Posted 04.01.2008
Colorado Cool Stuff
By Eric PetersonLIFELIGHTS/WILDLIGHTS
Established in 1971 by Wendell Cross and helmed today by his son Greg Cross, the Sun Co. is a manufacturer-importer focused on the outdoor, fitness, safety and promotional markets with a catalog that includes pedometers, tilt gauges and zipper-pull thermometers.
In 2005, the company launched LifeLights, rubberized flashlights that look like any one of a menagerie of animals, featuring an LED inside a mouth that opens wide at the push of a button and a carabiner clip for a tail. It followed up with the WildLights last year.
“It’s been one of our best sellers of all time,“ said Julie Powell, Sun’s sales and marketing coordinator. Invented and made in China and redesigned and marketed by Sun, the fun-yet-functional flashlights resemble wild things from toucans to killer whales to gorillas. “My favorite is the lizard light,“ Powell said. “It makes everybody happy.“ $8 retail
Made by Sun Co. Inc., Arvada, (800) 441-0132 or (303) 424-4651, www.suncompany.net. Available in Colorado at REI stores, McGuckin Hardware (Boulder), Durango Sporting Goods, Jax Outdoor (Fort Collins) Arvada Army Navy and Outdoor World (Estes Park).
PENSATION
Full-time heating engineer and self-described “tinkerer” Bill Moxon came up with his newfangled, grip-friendly pen in the late 1990s.
“I noticed how a lot of things were going ergonomic, but it seemed nobody had done a good job with a writing instrument,“ he said.
Moxon came up with a “moldable concept” that he initially pegged as unmarketable: “Are you really going to order pens like shoes, in different sizes and widths?“
Then inspiration struck: the Pensation kit with a moldable polymer grip “so the writer could mold the pen to match their hand.“
Now Moxon also has introduced a Pensation with a handle that becomes pliable after submerging it in hot water. He touted the pen’s therapeutic design, but also noted he’s not looking to scale up manufacturing on his own. “My ultimate goal is to find a pen company to partner with,“ he said. $9.95 retail.
Made by Pengineering LLC, Greeley, www.pensation.com.
QUIET SPOT PET TAG SILENCERS
The patented Quiet Spots are named for Itzadog “Lead Dog” Scott Schaible’s late Australian Shepherd, Spot, whose noisy tags inspired the company’s formation in the late 1990s. After trying rubber bands and electrical tape to mute Spot’s continuous tag cacophony, Schaible resorted to extreme measures.
“I had an old wetsuit,“ he said. “I cut it up and made the prototype.“
On walks, people asked where to get their own tag silencer, so Schaible went into business, balancing real-estate marketing and working with local contract manufacturers. “I was the reluctant inventor,“ he said. “I had two 40-hour-a-week jobs for a while.“
He went full-time with Itzadog in early 2006 and has since expanded into Zuka Bowls, travel dog bowls small enough to stow in a purse, and bumper stickers touting dozens of breeds’ intelligence, i.e. “My Labrador Retriever is smarter than your honor student.“ Today the company has 3,000 retail accounts nationwide.
Quiet Spot: $8 retail. Zuka Bowls: $12 to $17 retail. Bumper Stickers: $3 retail.
QUICKZIP CRIB SHEET
While working together as environmental consultants in the late 1990s, Joan Henehan and Elizabeth Sopher both had kids in the same baby-to-toddler age bracket. “We talked about kids all the time,“ Sopher said. One of the topics of discussion: “Crib sheets are really hard to change.“
So the pair came up with a better design — the QuickZip Crib Sheet, featuring a top panel that zips off of the mattress for a more user-friendly wash. The duo started selling them in 2002. The concept has sold itself, Sopher said. “We’ve gotten great reviews. Our sales have been increasing every year and have doubled in some years.“ $32.99 to $34.99 per set, $16.99 to $24.99 for extra top panels.
Made by Clouds and Stars Inc., Denver, (866) 325-6837 or (720) 929-1099, www.cloudsandstars.com.
Denver-based writer Eric Peterson is the author of Frommer's Colorado, Frommer's Montana & Wyoming, Frommer's Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks and the Ramble series of guidebooks, featuring first-person travelogues covering everything from atomic landmarks in New Mexico to celebrity gone wrong in Hollywood. Peterson has also recently written about backpacking in Yosemite, cross-country skiing in Yellowstone and downhill skiing in Colorado for such publications as Denver's Westword and The New York Daily News. Enjoy this video? Share it with others.
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