Vincent Karremans, the Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, visited headfirst and Design Studio APE in Amsterdam for a conversation about cycling safety and Dutch design.
During the visit, founders Daan Zoetmulder and Douwe Jacobs walked the Minister through the story behind the Echo Pro, from the earliest prototypes to the SafeFit system that defines the helmet today. They shared what drives the company: the belief that safety only works if people actually want to wear it, and the ambition to make cycling safer worldwide, starting from Amsterdam.
Wearing a bicycle helmet is estimated to reduce the risk of serious head and brain injury by around 60%. But that protection only matters if adoption grows and adoption only grows if helmets stop feeling like a compromise. That's the exact gap headfirst set out to close with the Echo Pro, and it's what made the conversation with Minister Karremans particularly meaningful: a chance to connect a homegrown Amsterdam product with the national conversation on road safety.
For a team that started with a simple frustration, helmets nobody wanted to wear, having that mission recognised at a ministerial level was a milestone worth marking.
Minister Karremans Visits headfirst
Vincent Karremans, the Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, visited headfirst and Design Studio APE in Amsterdam for a conversation about cycling safety and Dutch design.
During the visit, founders Daan Zoetmulder and Douwe Jacobs walked the Minister through the story behind the Echo Pro, from the earliest prototypes to the SafeFit system that defines the helmet today. They shared what drives the company: the belief that safety only works if people actually want to wear it, and the ambition to make cycling safer worldwide, starting from Amsterdam.
Wearing a bicycle helmet is estimated to reduce the risk of serious head and brain injury by around 60%. But that protection only matters if adoption grows and adoption only grows if helmets stop feeling like a compromise. That's the exact gap headfirst set out to close with the Echo Pro, and it's what made the conversation with Minister Karremans particularly meaningful: a chance to connect a homegrown Amsterdam product with the national conversation on road safety.
For a team that started with a simple frustration, helmets nobody wanted to wear, having that mission recognised at a ministerial level was a milestone worth marking.