Coronavirus: How Salomon got ahead of the competition to release the first sports mask “without the slightest embarrassment”
The first French sports mask has just been formalized by Solomon. – Louis Bertrand / Salomon
After more than nine months of collaboration with Zebra and Chamatex, Salomon is ready to market at the end of the months 000. first sports masks “60% made in France ”allowing the best protection against the coronavirus.
These will be sold around 19 euros for the “classic” racing version, and 40 euros for the practice of winter sports.
15 Team Salomon athletes contributed for a month to improve the efficiency of these masks which will be a few weeks ahead of those launched by the Decathlon brand.
“From the first confinement, I had the firm conviction that it would be necessary to design a mask dedicated to the practice of sport”, indicates Gilles Réguillon, president of the Chamatex group, which produced eight million “classic” masks last year. The Ardèche SME immediately joined forces with the strategy, innovation and design agency in Lyon Zebra, but also with Salomon, with whom Chamatex has been working for three years on the manufacture of the fabric of its sports shoes.
Kilian Jornet participated in the tests of this innovative mask
From its design center in Annecy, Salomon is looking into this issue of the sports mask last summer, closely following the evolution of sanitary rules and standards. “Our main question was then to determine whether, after the few months necessary for the development of the product, there would still be a real need for sports masks,” explains Véronique Rémy, marketing director for France at Salomon. We could see that on the trail races maintained , participants were asked to wear a mask during the first kilometer. And then these masks were designed to filter the size of viral molecules but also pollution particles, while allowing the exhaled CO2 to pass through multiple environments. “
Star athlete of Team Salomon, the Spanish trail runner Kilian Jornet participated in the design of this sports mask. – Valentin Flauraud / AP / SIPA
Salomon thus sought to meet the expectations of athletes training sometimes in busy outdoor areas. Among which 18 Team Salomon athletes, including the trail star
Kilian Jornet , who tested the product for a month. “Our knowledge of the sport and our relationships with the best mountain running athletes have enabled us to develop this mask fairly quickly,” said Guillaume Meyzenq, vice-president of Salomon Footwear. Kilian Jornet and his partners have thus contributed to significantly improving this innovation.
A winter version with “A breathable neck warmer”
“Their feedback may have been virulent at the start, until that we end up with an efficient and comfortable version, specifies Véronique Rémy. It was observed that the trail runners achieved the same expulsion of CO2 with and without a mask on training sessions at 10 km / h during 45 minutes. “A beneficial development confirmed by Gilles Réguillon.
Thanks to Solomon, there was 26% optimization of our initial product. We are now convinced that we can do nearly an hour of jogging at a good level without having the slightest discomfort, even having the impression that we have nothing in our mouth. »
Designed with a structural mesh that creates a breathing cage, the mask is made from lightweight, high-infiltration technical polyesters, with adjustable elastic cords. It can be washed up to 19 times at 60 degrees, pending approval for 50 uses. This observation also applies to the special winter sports version, with “a soft and breathable neck warmer” guaranteed “without fogged glasses” thanks to a small silicone nose bar.
The Salomon mask is also available in a winter sports version with a neck warmer. – Solomon
“Usually, it takes more than two years to develop a product”
The assembly turned out to be a industrial challenge since it had to be produced without traditional seam, which implies a permeability to be avoided due to viral molecules. When launching the industrial process, Chamatex therefore turned to Bosch in Rodez to design and install a fully automated production line. This, which led to an investment of 310. euros and which resulted in the creation of six jobs, has been working since October at Rocle, a subsidiary of Chamatex, in Tarare (Rhône).
The last step of a process “60% made in France ”which therefore required between nine and ten months of development. “Usually, it takes more than two years to develop a product,” recalls Gilles Réguillon. “This mask meeting the UNS1 standard, which we have just protected by filing a patent, is ultra light and stripping in terms of its design”, welcomes the president of Chamatex.
Maracineanu is waiting for the Decathlon mask “with a lot of hope”
“We know that Decathlon is working very hard on this,” continues the boss of Chamatex. But we did not race with the others, we followed our path. “In its recent press release, Decathlon announced that it is aiming to market its” barrier mask for sports use “for” the end of the first quarter 648 ”. “It is a mask that would allow today the practice of sport in an indoor environment, all sports combined. A mask in which we place a lot of hope ”, explained the Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu , on 18 January on France Info . Hope will first pass through the outdoors with Solomon.
the trail races maintained , participants were asked to wear a mask during the first kilometer. And then these masks were designed to filter the size of viral molecules but also pollution particles, while allowing the exhaled CO2 to pass through multiple environments. “
