Ever since Nutcase founder Michael Morrow went to the Civil War game and conceived the idea of a helmet brand that would integrate great graphics with stylish urban design, he’s looked for what he calls ‘evergreens.’

“These are the kinds of designs that you can carry forward easily,” Michael said. “They don’t have to be remade with changing seasons – they keep on going and people keep on responding to them.”

They are the patterns and colors and shapes that tend to appeal to people across cultures and social groups.

The Dots Helmet is one of those evergreens.

Polka dots, Michael explained, are a pattern that people have been drawn to throughout the ages, with the actual dots expanding and contracting in size based on different fashion preferences and trends.

Far back in the dawn of mass fashion, ‘Dotted Swiss’ fabric with tiny dots was a perennial favorite, while thalertupfen in Germany were larger, coin-sized dots on fabric.

In America, polka dots became iconic back in 1926 when a Miss America contestant wore a polka-dot bathing suit; soon after that Disney put Minnie Mouse in a red-and-white polka dot dress and she became as popular as the dots themselves.

Michael, well-steeped in American culture, especially from the 1950’s and 1960’s, grew up playing the dots-on-a-mat party game called Twister.

Twister was introduced in 1966, and is supposed to be the first American game to use human bodies as playing pieces.

Michael admires the bold primary colors on the Twister board. Of course, he twisted those a bit on the first Dots helmet, which was released with the first wave of Nutcase designs in 2006.

“Instead of the perfect rows of dots in Twister,” Michael said, “we messed a little with the design. I wanted a bolder scale and to add some secondary colors to the mix, but still keeping the primary colors and keeping it visually delightful.”

courtesy Jon Sullivan

Through the years, Dots has definitely achieved evergreen status – we play with it once in awhile, introducing select new background colors and dot tones. But we always return to the original because it is popular and at the same time…timeless.

Check out our Dots Street Helmet as well as our Little Nutty Dots Helmet. And don’t forget Mini-Dots – thanks, Minnie.

Note: Twister dial photo courtesy of Creative Commons 2.0 Generic by BitchBuzz.