THE INVENTION

Rex Specs are the first product I have been a part of from conception to production to distribution. This is process a that has long intrigued me and it has been the biggest adventure – a much longer and tedious journey than I ever imagined. No text book or seminar can prepare the first-time entrepreneur for the frustrations and challenges of getting their idea into the hands of the consumer.

Living in a land where snow is known to fly eight months a year, protecting our dogs eyes from the sun with ski goggles was a natural realization. But, perfecting the design took over a year. Looking back on some of the designs we created, we have to laugh, but all those bad ideas informed the good ideas which we have learned drives creative process.

All of the aspects of the Rex Specs design you see today were informed by more rustic attempts at solving a need. Initially, we created a visor that the lens hung down from, keeping the lens away from the dogs eyebrows and eyelashes. The goggle was also open along the sides for maximum ventilation.  Today, the spherical lens solves the issue of interfering with the dogs eyebrows and eyelashes, and frame is adequately ventilated eliminating fog issues.  The visor design was far too fragile and easy for the dogs to catch on bushes and trees as they cruised the woods. Today’s design is low profile and secure – without compromising functionality.

Every single decision made about the design of Rex Specs went through this process. When your user can’t directly communicate with you, perfecting the design to meet their needs takes diligent observation. We took a methodical approach to design changes – change an angle or attachment then take a dog walk and watch, it was amazing how quickly we started to understand what annoyed the dogs versus what was acceptable to them. Watch, learn, adjust – that is what we did for months. This is isn’t to say that what we have today is perfect, there is always room for improvement. We hope to learn from all of our users how to build a better product that will suit all of the different canine needs. But, Rex Specs have come a long way and we are excited to share our creation with you and your dogs. Those of you that have been waiting for us to get production underway, thank you for your patience, we know the wait was worth it!