Adam Bannister: Tell me how the idea came about. Apparently your friend had their bag stolen from the beach…
David Glashan: That was part of it. We added a hidden, zipped pocket at the foot end because of that. It’s my personal favourite, as it means one of us does not have to wait by our beach bag in case some opportunist thief comes along. I am not saying it's secure, but it is out of sight, and if you fold it underneath then it's secured by the ties that link to the lounger.
On one occasion my book got wet on a cruise ship. And another time, we were on holiday and Sarah lost her watch, which she had left on a table by the sun loungers. That’s why we put pockets on the itsa.
There’s another pocket for an iPod. The loops on the itsa stop it from getting all tangled up, falling in the sand and getting wet.
Another thing, because it fits over the edge of the lounger, you don’t have a towel slipping down the lounger – which was another pet hate of mine.
Another pet hate: the sun moves around! It takes forever to pick up your bits and move your bed. Not anymore: it takes about seven seconds to pack your itsa up, so if you get a rain storm – no more wet towel while you pack up your bits.
So it was a number of reasons – all of our pet hates really.
The itsa was inspired by personal experience, so it’s no surprise that it solves practical problems…
DG: And I think because we were semi-retired we had lots of time to think about the product, as well as to plan things and carry them out.
Unfortunately, people often don’t go through with ideas because they’re too busy chasing the pound note. But it’s not that they don’t have the time: they don’t know how to manage their time.
You won a Double Gold Award for Innovation of the Year at the British Invention Show. Did you feel vindicated after things didn’t go as well as hoped on the BBC show Dragon’s Den?
DG: I didn’t have a problem with what happened on that show. It’s good television and it gives you a high profile for your product.
But it’s no good relying on that anyway. You need to get the product into other parts of the press – other TV shows, radio, magazines. We appeared on GMTV, for instance.
So what happened in the ‘Den’?
DG: We gave them good business information but we weren’t giving them the television that they wanted. They wound me up and I lost my rag. If the ground could have swallowed me up when I saw it on television then I would have been happy.
We would have loved to get the money – but you have to have other plans in place to get the money.
