BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Oro Sports cooling gear brand was inspired by the original designs of Coolture, which was created by Buffalo native Van DiBernardo.
"He was a DKNY designer, and he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis," said Van's sister, Luanne DiBernardo. "So, when he returned home, he thought he was returning home to die. He was that debilitated."
Luanne made it her mission to find her brother something to wear for the warmer temperatures as he dealt with his chronic condition.
"I found him an industrial cooling vest. It was heavy, cumbersome, made all his clothes wet, and was very unattractive, but it let him operate in the summer," said Luanne.
Soon, a collaboration turned into what would quickly become Oro Sports.
"I said Van, your designer, design something better, and he did," said Luanne.
Since 2019, the brother-and-sister duo has perfected the cooling vest for athletes, expanding their product from the medical field to the world of athletics.
This technology has proven useful to Bob Bateson, a Strength and conditioning specialist who has utilized Oro Sports gear on clients.
"So we can cool you down prior or during exercise, you can have a higher performance output and go deeper into your workout without having the adverse effects of the heat of the MS effects," said Bateson.
The cooling vest gained a lot of momentum during the Tokyo Olympics when the USA Sailing team utilized the vests. Fast-forward four years, and the team has requested Oro Sports for the Paris Olympics.
"When we got the call last month and they said, 'We need your product. We're not going into Paris without it,' it was like OK what better validation than that," said DiBernardo.
The company offers six different cooling items on its website and is working to launch three more.
The brand lives on through Luanne, even though Van isn't able to physically contribute.
"Van can still to this day tell you what trend is going to be in 5-10 years, and that's something you can't buy," said Luanne.
