iCandy’s new parasols are now available for purchase from iCandy’s online store.
Crafted by the pioneering British designers at iCandy, the parasols have been created in house and are designed to complement your iCandy pushchair. One member of the team, who played a fundamental role in getting the parasols through the design phase and into production, was iCandy Designer, Joshua Baker.
Joshua, who along with his colleagues drafted the sleek new design, particularly admires how the little details combine to enhance a customer’s experience of an iCandy product. “I appreciate that when buying an iCandy product, customers expect fashionable design, along with exceptional functionality.” The little touches Joshua alludes to refer to additions such as the colour matching storage bag, which ensures the product can be tucked away neatly and stored at home by a draw string. Meanwhile, the “iCandy branded popper might not seem like much, but it really enhances the customers experience and screams out that you are handling a premium well designed and considered product.”
Joshua continues to tell us what makes the new iCandy range so special:
“iCandy are always striving for innovation, we changed the shape to predominantly create an instantly recognisable iCandy silhouette, iCandy is all about fashion and design, and we wanted iCandy users to be distinguishable amongst other pushchair users. People buy iCandy for its functionality, head turning colourways, and iconic British design.”
What makes the shape of the iCandy parasol so unique?
“The shape is certainly unique to the nursery industry, and whilst we love the look of this new shape which is most definitely individualistic to iCandy, like all of our products the design is first and foremost created with functionality in mind for the parent. All iCandy products are created to make a parent’s life easier. For instance, the additional length at the back means you can get better coverage of the child whilst maintaining the same width, so it doesn’t protrude outside the Pushchair foot print – unless you want it to of course.”
What colours do the new iCandy Universal Parasols come in?
“So far seven universal colours have been selected to compliment the entire iCandy range. To date, we have Turquoise, Pink, Grey, Olive, Black, Biscuit, Blue, and Red. Each flavour pack in the range has at least 2 colours that go with it. What’s more, we have introduced fibre rods in the parasols, making them far more durable.”
What would you say are the unique selling points of the new parasols? Anything in particular you are proud of?
“The thing I love the most is how we’ve been able to utilise the water resistant properties of the new lightweight material by integrating a handle into the connector, so if you get caught out in the rain you can use it as an umbrella. Unfortunately in Britain, you can’t always rely on the weather, therefore we tested the parasols to umbrella standards. All of these touches are what iCandy is about, which is going the extra mile to deliver the best product and customer experience possible.”
Tell us about this lightweight fabric you have alluded to?
“The Lightweight fabric has both SPF and water resistant properties, all of this combines to help make a customer’s life easier. The material that is used is 100% polyester, the grade has been specifically chosen due to its flexibility and lightweight properties. The material is coated to ensure it meets iCandy’s technical requirements, as well as protecting a baby from the sun’s harmful rays.”
When choosing the design of the iCandy universal parasol, what were your main inspirations? Did the team visit any fashion shows, research upcoming trends?
“We are always researching new trends, going to design shows and immersing ourselves in the latest design/ technology so we stay relevant and ahead of the game. A major part of the design team’s job is to identify not only what is fashionable now, but what will remain in fashion for the foreseeable future.”