Say bye-bye to back pain with the world’s first built-in massager backpack
The EUME backpack is custom-engineered with a built-in massager to rejuvenate your back muscles on the go. The USB port ensures that you can charge your mobile devices anytime, anywhere.
Backpacks live many lives – they function as school book carriers, workplace buddies, and travel companions. But what if this accessory could double up as a back massager and alleviate back pain? Naina Parekh and her husband, Sanjay Parekh, wondered. Three-and-a-half years later, they launched EUME, the world’s first built-in massager backpack. The unusual idea was backed by American businessman Daymond John, who appears as an investor on ABC’s reality TV series Shark Tank.
But what led to this idea? Naina, 43, says the constant complaints of backaches brought about by heavy backpacks by her 20-year-old son and his friends forced her to think. “That was our Eureka moment,” she recalls.
But the journey from idea to product stage wasn’t easy. Naina, a graduate in psychology and an alumnus of Istituto Marangoni, Milan, and the London Business School, and Sanjay, who heads Avon Lifestyle Private Limited, did research – what they call “trial and error” - for three years.
They began by visiting numerous spine clinics and orthopaedic experts to understand the trigger areas that cause back pain. After getting these inputs, Naina and Sanjay teamed up with their prototype designer, Parvez Shaikh, and a vibrator and circuit/cascade manufacturer.
“We knew that if this feature was done right, we would be creating something really great for backpack lovers,” Naina says.
The couple launched the EUME brand on June 29, 2018, on social media as well as Amazon. The product was launched on August 10.
The backpack specs
The EUME (You and Me) backpack caters to the concerns of every individual who has endured stress and pain during day-to-day travel, Naina says.
The 26-litre backpack, made of a polyester outer material, weighs 1,590 gm. It has one compartment and can fit in a 15.6-inch laptop. The backpack helps by massaging the upper back near the trapezoid and the lower back. It also stimulates greater blood flow in areas where heavy backpacks cause a lot of stress. The water-resistant bag is designed to let every user adjust the massager as per his or her torso size.
The product has four in-built massagers, two on the upper shoulder and two on the lower back. One button can operate all four massagers – the first push operates the upper massager, the second push works the lower massagers, the third push gets them working simultaneously, and the fourth push switches the product off.
The entire module runs on a power bank (one hour of massage consumes 1,000 mah of power) with a dual-USB port, which can also charge other devices such as phone, tablets etc. The customer needs to buy this separately from market.
Manufactured in India, the backpacks are priced at Rs 3,999. “The design endorsed by cricketer Hardik Pandya is priced at Rs 4,999,” Naina says.
The founders say the technology has been patented in India; a patent is pending in the US. However, they add that their product is an over-the-counter one, and can’t heal or cure; it is advertised as a relaxant.
The challenges
Naina says designing the product wasn’t easy. “We had to be absolutely sure of the placement of the massagers. The movable portion had to be just right to different heights, and it was imperative that the decibels of sound and speed frequency of the motors were in tune,” she says.
EUME created a team and continuously held in-house tests for a year. “Bearing production costs was a challenge, but we financed it from our earlier business of umbrellas,” she adds.
The company has a 20,000 square feet manufacturing unit in Bhiwandi. It has 200 machines for manufacturing backpacks; 60 are being used at the moment. “Currently, 100 backpacks are manufactured per month and we plan to increase the capacity to 300,” Naina says.
EUME employs 135 people; the production department has 65 employees while the rest of the staff amount to 70. The employees are divided between their two businesses - 80 employees for the backpacks units and 50 shared between their earlier (umbrella) business and backpacks.
The product is sold exclusively on Amazon online. The backpacks are also sold offline in stores such as Premsons, VIP Maru, Alfa, Anupam Stationery, and Sayonara in Mumbai.
Naina is optimistic about customer response. “It’s only a month old, and we have sold more than 500 pieces,” she says.
The Shark Tank guide
Getting the backing of Daymond John, Founder and CEO of FUBU, an American hip-hop apparel company, helped. The EUME founders did not know Daymond, who appears as an investor on Shark Tank, a reality show that has reinvigorated entrepreneurship in the US.
“We’re avid viewers of Shark Tank. One day, I wrote to all the investors on that show and, surprisingly, got an email from Daymond John. He called us for a casual meeting to evaluate our work, but mentioned that he would not invest in any businesses apart from the TV show. But we decided to showcase our product to him and that was the turning point for EUME. He was astounded by the product concept, and advised us on how we could scale the product. He told us to promote it in a way that the massage feature was indispensable and get a patent. We could then think of leveraging loyalty. Now that we are focusing on maximum reach, I wish we had some funding sources,” Naina adds.
In the future
Several luggage companies such as Skybag and Adidas, sports gear firms like Puma, and outdoor equipment provider Wildcraft offer backpacks with padded backs and other features. New York-based Superstraps provides an external gadget that one can retrofit on the straps of a backpack, and instantly relieve shoulder, back, and neck pain.
However, EUME claims to be the first one to engineer a massager into the back of the backpack.
According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the healthcare industry in India is expected to reach $ 372 billion by 2022. India’s travel industry, meanwhile, contributed 9.6 percent to the country’s GDP as it stood at $208.9 billion in 2016. Clearly, the opportunity is there.
Naina says EUME is currently “working on monetising the product rather than focusing on the margins”.
“Our plan is to reach global markets. We are in the process of launching Kickstarter campaigns and starting exports. EUME launched in the US on September 18 this year,” Naina says.