How ABSOLUTE360 Came About
Our very first blog post
WOW… what an absolute whirlwind the last few months have been for ABSOLUTE 360. Over a coffee and “yummy” doughnuts we were discussing and debating on what our first blog should be about. We all came to the conclusion that it should be about us! How ABSOLUTE 360 came about. So welcome to our very first blog post.
My name is Umberto Bergonzini and I am the founder and owner of ABSOLUTE 360. I am going to briefly talk about my personal experience with far infrared clothing as this is somewhat relevant to what happened next.
My personal experience with far infrared clothing
In the summer of 2009 I was introduced by a fellow martial artist to some new products which were described as revolutionary and phenomenal for, performance, recovery and personal well-being. Being open minded to alternative medicine and ways to improve one’s own well-being, I was very willing to give it a try. Moreover, the person who shared this with me, is one of the most honest people I have ever had the privilege to meet. He has great integrity so I had no reason not to believe what he was telling me.
At the time I was suffering from a knee pain/discomfort similar to the so called “runner’s knee”. This wasn’t stopping me from practicing my martial art but none the less it was annoying. I bought a knee support and a small batch of pure fibre. I was really surprised at how quickly the pain in my knee subsided. It only took a few days for the pain to completely disappear. Better still it didn’t come back after training. My first thought was, “not bad”. However, at this point I didn’t “invest” in any products from the infrared clothing range.
The real test
Four months had gone by since I ordered the knee support and a small batch of pure fibre. I don’t recall wearing the knee support at all, after I initially wore it to get rid of my knee pain as I was no longer experiencing any discomfort.
Unfortunately I sustained an acute ankle sprain – not during martial arts training but playing with my son in the park. I was on the ground in agony believing I had broken my ankle, especially after hearing a loud cracking noise. It didn’t take long for the ankle to swell up and turn purple. This was on a Saturday afternoon.
As soon as I got home I applied RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) or at least part of it. I elevated my leg and put some ice on my ankle. Then I remembered I had the pure far infrared fibre. I wrapped the fibre all around my ankle and put a tubigrip on to keep it in place. When I woke up on the Sunday morning my ankle was so swollen and black, I could barely put any weight on it. I decided to persevere with the fibre instead of taking a trip to A&E. By Sunday night I was able to start rotating the ankle slightly and was able to gently put some weight on it. The initial signs were promising. Bed time!
I woke up on Monday morning and to my astonishment the swelling had almost entirely gone and I could weight bear normally! Lateral movement was still limited and slightly painful but that didn’t stop me from training on that same night.
I was completely taken aback by the speed of the recovery, considering that it was the worst ankle injury I had ever sustained. You can guess what I did next. I bought a pair of ankle supports from the body support product range.
I was completely surprised by the speed of my recovery. My thoughts were many but the one that was at the fore front was, “there must be more to this fibre than meets the eye!” My thirst for knowledge and my natural curiosity made me research about far infrared. I didn’t expect to come across so many hits and so much information and research.
Researching Far Infrared
A quick search now shows there are 64,000+ hits on Far Infrared Therapy on Google Scholar. Amongst that, there is peer-reviewed scientific research that concludes the benefits for human patients can include; increased bodily fluid motility, reduction in allergic severity, improvement in body tissue temperature, blood flow, and even reduced nitric oxide in cancerous tissue. This research has been published in a number of medical journals amongst others; the International Journal of Biometeorology, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Journal of the American Heart Association, the Journal of Medical and Biological Engineering etc. etc.
Convinced by the overall benefits of far infrared clothing on the human body, which goes beyond just recovery from illness or injury, I “invested” in other products, from socks, to leggings to t-shirts. These were the first items I bought towards a better level of wellness.
My personal experience from wearing far infrared clothing has been an extremely positive experience. I feel I have a better immune system. In fact I haven’t fallen ill once in the last 4 years. When it comes to my martial arts or other physical activities I feel I perform better but what is definitely very noticeable is how quickly I recover from all activities.
What next?
So that is my personal experience. So what does anyone do when they are happy with a purchase? They tell their friends, family, acquaintances and people they meet. My friends and martial art students were intrigued by what I was telling them and were asking me where they could buy the products. My answer was “if you are interested I can get my sister to buy them for you so she can send them over to the UK”. As a result these people were talking about their positive experience of wearing far infrared clothing. Many people even came back wanting me to purchase more items for them.
However, it wasn’t a business yet, it was just me spreading the word about something good. Then, last year the opportunity to start a business came up. After some deep consideration and several conversations with the manufacturer, a contract was drawn up and signed.
ABSOLUTE 360 was born
The company was formed in January 2013 and although it existed on paper it didn’t have an identity! Finding the name wasn’t an easy task, then during another coffee, doughnut discussion and debating session ABSOLUTE 360 was born (more on the name and its significance will be revealed in a future post).
Once we had the name we purchased a domain and frantically started working on the logo, the website and anything else that needed to be done to bring the company to life. ABSOLUTE 360 opened the Online Store in June 2013 and it has already attracted new customers, who often return for additional purchases.
We currently offer a selective range of products but we are excited about what is in the pipeline. As the company grows, our product range will expand and new garments will continue to be added to the virtual shelves of our online store.
The future is looking bright! The future is looking ABSOLUTE360!