14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this year, on July 7, 29-year-old entrepreneur Hiral Sanghavi launched a Kickstarter campaign looking to raise $20,000 (about €18,000) to produce a jacket especially designed for people who travel a lot. Little did he know how successful his endeavor would turn out.
The campaign met its goal in just 5 hours. Then, for the next 57 days, people kept giving Hiral Sanghavi money, and quite a lot of it. When the fundraising ended this Thursday, September 3, the entrepreneur had over $9 million (€8 million) to pour into his travel jacket business.
Hiral Sangvani's BauBax travel jacket now holds the record for the most-funded clothing item ever advertised on Kickstarter. It's also the fourth most-funded item ever. Apparently, there's nothing like a well-designed jacket to convince people to give away their money.
“I knew we had a great idea, that we'd maybe get a million or two, but never $9 million,” the 29-year-old entrepreneur confessed in an interview.
So, what's so special about this jacket?
Hiral Sanghavi's BauBax jacket, designed by the entrepreneur's wife, comes in four styles: sweatshirt, windbreaker, bomber and blazer. As noted, the couple designed it especially for commuters and other people who are almost always on the go.
Hence, the BauBaz travel jacket comes complete with a neck pillow that takes just a few seconds to inflate, a cup-holder pocket, gloves neatly hidden inside each sleeve, earphone holders, a zipper that doubles as a pen and stylus, and even an eye mask.
All in all, the jacket has 15 features, all designed to make life easier for travelers. Mind you, there's even a special blanket that folds so that it can fit inside a pocket. What more could anyone wish for?
The campaign's 45,000 backers placed over 70,000 orders for the jacket, at a retail price of $89 to $120 (€80 to €108) depending on whether they wanted a sweatshirt, a windbreaker, a bomber or a blazer.
Hiral Sanghavi and his wife are now taking other orders and expect they'll begin shipping sometime in November. Then, in 2016, they hope their travel jacket will make its debut in retail stores.
