A shin guard includes a protective plate having a front face and a rear face. The rear face is contoured to fit around a shin of a wearer of the shin guard. Further, the shin guard includes a three dimensional image element carried on the front face. This image element projects an image outline through a sock worn over the shin guard. A sports pad is provided including an outer shell defining a pocket and a pad received and held in the pocket. A three dimensional image element is captured between said outer shell and the front face of the pad. That image element projects an image outline through the outer shell to enhance the uniform of the player wearing the sports pad.

An athletic garment suitable for use as cheerleading training pants or shorts has a plurality of silicone slip resistant protrusions arranged at a left and right hip section. The silicone protrusions prevent slipping between the garment and a catching athlete's hands. Additional silicone protrusions may be arranged at a left and right ankle section of the garment.

A modular protective structure may be formed from an impact absorbing material formed into a repeating pattern of one or more geometrical shapes that may be assembled to a size, shape, and/or configuration desired to protect an athlete from impact. The thickness of the structure may vary in a repetitive fashion along at least a first axis of the structure, and may further vary in a repetitive fashion along a second axis of the structure.

Disclosed herein is an integrated combination of materials within a vesicle, comprising a space filling porous or fibrous structure and an engineered nonuniform elastic truss to form an impact mitigating Hybrid Material System (HMS). The macroscale and microscale structures within the HMS can be configured to absorb kinetic energy and reduce the forces transmitted by impacts through the HMS to any surface or body in contact with the HMS.

A cushion pad connectable to a garment for providing protection thereto is provided. The cushion pad includes a plurality of layers formed of strings disposed in a manner to define a repeating pattern, with the plurality of layers being stacked on one another to define one or more cells along a thickness of the cushion pad. A protective garment comprising a support structure to which the cushion pads are connectable is also provided.

Padding materials capable of use as or incorporation into protective products, and methods of producing such padding materials. The padding material includes a base and an array of raised unit cells that individually protrude from a surface of the base so that the unit cells are spaced apart from each other. The base and the unit cells are formed of a cured polymeric material that contains fine porosity, and a substrate formed of a textile or fabric material is embedded in the base and permeated by the cured polymeric material.

Disclosed herein are flexible energy absorbing systems and methods of manufacturing flexible energy absorbing systems. The systems include one or more cells of a strain rate sensitive material and having a re-entrant geometry. Some of the systems have an anisotropic geometry to provide a different response to impacts from different directions.

Safety apparel for traversing a roof surface includes an outer fabric surface over which a readily abradable pattern of raised elastomeric members is applied. The apparel is sized and configured to fit over worn clothing such as blue jeans, permit the easy passing through of worn shoes, and includes cinching members to snug the apparel over the worn clothing. Interior surfaces of the apparel may also include an applied pattern of raised elastomeric members.

Orthotic and prosthetic devices having integrated features such as cushioning features are described, as well as methods for computer aided designing and making of these devices. The orthotic or prosthetic devices comprise a cushioning layer superimposed onto an orthotic or prosthetic shell, the cushioning layer comprising an array (35) of discrete solid and resilient cushioning elements (31). In one preferred embodiment, the cushioning structure is a beam, defined around a centerline of any arbitrary shape. In another preferred embodiment, the cushioning structure has the shape of a spiral.

A modular protective structure may be formed from an impact absorbing material formed into a repeating pattern of one or more geometrical shapes that may be assembled to a size, shape, and/or configuration desired to protect an athlete from impact. The thickness of the structure may vary in a repetitive fashion along at least a first axis of the structure, and may further vary in a repetitive fashion along a second axis of the structure.