Out Of Electra is one of the finalists of the Amazon Launchpad Innovation Awards but what exactly is it? We could define it a smart ski goggle. Electra does not just protect you but is able to adapt the brightness of its lens to the ambient light. All this in seconds and without battery. To find out more about Electra, however, we chatted with Federico and Laura Righi, CEO and Art Director of Out Of respectively.
Amazon Launchpad Innovation Awards: What Are They?
Before discovering what makes Electra special let’s start with Amazon Launchpad Innovation Awards or, better still, from earlier, from the program Amazon Launchpad. It is a project launched in 2015 and currently active in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, as well as in the United States, Canada, Mexico, India and Australia. Launchpad has supported the launch of over 2,000 European startups to date, with 12,000 products available on Amazon in over 30 categories, from electronics to fashion. All this to help new companies to grow thanks to the collaboration with over 200 major venture capital companies, startup accelerators and crowdfunding platforms to help startups develop their products.
The Amazon Launchpad Innovation Awards are part of this context, a competition dedicated to startups that allows the winner to win 100,000 euros to be exploited to grow your company. Over 1800 startups from all over Europe participated, of which 150 were Italian. Of these, 3 arrived in the top 50 and una – Out Of – became a finalist.
Out Of: a family business to conquer the world
Out of Electra
“Out Of was born from my and my brother’s passion for the mountains. At the time we were doing freestyle skiing and we wanted to do something of our own, which had to do with this passion – he says Federico Righi, Founder and CEO of the company – Since I was doing Physics and he was Industrial Design, we said to ourselves that instead of making t-shirts or sweatshirts we could aim for something more sophisticated, something that in our opinion was missing. A few years ago, in fact, ski goggles had major limitations. It seemed like a field to innovate. “
All this happened in 2010, with Federico still attending university and touring the shops in the area presenting the customized masks created with his brother. A few years later, in 2017, Out Of came to life. The company, albeit very young, already has important milestones behind it, such as the polarized photochromic lens, the partnership with Zeiss and now also Electra.
But where to find Out Of products? There are two fronts on which the Brescia company moves: on the one hand, retail, with a series of shops selling the company’s products, on the other hand the website, on which the words “unrivaled quality “. Impossible not to notice it and above all not to ask Federico how they manage to guarantee that level of quality: “We have extremely high standards. We focus a lot on technological innovation, on offering something that the competition does not have, and on partnership with suppliers which in turn manage to maintain a certain type of quality on the single component. For example, we took a giant step forward when we switched to Carl Zeiss lenses. Not so much because other suppliers fail to do what Zeiss does but because Zeiss has an ability to maintain the same quality on all parts that others did not have, ”the company’s CEO explains to me.
“Everything, including assembly, is done in our headquarters in Brescia – keep it going Laura Righi – The product already completely assembled does not arrive. We get the separate components that are checked individually and assembled by hand. We have lights on purpose to check if the lens has any defects, even small ones, and at the end of the process, if everything is ok, it is sent to the customer, who can be a private individual or a shop. “
This modus operandi has allowed Out Of to go a step further and offer its customers the possibility of customize the ski goggles. An option particularly appreciated by skiers who thus have the possibility to adapt this piece of equipment to what they already have. It is therefore not surprising to discover that about 40% of the orders placed online concern personalized masks.
But how does it work? “There is a person who receives the image and all the characteristics of the product, takes all the individual components, prepares the product and then it is shipped – says Federico Righi – Even in the case of customization, we ship in a very short time. If a customer places an order by 2.30pm / 3pm it is likely that it will be shipped the same day and typically receives it the next morning.
However, the Brescia-based company does not only serve the Italian market. In fact, Out Of ships all over the world, with a business that today is divided in half: 50% in Italy and 50% in the rest of the world. However, interest in the company’s products continues to grow, especially in countries such as Switzerland, Austria and the United States. According to Federico, by next winter the balance could change, reaching a full-bodied 70% for foreign countries.
Out Of Electra: the electronic ski goggle
“Electra is the thing we are by far the most proud of because for us it was a real quantum leap – Federico Righi tells me as soon as I name it – It is a completely different lens from what can be found on the market. It is made up of liquid crystals, a photocell and electronic circuits. There is no battery. When light energy arrives, the electronic circuit is activated which, based on the input, decides which output to send to the LCD. The more light there is, the more the liquid crystals are managed in such a way as to darken the image behind it, that is, reality. “
Simplifying, Out Of Electra adapts in real time to external changes to always offer you the best possible optical filter while you are skiing.
All this with an always uniform vision and, as mentioned before, without a battery, which makes the mask lighter, independent from any recharge and able to withstand low temperatures without encountering any kind of problem.
Intrigued? Know that Out Of Electra has already been on the market for a year, on sale on the official website and on Amazon Launchpad.
However, the product was not born overnight.
“The idea is very easy to come up with. In the field of skiing but also in other sectors it has been a long time trying to solve this problem because in the mountains the weather changes rapidly and, in addition to weather changes, you also have the change of slope, you can end up in the shade, tree… ”, Laura explains to me. The difficulty was therefore mainly technical. Here because the design took almost two years, with the company having to overcome several obstacles before finding the most suitable solution.
What if it breaks? “Within two years, if it breaks down due to our problem, it will be completely replaced – explains Federico – Our assistance is very direct. They can write to us on WhatsApp or Messenger. On the basis of the case, let’s see what can be done. For example, if a person has slammed the mask and a contact between the card and the LCD has come off, we would ask you to ship it so we can repair it. “
After Electra: the future of Out Of
The Handmade glasses by Out Of
Electra and ski goggles are not the only Out Of product. Today you can also find them on their online store the glasses, made by hand and designed to please the loyal who give up skiing in the summer but still want to play sports.
Soon another collection will arrive, that of glasses made of carbon fiber with a percentage that varies from piece to piece to have more flexibility or more rigidity as needed. In doing so, Out Of was able to keep the weight down to 16.7 grams, making them the lightest glasses in the world.
In September, however, the company will launch sports glasses with Electra technology, bringing the same innovation seen for ski goggles to normal glasses.
But this is only the beginning. The Brescia-based company wants to apply Electra’s technology also in other fields, joining forces with other brands or even in the military field.
In the future, the same system will be strengthened to become more and more sophisticated, with a lot of application that will allow to define its behavior.
“We have taken the first steps to the next step, which is to take Electra’s LCD technology to create the smart helmets of the next few years, self-powered. The customer must forget about the battery, the charge… Both from an ecological point of view, because in this way we don’t have to use the electricity grid by taking energy from the sun, and for convenience. In our opinion the first thing is that the customer must have a product that works perfectly, is comfortable. He must not have any kind of worry “, concludes Federico Righi.