How Legend Soccer Designed Its L1 Bamboo Shin Guard
Ask any soccer player. Shin guards are considered everything from a nuisance to a distraction. This distaste for the protective gear and a desire to produce something better was one driving factor in the creation of Legend Soccer’s L1 bamboo shin guard. Learn more about what went into the product’s design philosophy here:
6 Pillars of the Legend Soccer Design Philosophy
- Improved Soccer Player Performance
First and foremost, Legend Soccer is a company dedicated to the athlete. Founded by Sean Person and Roland Benedict, two former players and coaches, every aspect of the business is impacted by a lifetime around the game. (Person played in college, and Benedict had a four-year professional contract.)
During the design of their bamboo shin guard, the company constantly asked two important questions: Does this improve the player’s performance? Is this product better than what’s currently available?
Those questions led to these design details:
- Light Weight
Each shin guard is only 1.5 ounces. This light weight makes the product barely noticeable when wearing, and it doesn’t negatively affect player speed or agility.
- Minimal Teardrop Profile
Other shin guards are created with a lot of unnecessary bulk. Legend Soccer trimmed that excess to create a shin guard with a minimalist teardrop design. This mimics the shape of the lower leg, ensuring a natural, comfortable fit.
“The aim was to create a shin guard that’s almost unnoticeable when you’re wearing it,” said Person.
- Optimal Protection
Shin guards are required for a reason: they minimize the risk of impact injuries, including fractures, contusions, abrasions, and more. Protection, therefore, needed to be at the heart of the Legend shin guard. The 100 percent bamboo shell offers a tensile strength greater than steel, and the profile provides seven vertical inches of protection. The L1 shin guard is FIFA approved.
- No More Shifting
Shin guards are notorious for moving around once a soccer player starts running. Secured by a sleek, effective compression sleeve, the L1 bamboo shin guard actually stays in place throughout the game.
- Made in the United States
One of the core design philosophies at the heart of Legend Soccer is a commitment to making a product within the United States. This not only brings jobs and work into the local economy, but it also helps ensure Legend is operating with positive, quality production methods at every step.
- Sustainability
The bamboo shin guard is the flagship product of Legend Soccer, but in all their current and future offerings they want a foundation of sustainability. This commitment to better-sourced materials, higher-quality production standards, and eco-friendly materials are all woven into their creation and design approach.
(As a testament to this foundational belief, check out the company’s new anti-slip limited release sock, the eco-grip training sock.)
- Health Benefits
The L1 bamboo shin guard uses bamboo and closed-cell foam. (Learn more about closed-cell versus open-cell foam in this helpful article.) This gives the product antimicrobial properties, as well as integrated rash protection. By halting the growth of microorganisms, Legend shin guards do not end up with the notorious odor so many players have dealt with for years.
Learn more about minimizing shin guard odor here.
- Pride in Ownership
Legend shin guards were created to be something players actually wanted to wear—not the annoying thing they put up with because they had to. With every design detail, the aim was to create a product that inspired genuine pride in players.
(Shin guard customization is one way to express that pride.)
- Continual Improvement
The current version of the L1 shin guard is a far cry from where the product started. Initially the founders used what they considered off-putting about shin guards and targeted those issues as areas of improvement.
After that, though, they put the product through rigorous testing. They gave them out to professional players for feedback, and tweaks were made based on those real-world insights.
One important pillar of the Legend Soccer brand is this commitment to objective testing. It’s not just the opinion of the founders but a collective effort to create the best-designed shin guard on the market.
Interested? Learn more about the Legend Soccer L1 bamboo shin guard, or order your pair today.
