Nutcase helmets

Nutcase Helmets, of Portland Oregon, are multi-purpose cycle, skateboard, inline and scooter helmets aimed at providing unique designs and creative alternatives in the cycle and skate helmet market. Launched in the spring of 2005, Nutcase is sold throughout the United States in Sporting Goods and Outdoor Specialty stores. Their designs are original, unique and very imaginative. The objective of Nutcase helmets is to combine highly visual graphics with multi-purpose helmet designs that are popular among bicycle, skateboard, scooter and in-line skate enthusiasts.

“We recognized a gap in the marketplace for cycle and skate helmets, where they were either solid black or a licensed character. There was nothing ‘cool’ from a graphics standpoint for youth and adults,” said Michael Morrow, the creator and founder of Nutcase Helmets. “We made Nutcase helmets for ourselves, our kids and our friends. The response has been tremendous.”

Morrow, older brother of Rob Morrow of Morrow Snowboards fame, is a graphic designer in Portland, Oregon. The X-Nike Creative Director, World renowned for his passion for the design of Sport, Morrow came up with the idea for highly visual and expressive helmets in the fall of 2000, when he attended the Civil War football game between Oregon and Oregon State in a modified Oregon State multi-sport helmet. Morrow super-glued 4” screws onto the top of the orange and black helmet, and then twisted yellow rubber duckies onto the screws, symbolizing the impending doom of the rival Oregon Ducks. When fan reaction at the Civil War was overwhelmingly positive for the helmet, Morrow took the idea to the next level, developed the brand name and initial product line.

“The first thing I thought was this is a super fun idea that needed to be turned into a new business. Helmets that reflect the participant’s allegiance to an idea, or reflect their personal style were nowhere to be found”, said Morrow. The first thing he did was look at helmets offered in stores from specialty shops to mass merchants, and discovered that when it comes to cool graphics on helmets, there are few. “Most helmet graphics are either cheesy or based on cartoon characters, which means anybody over three is pretty much excluded. I believe there are kids and adults who want to ride their bikes or skate boards in a simpler helmet shape than the aerodynamic cycle helmet style, and would like a product that is more visually fun and expressive than just another black helmet”, said Morrow.

With helmet laws evolving in nearly every state, more and more riders will be required to wear helmets. Morrow feels that Nutcase provides just the right kind of creativity to inspire kids of all ages to want to wear helmets, rather than being told to wear them and reluctantly doing so out of fear of a ticket or the wrath of their parents. “People are not going to wear helmets any less in the future, so somebody has to make them more exciting to wear. That ‘somebody’ is Nutcase!” said Morrow.