Hirotake Arai: A rider himself

For over 70 years, Arai has been obsessed with safety. The founder of the company, Hirotake Arai, was a hat maker, but also an enthusiastic rider.

In the 1950s there were no helmet manufacturers in Japan and as Japan was a closed market, it was very difficult to obtain a proper safety helmet. With no legal standards and no helmet manufacturers, after a few spills Hirotake Arai knew he wanted a good helmet for his own safety and his friends. This was the start of Arai as a helmet manufacturing business.

He set about developing his own testing standards and testing equipment. As a hat maker, he knew that people have all different head shapes and sizes, thus creating a need to develop a range of helmets to accommodate the perfect fit.