Like most couples with kids, Ryan and Valerie Wiens would reach that moment of panic when they were running late but all those kids shoes still needed to get onto all those feet. Laces needed tying, knotting, double knotting – and the bigger kids were still undoing the knots from squeezing out of their shoes the night before! And, “No, you can’t just wear your Crocs to church in winter!” On top of that came the daily frustrations of laces coming undone at the playground or getting stuck in bike chains. Churning over all this in his mind, Ryan thought there had to be a faster, easier way of getting shoes on and off for kids – as well as adults and seniors for that matter.
Ryan spent a year trying to work out how to make some sort of simple closure that would replace shoelaces and be easier than Velcro. In the tinkering phase, all the latches and solutions he tried still required too much manipulation with hands, just like shoelaces… Over time, Ryan realized that magnets were about the only things that attached and detached without a fuss. He developed a design and shared his concept with a high-tech magnetics design firm near San Francisco. The challenge was to design magnets that were small enough and strong enough to attach shoelaces and hold them together in all kinds of activities. After another year of engineering and testing, Zubits magnetic shoe closures were perfected.
The families’ big breakthrough came soon afterwards when they began a Kickstarter campaign which quickly became the sites’ most popular design project! The funny part for Ryan was that probably 90% of the people backing Zubits were adults who hated tying laces themselves. Within the first week of the campaign, Ryan was invited on Good Morning America and won their Shark Tank Pitch contest!
Zubits work by lacing them onto your existing shoelaces and then knotting the lace ends inside the top shoelace hole. After this installation you’re all set. When the magnets are separated it’s as if three rows of shoelaces have disappeared. This allows you to easily slip into your shoes, easier in fact than with velcro, because the shoe is so wide open. To connect your laces, just pull the magnets together and ‘snap’, you’re in! Get out the door in no time, go for a run, or play at the playground. When you want to take your shoes off, just step on the heel of your opposite shoe (as we all do anyways), lift your foot, and the magnets pop open hands-free without excess stress on the heel. After the magnets split apart you have that wide open shoe ready for tomorrow with no knots to untie.
No tying, no squeezing, no picking at knots, no laces coming undone, no hassles. Zubits can also be re-laced onto all your future shoes so one pair can be used for all those new shoes that kids seem to wear out in weeks. In fact, Zubits have been so well made and useful that when they started shipping in April to the 7,200 initial Kickstarter backers, Ryan and Valerie started receiving rave reviews from very happy users all over the world. Parents told Ryan that not only did their kids enjoy putting on their own shoes in the morning, the other kids at school thought they were super cool. These same moms also were using Zubits at the gym where they loved the convenience and reported that Zubits stayed on during their toughest workouts. Dads used them for basketball, running shoes, and everyday casual shoes. Some of the best stories came from people with special needs who reported how glad they were for a solution that allowed more mobility and freedom without having to buy a limited range of velcro shoes. The same was true for elderly folks who didn’t have to stress their fingers and joints (some had arthritis) but could now simply snap their shoes on and get going.
Ryan and the design team insured that the magnets would be super durable, waterproof, washable, and thanks to that year of high-tech engineering, your kids won’t come home with nails stuck to their shoes. Zubits were made to concentrate the magnetic forces right to where Zubits snap together. There is almost no magnetism on the outside to attract other metals. This great design also means that Zubits are strong enough to hold in high activity situations and yet pop open when you step on your heel and lift your foot (or by simply twisting them apart with your hands).
Zubits are now in full production and available for the rest of us. They come in three sizes (for kids, adults, and really active uses) and six colors (as of now). You can only order them directly online at www.zubits.com at the time of this writing. Ryan and family are not only glad they’ve streamlined their own lives just a bit more, but that they have been able to help people all over the world reclaim precious time and add a little more simplicity to their everyday lives. Let the magnetic shoe revolution begin!
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Disclaimer:
This product was received from the Company for review purposes only. All thoughts and words in this post is my own and I was not paid to endorse it. I am only voicing my opinion about this product.
