FAQs

• How do you size your products?
  Your waist size. Please go by your actual waist measurement, at the belly button, not your pant size.
• What product is best for the sport I do?
  Our products are sport specific and designed so that the area of the body most venerable are covered and still the product is flexible and designed specifically for the type of movement in that sport. If you have any question about what product would be best for you please call or e-mail us and we will help you pick the exact Crash Pad to best fit your needs.
• What is the pad made of?
  We use high-density closed cell polyethylene foam. Each pad is flame bonded with fabric and then thermal formed to provide unbelievable flexibility. That is how we can provide a full 1/2 inch of high-density padding and have full freedom of movement.
• What items represents the best single value in your line, and why?
  The pro pant is a great value because it is the most versatile product in our line. It can be worn as underwear or outerwear in the summer for virtually any sport and is worn by the beginner through the pro level rider in the winter. The upper body jackets are also a great value because they provide amazing coverage, can be comfortably worn under a jacket, and are under 200.00 retail!

• What’s the best way to freshen up stinky gear?
  Let it air out… and wash it more than twice a year!
• Why do you think more riders don’t wear safety gear?
  We believe most skaters will not wear protective wear because most of it is hot, uncomfortable, and restricts movement. Ours is not that, but it is hard to convince people with preconceived ideas. We have not developed a knee pad yet because we refuse to just do what everyone else is doing and that does not address those huge issues for athletes. We also believe that skaters don’t think it is cool to be protected. But if they are truly competitive or really want to do bigger more dangerous skills, they wear protection because an injury takes them out of the competitions and riding. Professional riders understand this and the vast majority of high level riders do were all the protective wear as an injury will actually cost them money and reputation. The more competitive and more successful a skater is the more likely it is that they wear some protection.
• What can be done to encourage riders to wear gear?
  The more time they spend riding without pain the better they will get. If you take two athletes in any discipline and chart their careers, the healthy ones by in large go further and are much more successful than the ones who spent time injured and in pain. Also if an athlete is training or skating and has any distraction thought or moment of fear of being injured, they either rush or hesitate going into skills. This has been proven time and again. Timing is the key in developing high skill level. If an athlete is protected their timing is better and their learning curve is improved ten fold. So it just depends on if a skater wants to look cool while they are learning and pushing to become better or if they truly want to be a good skater, boarder, or athlete of anytime. So I guess what would help is some coaching or education with hard facts about training, learning, skill development, and competitive edge. I think if the less educated athletes knew how much harder they were making on themselves they would actually wear pads.
• Why do you still produce in the United State…you should go to China?
  We are well aware this is unique but it works for us. After a few passionate discussions on the floor of the SIA show last year with other manufactures, my partners and I sat down and had a long and detailed conversation about why we have decided to keep our manufacturing in the United States. We feel that there are many reasons to continue our effort to keep our manufacturing here. We identified them as two basic areas of interest. The first being good business and perhaps even more importantly it is a personal and passionate choice. For us manufacturing in the United States is good business because we are able to serve our customers better. We also can catch problems and go to the factory and have them fixed rather than receiving a full container of less than perfect product. We personally touch and look at every product that we ship. We know well every person who works at our factory. This brings us to the real heart of the matter. Because we know each other, we have had a personal effect on their lives and they have had an effect on ours. They take pride in our customers being happy. When we started Crash Pads almost 18 years ago, our pad manufacture went out of their way to help us. All we had was an idea and they believed in us, and helped us build a great product line. How could we turn our back on them now and get our pads overseas? But you see to Crash Pads it is not only about the bottom line. It is not only about the margin we make and how much money we can make from our customers. It is about what we do and what we provide for them and our relationships with everyone from the people who produce our products, who sell our products and finally the end user. Could we make more money? Likely. Is money the most important thing? No, we think not. We believe strongly that the service we provide to others and the people we meet along the way are the most important things. You may be able to find similar products to ours that are cheaper. It is less expensive to go off shore. But we prefer to keep it closer to home. We also like knowing that we are providing jobs here. The American consumers are also the American worker. Do we have our heads in the sand? No we are well aware of the fact that we are in a world market. We sell internationally and are happy to be apart of the whole picture. We just feel that we work better for many reasons with our manufacturing and sourcing near.
• Why should I buy Crash Pads instead of another pad?
  Well first off our pads are fantastic- but that is not the only reason. The reason we originally started the company was to have something of our own that we could believe in that was operated uniquely with specific goals. We make decisions for the right reasons not just for the bottom line. We treat our customers‚Äô right and produce products that are better than what is on the market. We feel our family is the most important thing and we will drop the company rather than lose sight of that. We want to produce everything in the United States and do our own quality control personally. We know the people that work for and with us. Crash Pads is more than about making money. Since 1992 we have never lost sight of any of these goals. Lehner Industries inc. and Crash Pads is different than most companies and we are committed to keeping it that way. If you want to be a part of something unique and dwindling in the country buy crash Pads. If you do, we hope you feel somehow connected to something bigger…or I guess smaller. If you choose to support something rare, a company rooted in something different than a huge multinational, image driven, chinese made, profit focused, protective wear company, then buy Crash Pads. We stand for something real and fresh but most importantly, we make great protective wear~