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Quick Snap - Boot fasteners

Edward Campbell

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Has anyone seen/used this Quick Snap thingy?

See this article, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from Friday’s Financial Post:
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http://www.financialpost.com/small_business/story.html?id=1067682

QuickSnap invention clicks with investors
Mentor’s advice to go on Dragons’ Den pays off fast

Daryl-Lynn Carlson, Financial Post

Published: Friday, December 12, 2008

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Paul Darrow for the National PostDavid Reynolds, Quick Snap co-founder, shows the quick-lacing clips the company will be sending to Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

Sometimes the most lucrative entrepreneurial concepts evolve from the simplest of ideas. With the founders of QuickSnap, their invention was based on the simple idea that it should be easier to put on shoes.

David Reynolds and Drew McKenna developed a device that enables people to secure their shoelaces with a click, and it looks good. Their invention is proving to be a tremendous time saver and a significant benefit for people with disabilities. It could potentially become an integral safety component for Canada's troops.

In a collection of testimonials, a Winnipeg physician writes about an athletic 14-year-old girl who lost her dexterity as a result of a brain tumor and can now put on her own footwear using the device.

"In any business you want to make money but when you know you've touched the hearts of people and you've actually provided something so simple and so unique that you hear benefits their lifestyle, it's life-changing," says Riad Byne, a former soldier who served in Afghanistan and joined QuickSnap earlier this year as president and chief executive.

Mr. Byne met the QuickSnap founders at university, which he attended after returning from his tour of duty. He has been promoting the product to military officials.

Mr. Reynolds and Mr. McKenna launched the company in 2003, while attending university. As part of their studies they had to do a project that required them to prepare a business plan.

After a series of meetings to troubleshoot ideas for the project, Mr. Reynolds struck on the idea for the device. "I was getting ready to give Drew a ride home and I just jammed my shoes on and I'm out the door. But he has these boots that he has to tie up and it takes him about five minutes, so I was always waiting for him," he says. "I thought of something like a clip that would make it faster."

While the concept looked good on paper, the journey to market wasn't easy. The young men had to continue with their studies while trying to raise money to commission the manufacturing of their QuickSnap device.

They did receive initial funding through CYBF and another source, but that was quickly used up.

Their CYBF mentor, Peter Mombourquette, a professor at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, helped them balance their studies with their new business focus. He says young students are in a good postion to start a business. "Most students are poor and they're not used to having a lot of things. So when they start a new business and go through the initial years when they don't have a lot of money, it's easier [for them] to deal with [it] because they don't know any different, versus a 35-year-old who gives up a good paying job and risks mortgage payments," he says.

Once the product was ready, Mr. Mombourquette encouraged them to audition for CBC's Dragons' Den television show. Earlier this year Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Byne won over two of the judges who invested in QuickSnap in return for a share in the company. Brett Wilson, one of those dragons, was so impressed with the product he negotiated a deal with the entrepreneurs to purchase clips for Canada's troops in Afghanistan.

"Canada's troops have always had a soft spot in my heart and I don't think Canadians celebrate them enough," Mr. Wilson says.

"One of the benefits of Quicksnap was a clear improvement in two things: getting your boots on quickly and also getting them off quickly.

"If someone is injured, an ankle is broken, to get those boots off you have to cut laces but with this, it's just 'snap' and they're off. So I view this as a safety issue."

The goal is to deliver three QuickSnap clips to each of the approximately 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan during the holiday season.

Mr. Wilson is also trying to make arrangements to provide QuickSnap clips to all of Canada's troops serving in foreign locations.

To date the snaps have been manufacturered in China, although the company recently penned a deal with a Quebec-based manufacturer to augment their production.

Since appearing on Dragons' Den, sales have risen more than twofold, with online orders originating from as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

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See also: http://www.quicksnap.ca/product.html

 
Although I won't comment on the device until I try it, I'm loathe the move away from good ole boot laces as they are the most reliable thing out there.  I actively discourage zippered boots, the last greatest invention, for the reason that zippers are not really designed as load-bearing devices and I've seen soldiers' boots explode in the middle of an activity.  Not good.
 
I disagree 100% with your stance on zippered boots nothing has served me better then my zipper side Converse or my 5.11 Tac boots. Though I have recently moved to a different boot those zippers have saved me considerable time and afford me the luxury of being able to take my boots off in a contact rich environ which meant I was comfortable while I slept and many of those around me were either not or took the chance that if a contact did happen they would run around in floppy boots.

I never had a zipper malfunction not in my old job nor in my current even under extreme weight or use. I think this snap link could be a great new invention for troops in theater and soon troops at home.

BZ to the young kids that thought of it and to Mr Wilson for thinking how useful it could be to the Soldiers serving.
 
I severely disagree on using zippered boots based on what I have seen happen to others wearing them.

However I was done wearing boots a long time ago - most soldiers would be better served with a shoe in the current environments.
 
I6 I agree with the shoe and or light hiking boots...

Asolo and Sportiva make some very nice ones.
 
Maybe not for combat boots, but I can see the Quicksnap working well for aircrew and seaboots, where you might want to put them on/take them off in a hurry.  That being said, a speed-lace system (a real one, not the ones we have for our GPB) would probably be just as good.
 
Zippered boots get the thumbs down from me.

There's a reason Arctic tents get replacement zippers in the toboggans. In field conditions, zippers are the first thing to fail.  The last guy I saw wearing zippered converse boots ended up lacing them normally by the end of the tour because the zippers were so abused that they wouldn't work properly.  In my opinion, he was lucky that thats the worst that he had to deal with.

As far as these Quick Snaps go, I will NOT be the first kid on my block wearing them.  I can't say for certain how reliable they are, and I'm not the kind of chump to find out that their failing point is 6kms into a 20km march.
 
Depends on the job I suppose. I spent 3 1/2 years on tanks (a real long time ago) and wore the same pair of combat boots with, Canex zippers, for the duration. Never had a problem. Grenade ring in the pull tab. Mind, these were not 2 x 10 miler (at that time) boots either. Just everyday work boots, albeit, simpler times.

Just for arguement sake, I can lace a pair of (true) speed lace boots near as fast as zippered ones.

I'll have to see, and try, some of these clips before I make judgement.

Of course, it's all mute if the CoC doesn't come on board with the acceptance, and we all know how some of them are with aftermarket gear they have no stake in ::)
 
What about US Tanker boots with the wrap around leather strap. I have a pair I wear on the civvy side of things but am not sure how they would stand up for our troops. Any thoughts?
 
With such a large donation to the Cdn troops, I think the inventor would like feedback from those that used it, possibly to make it better? I'm pretty cautious of anything plastic, especially that thin. Easy to smash it off a rock in the cold weather and destroy it.
 
PuckChaser said:
With such a large donation to the Cdn troops, I think the inventor would like feedback from those that used it, possibly to make it better? I'm pretty cautious of anything plastic, especially that thin. Easy to smash it off a rock in the cold weather and destroy it.

Good point.  Also, come to think of it, the speed lace boots I've seen on some of the other nationalities' uniforms are closed by something equally thin and plastic (reminds me of the waist drawstring tighteners in the winter parkas.)
 
What about the dress regs? CSM / RSM's would be livid to say the least... I would think...
 
BinRat55 said:
What about the dress regs? CSM / RSM's would be livid to say the least... I would think...

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Especially if they mistakenly ship a bunch of any color but the black
 
He should make some ones specifically for the forces that are the same colour as DEUs, might market a little better.
 
[RICE] said:
He should make some ones specifically for the forces that are the same colour as DEUs, might market a little better.

Why? So our boots can match our dress uniforms?
 
I was just looking at the pic in the original post and thought to myself, "wouldn't it just cause 3 really bad pressure points?" 
 
Dimsum said:
I was just looking at the pic in the original post and thought to myself, "wouldn't it just cause 3 really bad pressure points?" 

I was thinking the same thing.  As for the suggestion that it would assist in a speedier removal of the boot in case of foot or ankle injury - that's why medical types have large scissors with powerful jaws - not only would the laces be cut but the whole boot would be cut away.
 
I have seen and know multiple people using these in garrison. Most of them swear by the technology, however I do not know how field-worthy it is. Like was already noted by a few others, I will not be the first to see these fail half way to the objective.
 
Tons of guys are using these overseas right now and have been giving feedback.
 
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