Slipstreamz Slips In As ispo Finalist

MORNINGSIDE, South Africa and MUNICH, Germany– Slipstreamz, manufacturer of an innovative cycling earwear product, today announced it is a finalist in the accessories category at the 2006 ispo BrandNew Awards, to be held July 16–18, 2006 in Munich, Germany.

Since launching in 2000, the ispo BrandNew Awards show has featured more than 1,500 companies, brands or individuals with new, intriguing start-up ideas and has featured 480 winners. More than 55,000 trade visitors, distributors and journalists from more than 100 countries attend ispo each year to put featured products in the spotlight. The evaluation and selection of winners in this year’s ispo was performed by a select group of 15 professional from the sports and media industries.

“I am thrilled our product, The Slip, has been selected as a finalist in the world’s largest start-up competition for the sporting goods industry,” said Lonnie Tiegs, president and chief executive officer of Slipstreamz. “I am convinced that we have a innovative product that helps cyclists enjoy riding and protects their ears.”

After more than 15 years as an avid road and mountain cyclist, Tiegs began to notice his ears were starting to ring after bike rides and that he had difficulty hearing sounds in the high decibel range.

Thinking cycling might be one of the causes of his hearing problems, Tiegs tried several methods to protect his ears – for example, riding with a bandana covering his ears or using earplugs – but found they limited his ability to hear what was going on around him, especially cars approaching from behind.

One day while coasting along on his bike he placed his index fingers just in front of his ears and noticed they deflected the wind around his ears reducing the noise. Back home in his garage, he began shaping chunks of bedding foam into airfoils and attaching them to his helmet with nylon zip ties. His test rides showed the prototypes not only cut down the wind noise, but also kept his ears warm on cool days. Most importantly, he could hear what was going on around him, and his ears didn’t ring after rides.

Tiegs initially took some ribbing from fellow cyclists about the look of his early designs and the concept of reducing wind noise while riding. However, after talking further with them and other cyclists, Tiegs was convinced he had a viable product that could help cyclists and subsequently started Slipstreamz in 2004.

Slipstreamz’ new product - “The Slip” - reduces irritating wind noise and also allows the safe use of MP3 players while riding. This was accomplished by integrating a space in The Slip to insert industry-standard iPod earbuds. The Slip positions iPod earbuds away from the ear canal and allows riders to hear the music, as well as important ambient sounds (i.e. approaching cars, conversations with fellow cyclists, etc.). The well-executed concepts behind The Slip are what motivated the 2006 ispo BrandNew judges to select Slipstreamz’ The Slip as a Finalist in the accessories category.

Those interested in finding out more about Slipstreamz should visit www.slipstreamz.com or call (801) 523-3730. For those who wish to know more regarding the ispo BrandNew Awards, please visit the ispo Web site www.ispo-brandnew.com.
About Slipstreamz
Formed in 2004 by Lonnie Tiegs, Slipstreamz is based in South Africa where Tiegs resides and created a new form of earwear for cyclists. As an experienced road and mountain cyclist of more than 15 years, Tiegs, President and CEO of Slipstreamz, noticed his ears rang after riding and that he began having difficulty hearing sounds in the high range. Inspired by this annoyance, Tiegs developed “The Slip” - An innovative set of unobtrusive deflectors consisting of soft foam, flexible plastic and durable mesh fabric, which attach to virtually any bicycle helmet. The Slip deflects air turbulence away from the ears, resulting in reduced wind noise, warmer ears on cool days and pronounced situational awareness by improving the ability to hear important sounds, such as cars approaching from behind. The Slipstreamz Slip also allows safe use of iPods while riding by placing iPod earbuds out and away from the ear canal, resulting in ambient listening instead of music blaring directly in the ear.

About ispo BrandNew Awards
The ispo BrandNew Award is the world’s largest start-up competition in the sporting goods industry. Held every year in various world locations, the ispo is a unique opportunity to present a company’s product to the international market. Each year more than 80 companies are awarded booths as finalists. Since the launch of the ispo BrandNew Awards in winter 2000, more than 1,500 companies, brands or individuals with striking ideas have been taking the chance to apply for the largest start-up competition in the sports industry with 480 winners selected since it started. To be eligible to participate in the ispo BrandNew Awards, companies must be founded or introduced to the market after Jan. 1, 2003, have a product or brand that is hot and new, and the product or brand has never been registered to exhibit at ispo before.

iPod is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

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