Engineering the Unfair Advantage

Inspired by tried-and-true emergency responder protocols, our Co-Founder and CEO, Justin Li, initially thought to combine first aid science with athletic base layers while on duty as a sworn law enforcement officer in the California desert. With rugged terrain, a formidable adversary, heavy protective gear, and high altitude, Justin was looking to improve his odds in the field.

Unwilling to add more weight to his kit, he realized that efficiently offloading heat to stay hydrated was the best way to boost his endurance, strength, focus, and recovery. After the mission, he realized that solving this problem could have implications beyond Constitutional law enforcement. Improving performance through hydration could help people who sweat—especially athletes seeking a competitive performance advantage, military personnel, and fellow law enforcement officers.

Qore Performance successfully launched another TCCC Baser Layer (then referred to as WHT or Wearable Hydration Technology) innovation--The Hydration Shirt--on Kickstarter in December 2015. During the campaign, the U.S. Army called us. They sought a way to solve the "body armor cooling problem for soldiers" downrange in CONUS training environments.

While TCCC Base Layers are potent and efficient weapons in helping your body offload heat, there are some situations where operators need more power. The Army was clear: they wanted 140+ watts of cooling power over two hours without any batteries, moving parts, or additional weight to the Soldier. The tradeoff had always been weight — nothing on the market was lightweight enough and cost-effective enough to be feasible, and most of the more powerful initiatives involved 'ground-up' approaches, redesigning a soldier's whole kit.

In our work with TCCC Base Layers, we had become experts in absorbing and extracting heat. We knew that the single most potent coolant readily available is water, which operators also happen to *already* be carrying.

So we set out to more efficiently repurpose this water. Operators were telling us the drawbacks of their current canteens and bladders: Noise, lack of space efficiency, prone to rupture, freezing in cold conditions, and many others. There had to be a better way than shoving frozen bottles into plate carriers and cargo pockets.

We designed ICEPLATE® to minimize weight, maximize duration, and maximize body contact. We put in a drain so operators can finally drink all their water. We ensured it was thinner and lighter than the current standard issue. As a bonus, it also provides added protection against impact. Working with the top thermoplastic engineers and designers in the U.S., ICEPLATE® went from concept to prototype to reality in only six months and is now deployed across all branches of the U.S. military and in the kit of body armor users worldwide.

Extremely pleased with the performance of ICEPLATE®, Kevin, Daniel, and Phil connected Justin with the Hospitality Team at Chick-fil-A Corporate, who asked us to make ICEPLATE® available to all Chick-fil-A stores.

Justin headed to Arizona and met with Kevin Fry and Daniel Trotter at Chick-fil-A Scottsdale 101. Shortly after the meeting began, Kevin and Daniel were outside testing ICEPLATE® live. ICEPLATE® appeared to fit the bill perfectly. It was powerful and long-lasting, easily fitting over standard uniforms. Daniel purchased five units to run a pilot. He sent Justin to meet with Phil Thomas at his Scottsdale store, who also purchased five units to run a pilot program of his own. 

In October 2017, Justin married his wife Tracy. While they were on their honeymoon in Hawaii, Justin noticed a repeating pattern of honeycombs, leading to his vision of reinventing plate carrier shoulder pads from the ground up. He remembered the ineffectiveness of the shoulder pads he'd been using for years. They were hot and still fatigued your shoulders. He saw a way to both distribute load and ventilate at the same time.

Three months later, the first ICEVENTS® Classic prototype was born, far surpassing expectations. It was both breathable and load-distributing. The team knew the impact potential of what they had just created. ICEVENTS® Classic launched Thanksgiving week in November 2018.