The early connection with Skimeter
A preserved version of our German website, dated 9 August 2003, already identifies Play Trend as a distributor. That short entry records the start of our work with Flexmeter: contacts with Skimeter in France and the first wrist guards we added to our range.
The pages look very different today. Small photographs, product names and brief descriptions show the early splints and the products sold alongside them. We have kept those images because they capture part of that period. You can explore them in the Flexmeter photo archive.
Conversations with Dr Binet
The relationship continued with Docmeter. During those years, we had personal contact with Dr Marc-Hervé Binet, the physician involved in developing the Flexmeter concept.
His name also appears in the research literature. In 2012, he published a study with Philippa Wadsworth and Andrew Rowlands examining different wrist-guard designs for snowboarders. Meanwhile, the product range extended beyond wrist guards: Helmeter helmets, Spinemeter back protectors and impact shorts were also part of our earlier offer.
A new chapter with Demon
At the end of 2012, the Flexmeter wrist-guard concept passed from Docmeter to Demon. The French official notice published on 29 January 2013 records 21 December 2012 as the start of the transferred business activity. A contemporary report on Docmeter also describes this step.
For us, the connection with Flexmeter continued under Demon. The early photographs and today’s models show several generations and a changing appearance. The splint colours in our archive range from blue and red through silver and light grey to the darker versions and the current Double with D3O.
A relationship built through everyday work
Deliveries, conversations and customer feedback have kept us connected with Flexmeter over the years. We have regularly passed on observations from our sales and customers’ experiences to the people responsible for the product. Our contribution is the perspective that comes from handling these products and answering questions about them.
Today we work directly with Brent Davidson and Demon USA on instructions, language versions and product information. That work includes the PlayTrend instructions PT-FM-2026-07, dated 29 October 2026. The current models are Demon Flexmeter Single-Sided and Double-Sided With D3O, and the story continues with them.
Names from the earlier catalogues
Single, PLUS and Flexguard appear in the older wrist-protection material. This English website also used the name PalmPro for the separate palm piece shown with the earlier PLUS. Each name belongs to the generation described in its source. Helmeter was the helmet line, while the back protectors were called Spinemeter. The earlier product families remain identifiable in our photo archive.