Courtesy KIRSH Helmets
By Paul Post
“If you get in one of my cars, you get in to win.” — Enzo Ferrari.
This same mindset has helped Donnie DeVito and Jason Kirshon grow their business, KIRSH Helmets, to achieve coast-to-coast sales in just a few short years.
Now it’s gaining international exposure by playing a significant role in the new Michael Mann-directed film, “Ferrari,” released on Christmas Day co-starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz.
The Schenectady-based company, with production facilities in Queensbury, specializes in making half shell motorcycle helmets, the kind most popular with Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycle riders.
Its most unique, revolutionary feature is a fluid liner, inside an aerodynamically designed shell, which keeps heads cool on the hottest days.
Film producers conducted a worldwide search for a company that could replicate the kind of helmets race car drivers wore in 1957, when “Ferrari” takes place, while providing the highest level of safety and protection for actors and stunt men as well.
The story focuses on Enzo Ferrari’s auto empire, which is in financial crisis.
To rescue it, he pushes himself and drivers to the edge in hopes of capturing the Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy.
“We got a phone call from people involved with production of the movie early on a Monday evening,” DeVito said. “By Tuesday we had all of the parts and components put together, ready to move to Italy where they were shooting the film. Jay took the parts, put them in baggage and flew from JFK (New York) to Milan. They picked him up on Wednesday morning and went straight into production, working on the set with the props team, making vintage helmets that you see in the movie.”
“Those are our DOT-certified helmets, modified with different paint schemes to match the museum pieces used by actual racers back in the Fifties,” he said. “The stunt men and actors really preferred our helmets. They helped them stay cool on the set and in the cars while they were shooting in the morning.”
By Friday, Kirshon was back home after a job well done, which he and DeVito credit in large part to their employees, many of whom are military veterans.
“These are people who know how to get the job done, understand the task at hand and are able to do it in very little time,” DeVito said.
The U.S. Department of Labor has honored Kirsh Helmets four straight years with a Gold Award under its HIRE Vets Medallion Program, which recognizes firms that have a commitment to sustaining a veteran workforce.
“It helps give meaning to the work that we do well beyond just the mission of the company,” DeVito said. “And it helps engage with other veterans and veterans organizations across the country that appreciate the work we do.”
“It’s great to be part of a major motion picture and to have been selected from among all the helmet companies in the world,” he said. “When they had to pick somebody who could do the job, provide exactly what they wanted and operate at a high level, we were able to do that and deliver in just a few days.”
DeVito and Kirshon founded KIRSH Helmets in 2017, shortly after getting acquainted at a Saturday morning RPI incubator event.
“He had just gotten his first patent issued and was talking to other entrepreneurs,” DeVito said. “I was fascinated by his work and the technology he had. It looked to be something that would really change the head protection industry. I saw his vision working in many different ways across sports and athletics, certainly in motor vehicles and motorcycles in particular, which is where his interest was.”
DeVito provides most of the business acumen, while Kirshon is the technology guru. After studying the marketplace, they wrote a business and funding plan, set about raising capital and moved into the NYBizLab in Schenectady, which helps small and start-up companies grow.
Assembly and production facilities are in a building owned by Seeley Machine, on Big Boom Road in Queensbury.
“Now we have 14 issued patents and several provisional patents have been filed in multiple jurisdictions around the world,” DeVito said. “In the early stages of any business you’ve got to focus, so we’ve focused on motorcycle helmets, in particular the half helmet, which is 40 percent of all the helmets bought every year. About two-thirds are too small and unsafe, another third are too big and bulky, not a style that riders want to wear. Jay is a rider and his inspiration came from wanting to solve those problems.”
“This year we had another great year, we sold all the helmets we could make,” he said. “We moved into Texas, Arizona, Nevada, California and Washington state.”
Plans call for expanding the sales force to other parts of the country, but all production will continue to be in Queensbury. DeVito said support from Warren County Economic Development Corp. and local investors have been instrumental to the company’s success.
“What’s important is that the technology, the patented liner, can perform not only in motor vehicle crash helmets, but also in head protection for sports and athletics,” he said. “We can talk about hockey, baseball, bicycles and workplace safety with construction helmets.”
Football is another obvious application, which would take considerable capital and a partner that’s willing to adopt KIRSH Helmets’ technology.
“Our technology offers an opportunity with a very wide global runway,” DeVito said.
Motorcycle accident victim Joseph Murphy is living proof that KIRSH Helmets work. “An individual on a side street pulled out in front of me, I laid the bike down and skidded across the pavement,” he said, in a video on the company website. “The helmet hit the pavement. Firefighters explained to me what happened and said my helmet here saved my life. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“I do extensive amounts of research on any product I buy,” he said. “I looked at the testing. I’ve seen other helmets that have gone through testing and basically fell apart on impact. This interior gel pad absorbs the impact. This helmet’s actually going to save your life.”