CoolCabanas

Deaths and Injuries caused by beach umbrellas are well known and documented. Alternative collapsible shelters are either heavy and complicated to use or lightweight, stuffy and complex to fold. The challenge was to design an easily transportable shelter capable of withstanding strong beach winds, easy for one person to carry, set-up, fold-up, allowed cool breezes to flow through and had clear visibility lines so parents can keep an eye on their children. The product needed to be cost effective to manufacture and transport locally by courier companies to minimise delivery costs from online sales.

In designing CoolCabanas I started with a basic initial design which proved very successful. In my quest to meet my initial design objectives and the desires of clients for an even larger shelter there was a need to create a new method for CoolCabanas to fold, essentially a new way to fold an umbrella. This journey entailed the CoolCabana 3 with a reverse sliding hub where the hub slid downwards not up, this achieved a very compact fold and then ultimately version 5 where there is no sliding hub, instead a new mechanical movement held open by the weighted corners.

CoolCabanas have and continue to completely change the landscape of beaches worldwide. At some beaches 80% or more of the shelters are now CoolCabanas. The worldwide demand and growth is testament to the uniqueness of CoolCabanas and the design lead "better by design" solution. CoolCabanas meets the desires of beach lovers worldwide in allowing them to stay all day in complete shade confident their shelter will not blow away. CoolCabanas have exceeded growth expectations worldwide, over 40% of sales are made to repeat customers - mostly for gifts to friends and family. CoolCabanas is now extending into new unique beach products.

Key Benefits of the design include; 1. 4 x sand pockets, each pocket holds 4kg of dry sand collectively providing 16kg anchoring CoolCabanas down against the wind. 2. CoolCabanas use their own patented sand spike system where the spike is easily tapped into the sand by sliding the middle pole up and down, this negates the need for users to bend over / kneel to dig a hole to support the centre pole. 3. At the beach it is common for beach goers to want to locate items such as water bottles off the sand and hide valuables such as credit cards, purses, car keys, sunglasses etc while swimming so each CoolCabana provides 8 semi hidden secure pockets located high up in each corner. 4. CoolCabana 5 opens to 2.4x2.4m wide x 2m high yet folds down to just 1m in length. This is achieved by vastly improving and reinventing the way an umbrella folds for which Patents have now been granted. 5. By adopting a strategy of "Better By Design" CoolCabanas is now positioned and expanding into producing a new type of conventional umbrella using the new patented folds and into beach and camping loungers using a new Patented folded.