the history of charles owen - page 1 - page 2 - page 3

There is something very special about Charles Owen. It's impossible to measure yet is so tangible. The closer you come to the heart, the more affected you become. Those words, uttered nearly a hundred years ago, still ring true today, and the message is louder now the family has grown. The Charles Owen family includes not only those who strive to make the finest product, who help the research to develop the finest product, who advise riders about the correct fitting of the finest product, but also the wearers who trust us with their lives, pursuing the passion that is the focus of the Charles Owen family.

In today's fast moving world, the pressures to do more with less in less time inevitably leads to compromise. As any good horseperson will tell you, there are no short cuts to exceptional standards and in order to reach those peaks of success you have to carve your own path. "Nobody else does it like that" has got to be the commonest phrase spoken about Charles Owen. Maybe that is exactly the reason for our success. Designing and building products for an ever expanding group of sons and daughters, aunties and uncles, demanding something special, demands that good is not good enough.

As medical knowledge has grown, so has the ability of the medics to save people from the unsurvivable. The consequent demand on us to perform at an increasingly sophisticated level has led to the formation of a truly formidable family. So lets examine its make up. It is a wonder that anyone wants to supply Charles Owen. The standards we set, make us one of the most demanding customers. Thank goodness we have competitors that are willing to buy the components that fail our checks at a discount, otherwise the quality set for a Charles Owen product would not be commercially viable. Our suppliers do tend to be lifetime partners who see manufacturing moves away from Europe and becomes centered on large volumes of distinctively average quality. So it is hardly surprising that the demand for Charles Owen keeps on going. 'Designed on computer, made by robots and worn by dummies' is often the way of the world, especially as standards become more universal to enable the trade barriers to fall. Whilst an increasing amount of technology is used in development, we are still a long way from a full understanding of the human form, the behaviour of the body to external forces and the development of humanoids to replicate human injury. The replacement of the human in the design, the manufacture and the testing can only lead to inferior products.

Charles Owen, more than any company in its field, is progressive in its desire for a safer world. Its design engineers have been involved with helmet standards since 1953. We currently represent the UK on the European Standards and is an active member of the American Standards for the Testing of Materials the major equestrian standard developer in the US. We were a founder member of the British Horse Society Accident Database and work with the leading researchers in the field. Charles Owen rolled out an education program in conjunction with Headway, the British Brain Injury Organisation and the American Brain Trauma Foundation. A major programme of working with top riders in each discipline ensure that our products are not just tested by laboratory dummies. Perhaps the most significant effort is educating both helmet sellers and wearers in maximising the safety of helmets through correct fitting. Laboratory dummies cannot represent the true diversity of the human race and it is is well recognised that a helmet that does not fit can lead to fatal consequences. There is still widespread ignorance even amongst helmet designers and it is a serious concern with all safety professionals in our sport. Programmes run by Charles Owen include seminars, training clinics and expert help, which is available at a increasing number of international horse events.

Production of our core products is carried out in our own production facilities. This is becoming increasingly uncommon as the desire for easy profit demands outsourcing and the consequent lack of control.