Technical Solution

When the vest was originally designed, Shapes closely worked together with a Danish physiotherapist, to achieve the high level of comfort and mobility. We looked at the positioning of the moveable plates and simultaneously looked at how the human body moves in the chest and abdominal region. This is done to insure, that the vest will follow the movement of your body. Initially the vests sections slide over each other due to a crumple zone built into the front. The outer cover crumples making way for the ballistic plates to slide according to body movement.

Though it is important for the plates to move as the body moves, it is equally important that the plates move back to the original position after the initial movement. This is possible due to straps placed in the chest section which are connected to the back at a 45 degree angle and inner side straps connected from the back section to the front section towards the abdomen in a lateral position. The plates and the crumple zones move back to their original position. This is how the body moves and how the vest follows its movement.

We use Dyneema® for the ballistic plates. Dyneema® is today one of the most frequently used materials for ballistic vests, and has performed very well in tests. The standard security level for our vest is NIJIIIa. It provides protection against most handgun threats, and provides the highest level of protection currently available from concealable body armor. The vest can be upgraded to NIJ level IV with the use of ceramic plates.

Ballistics Protection levels: NIJ IIIa with upgrade possibility to NIJ IV. NIJ Standard 0101.04

For more details about the NIJ levels, please visit:
matrix.dumpshock.com/raygun/armor/nij_lev.html

For more about Shapes vests patent:
www.freepatentsonline.com/6823529.html