Imagine if you had to use a stigmatizing home healthcare product…how would you feel? Well, the reality is that many people face this challenge each day. And, often, these people don’t have a choice; they require things like canes, forearm crutches, compression socks, and other living aides for their support. The worst part is that the people who use home healthcare products are often ignored or treated differently in society, because of the stigma associated with using clinical looking aides, and that sucks…big time. We aim to change this.
Two years ago, we ran a crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo to bring our first product to market – the Chatfield walking cane. And, it was a success! We were fortunate enough to have support from many backers who helped us to raise $22,000 in pre-sales over 30 days. Since then, we’ve shipped products to people in over 200 cities and 15 countries worldwide. Now, we’re reaching out to backers on Kickstarter to help us launch our next product – fashionable compression socks.
Like most home healthcare products, compression socks were born out of filling
a need. But in the process, the design seemed to be ignored and forgotten. You see, most compression socks are ugly, and they shouldn’t be! Often, these garments are made in some shade of beige, with the intention of hiding the fact that a person is wearing them.
But, we don’t think that people should have to hide anything, so we’ve developed our socks using bold, modern patterns, and bright fashion colors. As we did with our canes, we created something that we’d be pumped to wear, and hopefully others will too! Our first pattern, Trig, was designed in-house, like our other Top & Derby products, so we’ve put a lot of love into making socks that people will be proud to own. To up the game, we threw out some pretty fun color ways, too! The socks are unisex, knee high and have a moderate compression level, so that they will look great and keep people’s legs feeling energized all day.
For the average person, compression socks can have a number of benefits. They can help to increase blood flow through a person’s circulatory system, and also help to reduce leg pain, prevent swelling, prevent varicose veins, and reduce recovery time for sore muscles after high-intensity activity or prolonged sedentary work. Doctors say that 1/4 men and 1/3 women should prescriptively be wearing them. But, pretty much everyone – frequent travelers, pregnant women, people who are on their feet all day, and people who sit at a desk – should be wearing the socks every day.
There’s an assumption that people don’t want well-designed home healthcare products. We’ve heard it firsthand, many times. But, when we ask users what they want, they couldn’t echo our vision more. Help us to prove that there is a market for design-inspired home healthcare products. We aim to change the stigma of disability and inspire the self-confidence of people who use our products, so please help us to spread the love for inclusive design.
Sharing is caring, so please share the link to our campaign with your Doctor through email, your sister through social media, and even your teacher at your next toastmasters meeting.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/topandderby/top-and-derby-compression-socks-all-style-no-stink
Thanks for the support!
Ben Grynol
Co-founder, Top & Derby