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Another week, another spoonful of interesting new business ideas from around the world: student furniture for hire in New Hampshire, discount glasses and garden offices in the UK, denim therapy in New York, and more. Our next edition is due on 21 November 2006. In the meantime, check out our daily postings on www.springwise.com, send us your tips, and please don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about us. Much appreciated! |
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For everyone who'd like to escape office politics and the daily commute, iscape manufactures and sells purpose-built garden offices. The British company has created two modular buildings, or 'iscapes': Miana and Winola. Both are multi-use outdoor living spaces, but the Miana was specifically designed to be used as an office. Every garden office (from GBP 4,995 including installation and delivery) comes complete with integral electrics and includes sockets and lighting. Constructed from panels, the Miana can be ordered in a range of sizes, with door and window positions meeting a customer's specific requirements. Customers can choose from 60 colours for timber and plastic coated steel finishes, and iscapes are insulated to high standards for all-year round comfort. The modular designs are pre-fabricated and can usually be installed on site in just one day. The buildings are designed to fall within UK permitted development rights, so in most cases buyers don't need planning permission. Design conscious lawn commuters might be more interested in the company's bespoke service, which creates garden offices to a customer's exact wishes, with all stages of the project undertaken and co-ordinated in-house. Website: www.i-scape.co.uk Spotted by: David Aparicio |
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Jeans can now go into therapy. Yes, you heard that right -- New York's Denim Therapy restores, rejuvenates and injects life into worn-out, tattered jeans. Playing on the fact that many consumers have an emotional attachment to their jeans, the service repairs jeans with unwanted holes, denim that's worn, tattered or just plain falling apart. Using a unique reconstructive technique, Denim Therapy places existing denim fabric into the jean to replace the holes. Not a patch, but a genuine reconstruction of the old fabric. New denim thread is sewn into the existing jean to mimic the original grain, colour and feel. Denim Therapy does not discriminate and can perform the retail surgery on any type of jean, high end or bargain basement variety. Each pair of jeans is given an individual assessment after which the possibilities are explained to the consumer. Owing to the fact that both buying a new pair of jeans can be expensive and finding a perfect fit is a challenge, founders Francine Rabinovich and Karla Schufftan recognized a business opportunity. At USD 7 per inch, most repairs cost between USD 21 and USD 35, which many consumers gladly pay for the revival of a well-worn, well-loved pair of jeans. Turnaround time is two weeks. True blue opportunities for denim-doctoring minipreneurs across the globe? Website: www.denimtherapy.com |
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As a solution to furnishing temporary dorm life, two students at Dartmouth College recently set up Evolving Vox, a temporary ownership network. Their company rents out furniture to students, enabling them to go through college without having to make large purchases for their rooms. They don't have to worry about hauling furniture and appliances around, either -- everything is dropped off and picked up for free. Evolving Vox offers everything from futons to TVs, all at affordable prices. A dorm-sized refrigerator, for example, goes for USD 35 per term. Since the company just got started, all items were brand new for the Fall '06 semester. Anything that isn't returned in mint condition will be reconditioned or sold. The company's founders, Russell D'Souza and Jack Groetzinger, are hoping students will be more forgiving with furniture from home-grown Evolving Vox then they would with items from an impersonal rental company: "We see Evolving Vox as a community of Dartmouth students who share things amongst each other. We prefer the term 'temporary ownership' because we think it stresses this sense of community." The concept is entirely in sync with what trendwatching.com dubs transumers -- consumers moving away from ownership for a more transient lifestyle. Based on the company's huge initial success at Dartmouth, its founders are pursuing the idea of expanding Evolving Vox. One for entrepreneurial students at universities everywhere! Website: www.evolvingvox.com |
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Helping consumers see money left in their wallets, 23-year-old James Murray Wells has shaken the British prescription glasses industry. Managing director and co-owner of Glasses Direct, Murray Wells began his no-frills web store offering specs for as low as 10 percent of the price of many high street stores. The business idea was born when Murray Wells was faced with a GBP 150 bill for glasses. At the time he was still studying and the cost was unreasonable. By contacting the lens labs directly, Murray Wells managed to get an identical pair for just GBP 7. Clearly there was a market for an online business and shortly after Glasses Direct was created. But not without backlash from all the big players, who were furious at the extent to which Murray Wells was undercutting them. The concept is simple and easy. All that consumers need to do prior to ordering is have a copy of a prescription that is less than two years old. Alternatively, consumers can go to a local optician have their eyes tested. Following the eye test, the optician is obliged to give the consumer a copy of their prescription. Glasses Direct specs are only available in the UK, and the US has retailers like Goggles4U and 39dollarglasses.com, but there are growth opportunities worldwide. In just two years of being in business, Murray Wells has sold in excess of 70,000 pairs of glasses. Anyone with a keen eye for business can see where this venture could lead. Pardon the pun ;-) Website:www.glassesdirect.co.uk |
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Dubbed ‘crackberry’ by some, Pinkberry is the latest edible craze to hit West Hollywood. So fanatical are consumers, that they’re willing to line up outside the shop to buy some of its famous yoghurt tang. Pinkberry's frozen yogurt is made from real yogurt – fermented milk, and that's it. Unlike many other commercial frozen yoghurts, Pinkberry is sour, tangy, creamy and not overly sweet. Non-fat selections include plain and green tea, flavoured with real green tea powder, and there's an array of toppings on offer. Sugar lovers don’t go uncatered to with toppings like chocolate chips, cocoa pebbles and cinnamon toast crunch. But the main deal is the heapings of fresh fruit such as mango, blueberries and watermelon. Smoothies are also available. Owned by Sherry Hwang, the Pinkberry concept was developed when Hwang was denied permits to open either wine and cheese shop or small tearoom in her first LA space. So she took inspiration from Korean frozen-yogurt chains Red Mango and Iceberry. The Korean influence is definitely there, in the presentation of the yoghurt and the design of the stores. Pinkberry currently has 5 stores in LA (where the LA Times has dubbed it "the taste that launched a 1,000 parking tickets"), and one store in New York's Koreatown. The Manhattan space is decorated with Philippe Starck's crystal-clear Charles Ghost stools and Victoria Ghost chairs and wavy, repro pendant lights by Poul Christiansen. New stores are being developed in Chelsea, the Upper East Side and Soho. Stressing the purity of 100% yoghurt and fresh fruit, this could be a great franchise opportunity to take outside of the US and Korea. Website: www.pinkberry.com Photo by Adam Albright |
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Splice. No it’s not an ice pop or an alcoholic beverage, it’s an online music publishing community that uses Creative Commons licensing to encourage users to share their creations. Splice gives anyone, anywhere the ability to collaborate on music using web-based tools. Users can upload or record sounds, make songs, and listen to and remix other users' songs. The primary difference between Splice and everything that came before it, is that the mixing tools are built-in. The main tool is a sequencer combined with a 'sound surfer' that lets users choose from a library of samples, loops and beats that members have uploaded for communal use. Multiple formats are supported - WAV/AIFF, MP3, OGG and FLAC - and uploaded sounds and songs are covered by the Creative Commons Attribution license (meaning that other people can use the creative output, but only if they give the maker credit). Once a song has been published, other users can add, remix or use bits and pieces. As suggested by Mashable, this would be a nice venue for music labels to get creative fans involved, for example by running competitions for listeners to re-mix new tracks by established artists, creating hype for releases. Website: www.splicemusic.com Spotted by: Noah Kagan |
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