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.
The conversation covered more than the helmet itself — cycling safety in the Netherlands, innovation, and the government's "Zet 'm Op" campaign, which aims to raise helmet adoption from around 5% to 25% or higher. Karremans didn't hold back on the design either: he called the Echo Pro "an Apple design."
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.
That national conversation has real weight behind it: a mandatory helmet rule for young riders on e-bikes is set to take effect in September 2027, following a sharp rise in cycling-related brain injuries among young people over the past four years. Headfirst sees that shift, paired with a product people genuinely want to wear, as the combination that actually moves the needle on 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.
The conversation covered more than the helmet itself — cycling safety in the Netherlands, innovation, and the government's "Zet 'm Op" campaign, which aims to raise helmet adoption from around 5% to 25% or higher. Karremans didn't hold back on the design either: he called the Echo Pro "an Apple design."
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.
That national conversation has real weight behind it: a mandatory helmet rule for young riders on e-bikes is set to take effect in September 2027, following a sharp rise in cycling-related brain injuries among young people over the past four years. Headfirst sees that shift, paired with a product people genuinely want to wear, as the combination that actually moves the needle on 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.