2015 has been a year when significant IPO announcements, leadership changes, and unprecedented valuations in the tech industry have made the biggest companies bigger, and unknowns into household names. Among the many companies enjoying major accomplishments in 2015, Xenith may have quietly been having the best year of them all. They received the highest quality rating in their product market, a tremendous monetary and geographical investment from a US billionaire, and the honor of safest product in their industry. You may not have heard of Xenith, but you certainly have seen their product on Saturdays and Sundays this football season.
A producer of football helmets and shoulder pads, Xenith has grown from distributing 15,000 helmets in three years from their inception in 2007, to producing 1,000 daily during the peak season. First started in Lowell, Massachusetts by former Harvard football QB Vin Ferrara, Xenith is run today by CEO Joe Esposito out of Detroit.
Xenith has employed the strategy of gaining market share at the lower level of the football pyramid in youth leagues to capture more and more teams and players at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. Esposito says this strategy makes the most sense because parents are more drawn to “do their homework and look at the safety behind the helmet, whereas varsity and professionals are harder to convert because of brand loyal teams and players.” And over the past year, Xenith has proven that safety in their helmets has become the industry standard.
Virginia Tech began publishing a star rating model in 2011 for helmets with five stars being the highest and safest rating. Xenith has been awarded five stars from Virginia Tech on their two models of helmet, the Epic and X2E. What’s unique about Xenith is that they are committed to only producing and selling helmets that hit this threshold, according to Esposito, whereas other companies may have five star models but also sell three and four star models at lower price points. Despite being relatively new to the helmet game as opposed to competitors who have had “decades as a head start, we need to stay ahead of the curve and be thought of as the change leader with the most innovative and safest design” says Esposito on Xenith’s commitment to only five star models.
Beyond Virginia Tech’s rating system, the NFL conducted an even more comprehensive testing program this year for helmets. Xenith’s marketing director, Cale Werder, explained that the NFL’s test added a rotational measure to the linear metric that Virginia Tech uses. Rotational testing is especially important to Xenith because it measures not only the head-on impact of hits to the helmet but also the correlation of what happens from hits to the chin or facemask and how that reverberates to the brain.
Specifically, the company uses shock-absorbent technology to replace the traditional pump technology pads inside helmets. The chin-strap is also a real game changer, as it has a second strap connected to a bonnet inside the helmet creating a customized fit to minimize rotational forces and impacts.
The results of this test speak for themselves, as Xenith’s Epic helmet was ranked #1 and their X2E #4 in the NFL’s published report in August. Werder mentioned how the results were posted in every NFL locker room, and that this is remarkable in that NFL, for the first time, is providing players with “the tools to make informed decisions with regards to their helmet choice” described Werder.
As Xenith has worked hard to gain the recognition nationwide, initial investor Dan Gilbert took notice and recently became their biggest equity holder. In congruence with this investment, Gilbert catalyzed Xenith’s move from Massachusetts to Detroit. In doing so, Xenith immediately became tight collaborators with Gilbert’s almost 100 Quicken Loans partner companies to include Rock Ventures, and Fathead. Xenith also partnered with local Detroit organization such as Lear Corporation and James Group international. As the former COO of the latter company, Joe Esposito said that these partnerships have helped with “space and operational excellence requirements” as well as continuing to grow more jobs in Detroit.
Esposito said that Xenith alone has employed over fifty warehouse positions as well as fifteen salaried Xenith roles in the Motor City. A longtime team member in Gilbert owned companies, Esposito stated his goal of “taking over the leadership role from a service perspective.” Citing Gilbert’s emphasis on customer service that he places paramount in all his ventures, Esposito talked about Xenith’s adoption of this ethos in their delivery speed and custom designs to clients.
Lastly, Esposito praised Xenith’s team member’s embracement of the move to Detroit by saying “our team is passionate about the product no matter if it’s Boston or Detroit, and are always in a can-do mode.”
Going forward, Xenith’s helmets can be seen on several NFL stars including, Travis Kelce, Aqib Talib, Devin McCourty, and face of the brand LeSean McCoy. Recognizing that Xenith has the market on youth players, Esposito talked about how Xenith gets their product on future college stars through an exclusive deal with Under Armour’s All-American high school game. His hope is that getting future Heisman hopefuls like Nick Chubb into a Xenith helmet will translate to other players who see the “coolness factor” but also understand that the combination of safety and fit is unparalleled.
“New City. New Team. Same Swag. Same Helmet.” -LeSean McCoy #Xenith #TeamXenith https://t.co/FQXJdRb48A
— Xenith (@XenithFootball) July 19, 2015
Additionally, the same kind of technology Xenith used in their helmets is being translated to their shoulder pads, where Esposito says the “coolness factor has been evident by players calling them the ‘Batman’ shoulder pads”.
Brand awareness is Esposito’s biggest challenge and now that they have established themselves as the safest product, he wants Xenith to have the “best design, social media, and website and to always be thinking outside the box.” His number one priority is and always will be safety, and to “lead with that first.”