Action Kippah – Levelling The Field For Jewish Athletes

Can you help us introduce a new idea to an ancient group of people?

I am proud to have been raised an observant Jew; doing my part to perpetuate the heritage of my forefathers. Part of that commitment involves adhering to certain traditions.

And while styles of dress amongst observant Jews are all over the map, it is part of our law that Jewish males must keep their heads covered at all times
(as a reminder that G-d is always above us)

This is typically done using a KIPPAH (aka a yarmulke)

And kippahs fall off

A lot.

Usually, this is no more than an occasional distraction in the life of a Jew, but there are also situations where it can be a major pain in the tuchis.

Take Sports, for example.
The need to move freely and quickly is challenged by the need to keep a small piece of cloth balanced on top of the head.

Look what happened to Jewish basketball legend Tamir Goodman
http://youtu.be/VeZRgiQAW1M

THAT wouldn’t have happened if he had been wearing an Action Kippah!

So what is the Action Kippah?
It’s the easiest, most simple, practical and and by far the COOLEST way of preventing a kippah from falling off.

By attaching a stretchable sports headband (the kind worn by athletes at all levels of competition) to a traditional kippah made out of state-of-the-art sweat-wicking mesh fabric, we have developed the perfect solution.

And once we had a few Action Kippahs of our own, we found out it was great for more than just sports. We’ve used them for

• Downhill skiing
• Changing ceiling lightbulbs
• In motor boats
• On roller coasters
• In convertibles
• Dancing at weddings

PROJECT PROGRESS TO DATE

Here’s what we’ve accomplished over the past year:

• Filed for and received a Provisional US Utility Patent
• Experimented with and decided upon an appropriate fabric out of which we will be making the Action Kippahs

• Enlisted and worked with a professional seamstress to finalize the size of the kippahs, including placement and length of the elastic holding bands
• Contracted a professional design studio that has already designed our logo, and will be overseeing our packaging prototype, as well as our product web page
• Experimented with and developed a collection of Action Kippah PROTOTYPES, in different sizes and colors.
• Tested the product for comfort and reliability, on the court and in the field
• Located and received a commitment from a factory overseas to manufacture our first, and future production runs of the Action Kippah. This factory will procure all materials necessary for the production of the kippah, and deliver it to us, fully packaged and retail ready
• Decided on the sizes and colors of our initial run of 6,000 Action Kippahs

Here’s what we have still to do:

• Take print-ready photographs to use on our packaging and website

• Design our retail packaging
• Design our product website
• Place our initial factory order for 6,000 Action Kippahs (pending funding)

When our initial order arrives

• We will fill our Kickstarter contributor’s rewards
• Place packaged Action Kippahs in over 50 Judaica stores Worldwide
• Begin an online marketing campaign
• Ship orders for the Action Kippah that come into our website
• Expand our marketing efforts into high schools and colleges
• Carefully monitor sales trends and prepare for our next run of Action Kippahs, based on data received from sales of the first run

Ber Cohen’s background and experience:

I grew up in an observant, Jewish household. It is this intimate familiarity with the Jewish lifestyle, and frustrations over wearing a precarious kippah that brought about the creation of the Action Kippah.

I have spent a good deal of time over the past year bringing the Action Kippah to the point it is now; ready to go into production overseas and then distributed to stores. So I have learned a lot in the last year doing that.

Since I just recently turned 20, though, I can’t claim to have extensive business experience.

But this is where my group of advisors and business experts come in. My grandfather, David Cohen, owned and operated MISTER COATS, INC. a wholesale clothing business for over 30 years. He is helping me find production sourcing, determine pricing, etc.

My father, Leibel Cohen, has over ten years experience creating product for the observant Jewish market (AGENT EMES), and distributing said product to both stores and end users.

These two very important people are enough to get this business off the ground successfully, but I have also enlisted legal and accounting professionals as well.

Why 6,000?

We think that’s an ambitious, yet reachable sales goal for our first year on the market; one that will allow us to try out different combinations, slowly build our business, and leave us with enough in stock in the event that they hit it big during the holiday season.

Risks and challengesLearn about accountability on Kickstarter

Normally, in order to produce clothing overseas (for the better price), it would require us to place an upfront order of several thousand yards of fabric. However we think it is prudent to make our initial run a conservative one, to get a better feel for the market potential of the Action Kippah.
Fortunately we have selected a particular style of mesh, wicking fabric that is currently being used by an NBA-licensed company to produce a totally different line of sportswear (we don’t even know what).

Because we have access to something that is already being produced, this will allow us to order smaller quantities of fabric for our first run.

However, it also means that we will be at the mercy of another company’s schedule and color choices. These could change at any time, which could potentially affect our delivery dates and ultimate color selections. The faster we raise the needed funding to place our order, the more certain we can be of maintaining the status quo.

Fortunately, my family has been in the wholesale clothing business for over 40 years, so there isn’t much we haven’t seen in the world of wholesale manufacturing and distribution.

The manufacturer’s rep we are using to take on this project has over 30 years experience producing products overseas.

We are also using local legal and accounting professionals to make sure that all our ‘i’s are dotted and ‘t’s crossed.

The Jewish market also has some unique peculiarities, mainly related to a small selection of Judaica stores from which our customers purchase their Jewish products.

Working in our favor here is my father’s ten year experience producing and distributing the Agent Emes DVD series for Jewish children.
Agent Emes has become a household name in the Jewish world due, in large part, to its being distributed worldwide through the Judaica store network.

But we also know that if we want to reach the widest possible customer-base for the Action Kippah, we will have to promote it on the Web, through social media, and even through a few strategically placed, on the ground, independent sales reps.

It will take us time to do all these things. We won’t have much of an advertising budget**, so it may take a while for market awareness to spread.

Ultimately, we believe the Action Kippah itself will be its own best marketing tool.
When a kid sees his friend wearing one out on the playground, he’ll want one as well.

** Unless our KickStarter campaign is wildly successful 🙂