Back in 2005, whilst working on a joint thesis for their Masters, Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin became curious as to why adults are so reluctant to wear bike helmets despite their life-saving quality. After conducting much research, they quickly realised it was the helmet that needed to change as cyclists’ attitudes probably wouldn’t. And so they decided to devise an 'invisible' helmet in response to the most common complaints they’d heard during their investigations.

After securing $10 million of investment and spending seven years working with head trauma specialists and staging high impact accidents, they came up with the Hövding: an easy-to-wear collar that operates in the same way as an airbag. It’s lightweight, comes with different shells to match different outfits, and most importantly of all, it won’t ruin your hair.

At a point where urban biking is dramatically on the rise, it’s great to hear of an invention that takes the perils of cycling seriously.