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This has me pretty conflicted. I love a cleverly designed tool, and this one clearly fits the bill, but I am questioning what we are doing as a society that creates the need for this tool.
The HydroFlask Flex Strap Customizer was designed to allow you to easily remove the strap on your HydroFlask and replace it with one of a different color. Here's how it works, and you'll see why I call it clever:
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My hat's off to the designer(s). The tool executes its tasks perfectly. It's pure form follows function and as minimal as you could make it. But 1) Why are we now spending money to bling out vessels for carrying water? And 2) Wouldn't it be better to have designed the strap in such a manner that it could be replaced, if need be, using a teaspoon or something we're already likely to own?
So yeah, I'm conflicted. You could argue I'm simply not keeping up with society, but in my eyes the whole point of a permanent water bottle is to use less plastic. It seems a step backwards to me that we have to create new plastic stuff to accessorize our plastic-saving stuff, presumably in the name of fashion.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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A Cleverly Designed Tool (That We Shouldn't Need in the First Place)
Agreed. A perfectly designed problem solver for problem that must not or does not really exist in the first place.
I wonder if this would work for putting a strap back on Crocs? I was recently on vacation when my strap got pulled off the peg, and it was incredibly hard to put back on.
Using the same system as cellphone/camera wrist strap will eliminate the need for specialized tool which most people like me will loose or misplace it in no time
It’s worth considering that the plastic strap is likely the first thing to break on a nearly all-metal water bottle. Making the strap replaceable might be keeping the whole water bottle (or at least the whole lid) from going in the trash. Also, it seems that being able to personalize things may encourage people to hang onto them longer since they have some ownership in it.
I didn't even know you could swap the straps! I was able to take mine off without a tool pretty easily but it's not going back on so easily....
Is the tool necessary for average able bodied people? Is this tool mostly helpful for those with dexterity limitations? I wonder how hard it is to replace the strap without that tool. It could be a tool designed for the extremes, not the average.
Just because the strap is being changed doesn't mean the one being replaced is being disposed of. As you say fashion conscious people will want to accessorise with other items/ clothes. We shouldn't be comparing this to a disposable water bottle. Agree we should be using less plastic in general but if it is being constantly re-used then that is less evil. Perhaps they could come up with more environmentally friendly materials to use?