is a technology designed to help manage rotational forces during certain impacts. It's one of the most recognized names in helmet technology, and it's something we wanted to explore for Gold Crown.

So we reached out to MIPS.

Then we reached out again.

And again. And again. And again.

We wanted to have an actual conversation about licensing their technology and potentially integrating it into our helmets.

We wanted to understand how it worked, what was involved in integrating it into our helmet designs, what the requirements were, and whether it made sense for Gold Crown and our riders.

Despite multiple attempts to get in touch, we haven't been able to establish a conversation with the MIPS team.

That's frustrating.

Especially when you're a small company trying to do the right thing and actively looking for ways to make your product better.

So for now, Gold Crown helmets do not use MIPS.

And we think our customers deserve to know why.

That doesn't mean our helmets aren't safe.

We also don't want the absence of a MIPS logo to create the impression that Gold Crown helmets don't meet the necessary safety requirements.

That's simply not how helmet safety works.

MIPS is an additional technology. It is not a safety certification or a requirement for a helmet to meet the applicable safety standards.

Our helmets are tested and certified to the applicable standards required for their intended use, including CE, CPSC, and ASTM standards for biking and snow sports.

Those standards establish requirements that helmets must meet before they reach riders.

We take those requirements seriously.

But we also don't view meeting a standard as the end of the conversation.

We're working with experienced helmet manufacturers.

We're a young brand, but we're not starting from scratch when it comes to making helmets.

We've intentionally partnered with experienced helmet manufacturers that produce helmets for established brands and have extensive experience with helmet construction, safety testing, certification, and advanced helmet technologies.

Our manufacturing partners already produce helmets incorporating advanced safety technologies, including MIPS, for other customers. They understand what it takes to integrate these systems into helmet designs and manufacture them at scale.

Our challenge with MIPS hasn't been finding a manufacturing partner capable of working with the technology.

We've been unable to get MIPS to engage with us about licensing their technology for Gold Crown.

We want to keep pushing.

This is where things get really interesting for us.

Helmet technology is continuing to evolve.

Researchers are studying how different types of impacts affect the head and brain. Engineers are developing new materials and helmet structures. Companies are developing new ways to manage impact energy and rotational forces.

We want Gold Crown to be part of that work.

We're already talking with professors, researchers, engineers, and companies working in this space.

We're looking at existing technologies. We're looking at emerging technologies. We're looking at the research.

And we're asking a pretty simple question:

What can we do to make our helmets better?

Not just better looking. Not just lighter. Not just more comfortable.

Better at protecting the people wearing them.

We're not looking for a logo. We're looking for better protection.

There are a number of different technologies being developed to address impact protection and rotational forces.

MIPS is one.

There are others.

And there will undoubtedly be more in the future.

We don't want to simply choose a technology because it has the biggest name or the most recognizable logo.

We want to understand the technology and determine whether it actually makes sense for our helmets.

If the right technology already exists, we'll look at partnering with the company behind it.

If researchers develop something new that shows promise, we'll pay attention to that too.

And if the best solution changes over time, we'll change with it.

We're not interested in choosing a side.

There's a tendency in the helmet industry to turn safety technologies into brands.

MIPS.

Koroyd.

WaveCel.

Other approaches to impact and rotational-force management.

But the question we're interested in isn't:

"Which logo should we put on our helmet?"

It's:

"What can we do to better protect a rider's head?"

If that means partnering with an existing technology company, we'll explore it.

If that means working with researchers on something new, we'll explore that too.

If a better technology comes along five years from now, we want to be willing to consider it, even if it means changing something we've already built.

That's the mindset we're taking.

This isn't just about MIPS.

Our experience trying to work with MIPS has actually reinforced something we already believed:

Helmet safety needs more innovation, not less.

There are smart people around the world researching head impacts, brain injury, materials, helmet construction, rotational forces, and ways to improve protection.

We want Gold Crown to be part of that conversation.

We're a young company. We're not going to pretend we've figured everything out.

But we're willing to ask questions, talk to researchers, investigate new technologies, and invest in making our helmets better.

And we'll be transparent with our riders about what we learn along the way.

We're building for the long haul.

Gold Crown started with a pretty simple idea:

Your helmet shouldn't be the least interesting thing you wear.

We still believe that.

We want our helmets to be colorful. We want them to have personality. We want riders to actually be excited to put them on.

But we also want to build a company that takes the responsibility of putting a helmet on someone's head seriously.

That means meeting the safety standards that matter today.

It means continuing to learn about the science behind helmet protection.

It means talking to the people doing the research.

It means evaluating new technologies.

And it means being willing to keep improving our helmets as the technology improves.

We're building Gold Crown for the long haul.

That means meeting the safety standards that matter today, continuing to learn from the people researching helmet safety, and investing in technologies that can make our helmets better tomorrow.

MIPS or no MIPS, the work doesn't stop here.

We're going to keep asking questions. We're going to keep researching. We're going to keep looking for better ways to protect our riders.

This is just the beginning.