Why KAV’s Buffalo Operation Makes It A Made-In-America Manufacturer

Shaving your head is what a cyclist who wants a custom-fit helmet would ordinarily have to do to get exactly what they want.

KAV Helmets CEO Whitman Kwok muses that, when his company realized that was the cutoff point for consumers to buy into his new line of five-star safety certified custom-built lids, a better system of measurement had to be developed.

“Not that many people are that committed to our product to do that,” Kwok joked with co-hosts of News4Buffalo’s morning show September 9th.

KAV’s one-selfie, AI-driven custom measurement system allows consumers to send a single image of their head into the company’s app when purchasing a helmet. That snapshot, plugged into an algorithm that also measures facial features to assist in the design of the custom helmet, delivers a near-perfect fit, according to Kwok.

Manufacturing breakthroughs like that helped KAV remain the only cycling helmet maker producing helmets in the United States.

Leveraged with patented materials with which the helmet is made, and a 3-D printing model that drives an environmentally-friendly, efficient production model, KAV has gone from Silicon Valley startup to Western New York manufacturer.

Kwok and company moved full operations from Redwood City, California to Buffalo’s Old First Ward in August. The cost of doing business in the region made more sense for KAV’s next step in its business ascent.

Kwok called out the region’s workforce and the Buffalo community’s support of KAV for the decision during his conversation on News4Buffalo.

“Because of the people, the dollars and cents work out,” Kwok said. “For us, our fundamental premise is we built a technology, we call it micro-fab; a mini-factory that’ s allowed us leap frog a lot of the reasons people tend to offshore.”

KAV continues to leverage relationships it built as a Cohort 9 winner of the 43North startup contest in 2023. It led to investment from Brown and White Ventures in early 2025.

Kwok says KAV will benefit from moving full operations from Silicon Valley to Buffalo because of the lighter cost of doing business and the workforce willing to take KAV to the next level.

“Buffalo has such a great history of manufacturing. For us to take the best of the old and take new technology, I think it’s a winning combination.”

See News4Buffalo’s segment on KAV with Whitman Kwok here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhFn2Uds2cg