Readies his product for Kickstarter.
SASKATOON, July 6, 2017 /CNW/ - When Lee Price, a railway manager, couldn't find a suitable swim product to help his oldest daughter with swimming, he came up with his own idea that may end up changing the way we think of flippers.
His daughter struggled with swimming for years and after her last attempt at swimming lessons, she was feeling defeated and upset. "Like any good father, I wanted to help," Lee said.
He recalled a portion of his daughter's swimming lesson where they wore flippers and when she did, she was able to keep up with the others. However, Lee was concerned with the tripping hazards flippers caused when walking or climbing swim ladders. "My daughter is constantly in and out of the water, playing with her friends so flippers weren't practical and I also learned that more pools are banning flippers for safety reasons." Lee said. "That being said, she wasn't going to start wearing water wings or a life jacket at the pool with her friends. She's ten, not four." Lee added.
With no suitable options, he set out to create a solution himself. He contacted a 3D printing company to have his designs 3D printed in rubber. He and a small trusted group would test the designs at the local pools; he would make the necessary improvements and then 3D print them again. He started receiving encouraging comments and people started to pay attention to what he was doing. "This was when I realized I was creating something that had never been seen before and it solved a real problem in the market," Lee said, "This is when I considered making it as a real product."
The final result was a more user-friendly type of flipper that you can safely walk in and climb swim ladders with. He calls them TailFins. "The idea started out with wanting to help my daughter and it's grown to a point where we're launching on KickStarter," Lee said, "But the most rewarding experience by far was when I saw my daughter swim the length of the pool for the first time. She was wearing her TailFins."
About TailFins Sporting Goods Inc.: TailFins is a new start up launching their innovative, patent-pending swim product on KickStarter July 10th.
SOURCE TailFins Sporting Goods Incorporated
Lee Price, (306) 491-1200, [email protected], www.tailfins.ca
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