Women who
have experienced awkward nights spent hitching up a strapless bra from
their midriff may soon have a solution - and it is all thanks to the
stickiness of gecko feet.
Start-up
firm Kellie K Apparel used the glue-like qualities of the lizard's
appendages as inspiration for its strap-free bra called The Alice.
The
firm was founded by Dr Anthony Roy, who was struck with the idea of
creating a truly sturdy strapless bra after watching his wife get ready
for a night out. He said: 'Kellie K Apparel started one evening when Kellie, my wife, was lamenting her lack of clothing options.
'She wanted to wear a particular top that bared her shoulders, but didn’t want to wear the strapless bra that went under it.
'When I
asked her what was wrong with her current bra, she said she didn’t feel
like having to deal with pulling up the bra all night.'
Dr
Roy, who is robotics engineer with a PhD from Caltech, set about making
a prototype and studied gecko feet to create his adhesive 'GeckTeck'
patch.
Geckos climb on a wide variety of surfaces, including smooth surfaces such as glass, using their 'sticky feet'.
They
use adhesive pressures of 15 to 30 pounds (6.8kg to 13.6kg) per square
inch for each limb, meaning a gecko can hang its entire body by one toe.
Dr Roy used
the same theory and physical mechanism in his patches, which now form
the lining of the two bras which Kellie K is launching.
Its surface is covered with small 'hair-style' structures than generate a similar force when connected to the skin.
He launched a KickStarter page to raise the $26,250 (£17,252) funds he needed and the campaign was successfully funded yesterday.
He
said: 'I set about making a crude prototype that consisted of me
super-gluing the very first iteration of GeckTeck to one of the
strapless bras my wife said wouldn’t stay put.
'She tried it on and said it fixed the problem.
'However,
I knew I had truly struck gold when one night we were going out, and
she once again wanted to wear that top which required her to wear a
strapless bra.
'Instead
of using one of her store-bought bras, she grabbed the prototype I
built and enjoyed a night of not once having to worry about her bra.
'At that moment I realized I truly had a great idea for a business.'
No comments:
Post a Comment