3 Products That Don’t Exist, But Should

Summary

The article discusses three innovative product ideas that the author believes should exist to address common inconveniences.

Abstract

The author presents a compelling argument for the development of three practical products based on everyday challenges. Firstly, the author suggests the creation of comfortable men's dress shoes designed with the cushioning and support of athletic footwear, catering to professionals who require all-day comfort. Secondly, the article proposes microwave-shaped paper towels that would conform to the microwave turntable, simplifying the cleaning process of microwaves in both office and home environments. Lastly, the author advocates for a plow-style snow shovel with a pivoting blade, allowing users to effectively push snow without the need for repeated shoveling due to snow spilling off the sides.

Opinions

Men's dress shoes lack the comfort provided by athletic shoes, despite no inherent design reason, and could be improved for those in professional environments.
The author implies that women's high heels are intentionally designed to be uncomfortable, which is an accepted norm, but believes men's dress shoes should not follow this trend.
Current paper towel designs are inefficient for absorbing spills in microwaves, leading to a messy and time-consuming cleanup process.
The author expresses a personal frustration with the inefficiency of traditional snow shovels and suggests an improvement that could benefit many.
The article conveys that the author is not interested in or capable of bringing these product ideas to market themselves, preferring to share them with established companies in the hope of seeing them realized.
The author is open to contributions or donations to help actualize these product ideas, indicating a willingness to collaborate or pass on the concepts to interested parties.

3 Products That Don’t Exist, But Should

We all have problems that could easily be solved by a new product. These 3, in no particular order, are ones that I’ve been wanting for awhile now and would buy in a heartbeat.

Comfortable men’s dress shoes.

My husband went to a job fair a couple decades back, and walking around in dress shoes for 4 hours left him crippled for the next 2 days. Women’s dress shoes are torture devices that destroy our feet and lower back. That’s part of the design. It’s not possible for high heals to be designed for comfort. The same is not true about men’s dress shoes. There’s no reason that any athletic footwear company such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, Asics, etc… couldn’t change the upper part of the shoe to look like a men’s dress shoe, thus giving men proper arch support, cushioning, and traction if they spend the day walking on marble or concrete surfaces.

I even have an ad and slogan for them: Nike (or whatever the company name) Formals — the dress shoe with the soul/sole of a sneaker. Picture the ad: a lawyer strides across a courtroom, with the voice over saying “Whether you’r pounding down the court”, scene changes to a guy in a suit with a briefcase chasing down a taxi, and voice over guy says “or just out for a run: Nike Formals.”

The market for this would be any adult male in a job where suits are necessary.

2. Paper towels shaped for the microwave turntable

How many times have you gone to the microwave in the break room only to find it encrusted with burnt on parts of other people’s food. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to just peal up that crap and throw it away? The market for this idea wouldn’t just be office managers/workers who were tired of having to clean the microwave plate. As a not-so-great cook, I’d like to have this for my home microwave as well. I’m tired of trying to guess which direction my oatmeal is going to boil over in so that I can put the long part of the paper towel in that direction.

Proctor & Gamble? Kimberly-Clark? Are you listening?

3. Plow style shovels that can pivot

It’s winter again and I’m the designated snow shoveler at our house. The plow style shovel is designed to allow the user to push the snow rather than lift it. The problem is that snow slides off either side, leaving trails of snow, so that the person shoveling has to go over the same spots multiple times.

Angling the blade of the shovel 30–45 degrees would keep one side clean as the excess would all slide off the other end. This moves the snow sideways (which is why street plows have angled blades), which is what you want to do when shoveling a sidewalk or the edge of a driveway. When shoveling a larger area, such as a driveway, I want to angle the shovel so that excess snow slides off on the side I haven’t done yet rather than the clean side. Ideally the shovel would let you switch from right to center to left orientation. Make this shovel and I will buy it, as will millions of other people who need to shovel.

Dart, EraPro, Suncast, True Temper, and Garant, this one’s for you!

While some people have product ideas and keep them secret so they can bring them to market themselves, I’m aware of the time, money, and effort involved in the process, and have more ideas than resources (though donations for product ideas would be graciously accepted). In addition, these ideas are modifications on already existing products, so they are better off done by companies already in the field. So, if you or someone you know is in the field for any of these, please consider making these.