Eagan Company Making Warm Weather Gear For Vikings, Seahawks Players
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- We'll be lucky if we're above zero for Sunday's big game against the Seattle Seahawks. The Vikings are prepared, soon the Seahawks will be too.
What's under a saw in an industrial park in Eagan will soon be in front of millions of watchful eyes. Priscilla Magana is with WSI Sports. She showed us around the company she and her husband run.
It may look like standard thermal gear but when you look closely, you can see this order is supersized, some jerseys are size 4X.
"We're outfitting both the Vikings and the Seahawks so we've got to get to work," Magana said.
Magana and her husband run WSI. They've patented a fabric that stays dry and warm, warmer than wool is their claim, good to -20 degrees. You may recognize one happy customer, Teddy Bridgewater. Her husband met with him.
"Showed him the technology and he was very impressed and like, 'I need some of that, I'm always freezing,'" Magana said.
He and the team wore the gear at last week's Packers game, and at a 6-degree wind chill game last year.
The Vikings were prepared for this weather. The company got a call Monday from the Seahawks. They needed 74 jerseys, 140 pairs of socks and 40 pairs of pants if they were going to play here.
The request: "We want whatever the Vikings wore against the Packers and we need a lot of them."
But as you've likely noticed, not all players like all coverage. Some wear short sleeves.
And that's where this Minnesota company comes in, Aurora Henna Company. They make Warm Skin.
Their creams have been coating NFL players since 1990.
David Schanfield and Kathryn Frommer run the company. Warm Skin is one of the products the couple made at this northeast Minneapolis workshop.
Kathryn says the cream insulates skin, helps keep moisture in and retain body heat.
"The receivers really like it, they don't want to wear sleeves. Apparently it really does make a difference," Frommer said.
Back at WSI Sports, they've stopped production on all other orders to fill Seattle's.
"We have had requests to make the Seahawks a little less warm but we're people with integrity," Magana said jokingly.
And ingenuity, it seems, Minnesotans are the best at conquering the cold. Something that should bode well for Sunday.
Some interesting facts from the Vikings: From a player-safety standpoint, the following precautions will be taken:
- Team will utilize heated benches, as well as industrial air heaters on the sideline, to assist in keeping the bench area as warm as possible.
- Players will be provided with extra gear, particularly on the sideline, in the forms of hand and foot warmers, body length coats, etc.
- We will provide warm chicken broth behind the bench and in the locker room, which is used to help keep the bodies core temperature normalized.
- Players need to work at staying warm while not in the game. We utilize things like foam rollers and exercise bikes on the sidelines to assist with that.
- While we have a heated field, we will also delay pulling the tarp by several hours to ensure the safest playing surface possible.
You can buy the products the players wear right here.
