November Newsletter

Welcome to the November edition of the Vikela newsletter, with updates on product development and a look back at our latest conference.

Future Land Forces Exhibition

In early November we had the pleasure of exhibiting at the inaugural Future Land Forces conference in Warsaw, organised by Defence Leaders . At the conference we were able to show prototypes of our our men’s and women’s APIS stab vests to a large audience of European military leaders and representatives. We had a very productive trip, making some key connections resulting in some exciting follow-ups after the conference.

A particular highlight was the interest and product feedback from end users, with many military members noting how light our materials are compared to what is widely used today. You can see below a member of the Polish military trying on a prototype of our female APIS stab protection vest ????

We’d like to extend a big thank you to Defence Leaders and Billy Bate for organising Future Land Forces 2023 and for bringing the defence innovation network together in Warsaw, we hope to be there again next time! Thank you also to our business advisors Kingsley Donaldson and Craig Blaney for attending the exhibition with the Vikela team ??

Product Development News

At Vikela we are focused on providing high quality equipment that raises the standards of protection for a variety of users. Following the tragic recent news of the death of an ice hockey player, we were shocked to learn that neck protection guards are not a mandatory piece of equipment for ice hockey players in the UK despite being potentially life-saving. The EIHA has said that this is due to supply issues, although a full review of player safety equipment will take place over the next 12 months, indicating that neck guards could soon become a mandatory piece of equipment.

"It is unacceptable for any player to lose their life while playing sport" - English Ice Hockey Association

After looking into the standards and regulations for neck protectors, we believe we can offer lightweight, flexible neck guards that are slash resistant and can be produced quickly once certified.

We have successfully developed a neck guard prototype, and are currently looking for feedback on how the guards interact with other pieces of current equipment and player movements.

?? Thank you to ActionCOACH UK for the invite to 6 Steps to a Better Business Masterclass recently, where our team picked up plenty of ideas for elevating management success ??

You might have noticed LinkedIn has recently added the much sought after option to message company pages directly, so do get in touch with us that way if you have any questions or updates for us! ??

Thanks for reading and we’ll be back with more updates in December, The Vikela Team ??