d3o, the materials technology company responsible for the new impact protection technology which is soft and flexible but instantaneously stiffens on impact, has appointed founder of the North Face Hap Klopp as chairman.

Mr Klopp grew the North Face from a 14-person operation to an enterprise employing more than 1,000 people involved in manufacturing, licensing, retailing and distribution in over 45 countries.

According to d3o, in the same way as the North Face fought to revolutionise the outdoor retail market, d3o is on its way to establishing a completely new kind of impact protection that will revolutionise this market.

The outdoor market has stagnated, there’s nothing new or revolutionary to convince the consumer to trade up, which is why I believe it is perfect timing for d3o to make a huge impact (no pun intended). Having been around in the days when Gore-Tex was new, I can see d3o revolutionising the market in the same way,” commented Mr Klopp.

d3o is already used by some of the most well known brands such as Spyder, Schoeffel, Kjus, Globe, Sells, and Ribcap.