New-product innovation tends to be 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, reports CNNMoney.
Here’s that 1% that led to the creation of a hot little company called Sheex: One afternoon in the summer of 2007, Susan Walvius, then the head women’s basketball coach at the University of South Carolina, was at practice and wearing a pair of over-sized, super-soft, performance-fabric shorts. “I’d love to have bedsheets made out of this stuff,” Walvius said to Michelle Marciniak, her assistant coach.
“Let’s do it,” Marciniak replied.
The 99% perspiration: These two athletes took their idea—”performance bedding,” if you can fathom that—and ran with it.
They figured out how to apply to bedsheets the moisture-wicking and heat-transfer technology that Nike (NKE) and Under Armour (UA) use to make athletic clothing—and patented the technology for sheets and blankets.
They quit coaching last year. They raised $1 million from friends and family, picked a name, Sheex, and after hustling far and wide to find a manufacturer that could produce the high-tech fabric in the form of sheets and pillows, they contracted with a factory in California.
They started selling Sheex online in April. The tagline: “Sleep Better. Play Better.” It appeals to professional athletes, weekend warriors, and—though Walvius and Marciniak would never say it—menopausal women.
Photo by Sheex LLC.