Shoei

Shoei is a Japanese company producing motorcycle helmets since 1958. Its roots go back to 1954 with the founding of Kamata Polyester Co., which mainly produced safety helmets for use in the construction industry.

Shoei's founder, Eitaro Kamata(鎌田栄太郎), was born to a Tokyo family that operated a traditional Japanese restaurant, Edogin, and an inn, 'Kamata Ryokan', near Shimbashi Station. Honda Motor Co. was located in Hamamatsu, and its founder, Soichiro Honda, and test rider Kiyoshi Kawashima were inn regulars as they often had business to attend to in the capital. Thus, Eitaro got acquainted with Mr. Kawashima, who often arrived at the inn on a motorcycle, and admired Mr. Kawashima's style with a painted helmet. Eitaro left the family business and started up a helmet factory; in 1960, Shoei's Tokyo factory to produce the first motorcycle helmets to meet the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS).

When inquired about the origins of the name, a Shoei representative replied: "Shoei is not an actual word and does not mean anything. In Japan the passage of time is marked in dynasties which are the lifetime of an emperor. When Shoei was started in 1959 they were in the Showa dynasty, so its first character (昭 -sho) was combined with the first character of the founder's first name Eitaro (栄太郎) and resulted in the brand name, Shoei(昭栄)."

In 1965, Honda Motor Co. selected Shoei's helmets as their 'genuine' helmets as a part of Honda Parts and Accessories line of products, increasing their popularity and, ultimately, availability. This initiated a global expansion of the Shoei brand: the Shoei Safety Helmet Corporation was established in the U.S. in 1968 (shortly after construction of the Ibaraki factory; the current Iwate factory was built in 1989), quickly followed by other dependencies in France (Shoei Europe Distribution s.a.r.l., 1987), Germany (Shoei Europa Gmbh, 1994), Italy (Shoei Italia s.r.l., 2011) and Thailand (Shoei Asia Co., Ltd., 2019).

Despite their success and market share, Shoei remains a relatively small company, with a workforce of under 800 people worldwide.