ALWAYS

SAFETY

FIRST!

PRODUCT SAFETY

One of our core product design philosophies is that players should always trust their gear. As such, safety is of paramount importance. All our product types undergo rigorous testing regarding structural integrity, flammability and chemical migration.

STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY

Our foam weapons are meticulously designed for play-acted combat and constitute most of our most iconic products. We often receive enquiries about how hard a player can hit opponents and whether our products can cope with the physical force. The short answer is: Yes, our weapons can take the stress, and the appropriate amount of applied force should instead be based on a mutual agreement between players. A golden rule in roleplaying and play-acting is to be gentle with fellow players even when acting harshly against their characters. All our foam weapon design types are thoroughly tested against the European Standard EN71-1, which is concerned with a product's mechanical and physical properties. In addition, we also perform the following five-step test approach in-house:

A stab test in which the weapon tip is repeatedly struck against a hard surface to ensure the durability of the tip reinforcement and resistance to deformation.
A bend test in which the weapon is subjected to repeated bends and twists to ensure the structural integrity of all foam and core elements.
An abrasion test in which the weapon is repeatedly ground against a hard edge to ensure the foam, latex and varnish does not damage too quickly under high friction conditions.
A tear test in which the weapon is subjected to minor cuts, which are then further pulled to test the tear strength of the closed-cell foam.
An impact test in which the weapon is subjected to heavy impacts against various surfaces and (voluntary) people to test the overall durability and ensure an acceptable level of discomfort upon tempered impact.

FLAMMABILITY

Whether using one of our Epic Armoury tents, donning Light Kit armour, or fighting with a Stronghold weapon, it is essential to prevent certain hazardous and life-threatening situations by ensuring our products are not flammable. Therefore, all our products are tested against European Standard EN71-2 by Consumer Lab Denmark, which specialises in consumer toy safety. This standard concerns a product's flammability. Strictly speaking, it is not a matter of whether things can burn but whether they cause or accelerate an ongoing fire.

CHEMICAL MIGRATION

With all our products, we adhere to the regulations on persistent organic pollutants (POP) under the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals Regulation (REACH), which addresses the production and use of chemical substances, and their potential impacts on both human health and the environment on behalf of the European Union. In these regulations, we pay particular attention to complying with the limit values for cadmium, lead, nickel, azo dyes, hexavalent chromium, aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), CMR substances, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and decabromodiphenyl ether (deca-BDE). In addition, all our products are tested in laboratories at Eurofins, Bureau Veritas, and Consumer Lab Denmark against the European Standard EN71-3, concerned with certain elements' chemical migration.