News - HEMA plastic protection

In the world of historical sword fighting, there is always room for something new, and different styles and disciplines intersect amazingly, following both the historical heritage and modern history of Western Martial Arts. In some European countries, fencing with a rapier, a small sword, a saber, or a messer followed naturally from the historical tradition, with some masters and schools being direct or, at least, emotional successors of their ancestor's tradition and heritage. In other countries, the history of Renaissance fencing branched from earlier developed armored combat communities, such as the Society of Creative Anachronism in the United States, or historical reenactment and, later, buhurt armored combat in Europe.
Anyway, HEMA, or Historical European Martial Arts, became a recognized part of the Western martial arts world.

We at ArmStreet have been doing things with different types of swords since the early 1990s and obviously got into the trap of the beautiful art of Renaissance Fencing.

The market of HEMA-specific gear has also experienced essential developments, with a number of companies working on every aspect of equipment, from gambesons to plastic protection to HEMA masks to gloves and blades.

Our first experiments with plastic were based on our experience with different plastic composites, so we decided to use it to bring the next-generation gear to the world of historical fencing.

Our plastic is super rigid and, when necessary, reinforced with fibers, so it provides unmatched durability and some flexibility, making it more comfortable to wear.

At some point, a lot of WMA clubs in the USA started to switch back to the metal knee and elbow cops because of the permanent troubles with plastic cops available, so we are happy to say that our plastic gear performed on a level that it's now recommended to be used along with lightweight steel gear for all the regular HEMA weapon.

We have several lines of plastic, slightly different in weight, properties, and look.

"One Standard" line of protection, these plastic knee cops or these plastic shoulder protection for example is our basic line of gear with simple and ergonomic design and, what's the most important, deep cops and side elements to protect joints.

Our "Edge" protection has a more historical look, which will make some fans of German schools happy with an extra-rigid design and traditional, more armor-like look, and our "Futura" series is the most sophisticated line of HEMA protection with slik and modern sports design.

All these lines of products are going to be extended and completed, but now is the right time to start replacing your old cracked knees with something sturdy and beautiful.

You will find the full selection of our HEMA protection products in the Modern Swordsmanship collection.

To be continued.