I was watching an episode of Rock Center with Brian Williams recently and they had a whole story about Kickstarter and other crowd-funding sites. I had known about these types of sites for a while, but it was an interesting story to hear about some of the successful products to have been launched from these types of fundraising initiatives.
I recently learned about a product on Kickstarter that is geared toward runners or athletes called Underfuse. Underfuse is a pocket that you can apply directly to your own running apparel to make it easier to carry whatever it is you want to carry.
Underfuse is a performance iron-on pocket specifically designed for working out, running, and travel. It can be used to hold your phone, mp3 player, keys and cards. The pocket is joined to a special woven fabric infused with adhesive. The adhesive is specially formulated to bond to your favorite workout gear with a regular household iron. Underfuse has been tested to be as durable as the item you are attaching it to.
Why Underfuse? The current methods of holding your items while working out are inadequate. When you are at the gym or out for a run you always struggle to find a good spot to put your phone, mp3 player, keys and cards. If you put it in your pocket then it’s bouncing around when you run or falls out when you lift or do sit-ups. Many women don’t even have pockets on their workout clothing! Underfuse solves this.
Tal Cohen is the creator of Underfuse. He is an engineer and product designer who has worked for OXO and Nike. Due to his time with Nike, he has knowledge and experience of working with technical fabrics.
Underfuse :: Demo from Tal Cohen on Vimeo.
The campaign winds down on Sunday, January 15. You can go to the site and pledge support, but if Tal doesn’t reach his goal level then nobody is charged. If you pledge $8 and the project is funded, you’ll receive your very own Underfuse pocket. If you pledge more, you will receive more Underfuse pockets. Or you can choose to pledge and not receive a reward in return. Crowd-funding is a really cool way for all different types of people and products to make it into production.
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Jill Will Run 
This is a cool idea, but I just wonder if my tech gear is iron-able. I’m imagining it melting onto the iron… I could be wrong, its not like I ever read the tags 😉
Who understands laundering tags anyway, with all their little symbols! 😉 But I would assume it is iron-able. The inventor worked for Nike so you would assume he would create something that works the typical tech materials!
Put a thin cotton cloth (like a dish towel) over the item to be ironed. Scorching averted.
What a brilliant idea!
Currently when I run, I just hold my iPhone. It is such a pain but I feel like it bounces around if I use a holder.
iPhones do seem to be a bit hard to find the perfect storage for. I usually use an armband, but to be honest… I really don’t love them, just tolerate them!