'Great to have Rishabh Pant as brand ambassador': Forma Helmets founder Amit Desai

The Forma cricket helmet brand came into existence in the early nineties, at a time when the Indian economy was just opening up. Since then, the company behind the Forma brand, Protech Sports & Safety Products Pvt Ltd, has only grown from strength to strength.

Through its factory located in Vadodara, Gujarat, Protech churns out 100,000 helmets a year. In addition to direct sales in the Indian market under the Forma brand, the company is also an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for British and Australian clients.

Protech's founder and director Amit Desai is bullish about his company's growth prospects, projecting a 30 percent increase in production capacity as well as exploring entry into the highly evolved and competitive North American sports market.

In this exclusive conversation with Sportskeeda.com, Mr. Desai also highlights the significance of onboarding star cricketers like Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav and Washington Sundar, the evolution in technology over the last 30 years, and how exports contribute to 70% of Protech's total sales.

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Forma Helmets' launch in the nineties

1. Forma debuted in 1994, when the Indian economy was just opening up. Please describe to us the prevailing environment at that time which gave you the confidence to start your own sporting goods company.

In 1994, the Indian economy was just opening up to the world, and there were still multiple challenges in terms of sourcing quality raw material from overseas, coupled with high import duties for machinery that would help us compete in the international market. However, it was a much better starting point compared to some of the obstacles our predecessors faced when it came to manufacturing in India. The manufacturing landscape held promise, with the removal of lots of old restrictions that greatly helped new manufacturers like us to enter the space with quality products.

The cricket helmet business in particular was a niche one and still not a major contributor in cricket product sales in terms of volumes and revenue. There was only one Australian brand leader in the cricket helmet manufacturing space.

"The cricket helmet market in India was very small and price sensitive. From the beginning, we were interested in making high quality helmets that can protect cricketers at the top levels of competition. This left us with helmets with higher costs that could not get the required market in India. We ventured for the overseas market and had very good response from the cricket-playing export markets, namely UK and Australia."

2. From a technology standpoint, how has Forma evolved since its inception to now, nearly three decades later?

The helmets made by the Australian company (which was the first organized cricket helmet manufacturer) and by Protech, were manufactured with simple foams that were also used to make mattresses as the primary impact absorption internal lining under a fiberglass outer shell. The helmet-manufacturing technology evolved to use high-density EVA foam for better impact absorption, with an outer plastic shell.

"In the period from 1995-1998, cricket helmets did not have any international standards to regulate the quality and impact absorption capability."

Australian standards were then instituted, which mandated cricket helmet protection with impact absorption regulations. Protech was the first company that was able to meet these impact standards and be certified in the cricket helmet space.

"We had developed technology and knowledge by having a joint venture with an Italian company for manufacturing motorcycle helmets in one of our sister companies."

The knowledge that we learned was mainly on impact management. This involved the precise knowledge of the composition of the outer shell in terms of engineering polymers required to manage high levels of impact, and the inner shell of EPS with the accurate thickness and density required for concussion management. We are now investing in newer technology that will help us better mitigate and manage impacts and concussions compared to the current levels.

3. With your factory being located in Vadodara, Gujarat, what have been some of your key supply chain challenges and how have you overcome them?

Supply chain issues have systematically changed greatly for the better in India in the last 10 years.

We always had our offices in Mumbai, which helped us tap into suppliers from the city and its surrounding manufacturing hubs, as well as those in and around Pune. Hence, we were never bound by local Vadodara or even Gujarat-based suppliers for our raw material requirements.

4. Can you elaborate on your network of retail partners, their total number, and their geographical spread?

The Forma brand is now available around the cricket-playing world. Kopojis (sister company of Sanspareils Greenlands) is our distributor for India, Gray-Nicolls Sports- Australia is our distributor for Australia and NZ, SDL Ltd distributors for UK & Europe, and New Africa Sports for South Africa.

We also have four dealers across the new and growing markets in the US.

The tragic death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes in 2014 brought on-field safety into the limelight and notably led to the widespread use of neck guards for extra protection.

5. Having sustained and grown your brand from the print to the digital age, what drives your overarching marketing strategy?

The old school methods of marketing are still important to some extent. However, the new age digital marketing methods have become the main drivers. We are redefining our complete marketing strategy and have introduced various personnel who are young and passionate to drive this effort.

6. Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, and Washington Sundar are some of the big names endorsing Forma. What factors underpin your talent signing decisions?

If you notice, all these professional cricketers have a common underlying signature appeal. They are all calm, composed, always smiling on the field, and have very high levels of sportsmanship. But at the same time, they are all extremely competitive, possessing high levels of natural skills and talent for the game with a single objective of playing to win. They are what we can call true brand ambassadors of the game.

7. Forma has a Rishabh Pant (RP17) Signature Collection. What inputs did the cricketer provide for designing this collection, and how is it different (both in terms of style and material) from your regular collection?

Rishabh Pant is always engaged with us, providing his inputs in the fabric colors and label designs on the grill. We have his signature camouflage design in the inner lining and outside on the grill stickers. He has also given us some input on the wicketkeeping helmet design. With the new British standards, there are limitations on how much one can modify the structure of the helmet once it has passed the standards.

8. With Rishabh Pant cementing himself in the Indian team, are you noticing a significant sales uptick for his collection?

This has surely given us a good impetus in his RP17 range and also helped us with our general Forma branding. It is great to have him on board as our brand ambassador.

9. Forma currently manufactures 100,000 helmets per annum. Are there any plans to expand your production capacity?

We are looking to expand our capacity further by another 30 percent by March 2023.

10. Forma is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for some well-known British and Australian brands. Do exports form a significant chunk of your overall revenue, or are Indian sales predominant?

We are OEM and exclusive suppliers of cricket helmets to two of the largest cricketing brands in the world for the past 20 years. Our export contribute 70 percent of our total sales.

11. Forma has ambitious goals of entering the highly evolved American sports ecosystem by manufacturing accessories in baseball, ice hockey, and American football. What are your timelines to activate these partnerships?

Our plans for these markets and products are not immediate, but we are surely contemplating them for the near future. We are in talks with some of these current US-based sports helmet manufacturers to supply some impact absorption parts that will be used for their internal lining.