SAFE KEEPING

SAFE KEEPING

Sometimes, new product development is not a matter of following a recipe, but of being lucky enough to stumble upon an opportunity and seize it. That's how ZIPIT & LOCK, our new child-friendly storage box with a locking zipper head, came into existence.

The ZIPPER Obsession

At ZIPIT, we are passionate about zippers. We love to explore new technologies and possibilities with zippers, and we have spent years creating innovative products that use zippers in unexpected ways. One day, we had a brilliant idea: what if we could create a zipper that could lock itself and secure the contents inside? We thought this would be a great feature for our products, especially for our storage boxes that are popular among kids and parents.

ZIPIT Lockable Zipper Head

We started to research the world of locks and discovered that there was a potential solution for a zipper head that could lock the zipper teeth. However, the solution was not fully developed, and the usability did not meet our standards. We saw the potential and decided to work on perfecting the concept. After many trials and errors, we finally created the ZIPIT locking zipper head and filed an innovation patent to protect it.

The Market Potential

As we started to advance with the patent filing, we already identified the first application. We looked at the existing products that offered lockable storage and realized that there was a huge opportunity to create something better. We wanted to make a product that would be super easy to operate, serve multiple purposes, and of course be fun. We decided to design a storage box that was made from durable tin and would feature our new patented locking zipper head. The result had to spice up our growing storage box category while offering a new, unique, and very useful solution that would excite our customers.

Test Runs and Feedback

Before officially introducing the new line to our customers, we surveyed ZIPIT Advisory Board of parents and teachers, and found out that:

  • The items that customers envision storing in such a locker include children’s treasures, gadgets, care products and of course stationery and craft items
  • The locking option is a feature that customers like and consider as ‘a nice bonus’
  • A personal locker box has strong appeal in our core market of Back-To-School
  • Parents and Teachers see such a product being used mainly at home, but also in the school room
‘The lock is amazing for older children to keep things private’
‘I think this is versatile and can be used while traveling, at home, at school, and at work’
‘We have a young child, so household safety was the first purpose that came to mind’
‘It is a great concept, fairly easy to use and overall, a really useful product’

 

Recognition & Awards

The new ZIPIT & LOCK product line is already getting recognition for its innovation and last month it received two prestigious awards from Creative Child Magazine: Product of the year in the Kids Storage category and Travel Product of the year in the Kids Travel Accessories category. These two awards are based on the ratings of parents, educators, and professionals who test hundreds of products each year.

We are very excited to see this new product line hitting the shelves of selected retailers in the US, Mexico, and Europe and can’t wait to see where this first step will lead us!