“What does it do?” my buddy requested as we sat there staring on the chrome-pink, futuristic wanting cylinder set on the desk. “It’s only a water bottle,” I stated.
“It doesn’t filter your water? Preserve monitor of how a lot you drink?” she requested. I shrugged. “Nope, I suppose it does look cool although.” My buddy was asking as a result of Okapa, a model with only one product, sells its flagship water bottle for $295.
For context, most high-end water bottles high out round $50, or perhaps $100-150 if they’ve fancy options like self-cleaning UV lights, built-in filters, or app connectivity to observe your consuming habits. When a model expenses that rather more than market worth, it’s normally for one in all two causes: both it’s a luxurious product meant as a standing image, or it’s fixing a client drawback nobody else has cracked.
Okapa is claiming to do each. Its Instagram bio says “luxurious hydration”, and it’s tapping the style world to seek out its clientele by partnering with a small designer for a New York Trend Week runway present. However, additionally, Okapa claims its bottle redefines hygiene and sturdiness, utilizing supplies usually present in medical and aerospace purposes.
Certainly, Okapa says it is taken eight years of R&D and greater than 10,000 prototypes to attain the “micron-level precision” of its bottle, and within the course of secured greater than 70 patents globally. By the way, in case you are questioning what Okapa means, or the place it comes from, in accordance with the corporate it’s, apparently, a mindset. “We’re calling it ‘The State of Okapa’ the place the unthinkable is being realized” says the web site bumf. The positioning then provides the bottle itself is “a technical feat of engineering past motive.”
No stranger to the posh market, or certainly hyperbolic product guarantees, Okapa’s founder Hardy Steinmann cut his teeth within the 80s and 90s working the advertising and marketing and gross sales for high-end watch model Hublot within the USA, then relaunching Swatch Group’s Hamilton watch model globally.
Anyway, do these medical and aerospace supplies truly make a distinction in a water bottle? Can a water bottle actually redefine hygiene? I examined it for practically two months and spoke to a medical toxicology knowledgeable to seek out out.
Preliminary Ideas
Earlier than I even acquired my arms on the water bottle, I noticed the web site. It has a retro online game aesthetic with the pixelated textual content and sliding transitions. Even the consumer guide is illustrated in that very same playful fashion. And I’m a sucker for an organization that places that a lot intention into branding design and general vibe.
Once I unboxed the water bottle, I used to be much more bought. This factor is gorgeous. The traces are clear, the dot sample is eye-catching, and the end has a gentle matte sheen that appears and feels costly. I acquired the pink-and-yellow colorway (“Peaches Copperwire”), however there are eight whole, from all-black to shiny pink. Every has a reputation that sounds extra like a finances sci-fi film character than a coloration, like “Redd Rumble” or “Mitsi Pinku.”
With such a particular design, would my fancy water bottle elicit jealousy of my friends or strangers? Might they even inform it value a lot? I toted this all through airports, to spas, to work occasions in New York Metropolis, and on trains in Europe. I stored it in hand, swinging from my fingers, fishing for compliments. I acquired none.
The Testing Expertise
Water bottles are a reasonably fundamental product, so the engineering and particulars of the Okapa bottle shocked me. First, it’s actually satisfying to drink from. The lid opens with the push of a button and lets out a clear little “pop” because the spring-loaded high snaps again. It’s clean to open with one hand, and as you tilt the bottle to get each final drop, the cap stays neatly out of the way in which as an alternative of flopping ahead to bonk you on the brow.
The mouthpiece form suits completely while you purse your lips, and the Swiss-made Grilamid plastic feels softer and extra premium than most. It additionally has a locking mechanism that works exceptionally effectively. Even once I overlook to have interaction the locked mode, the cap has by no means popped open in my bag. (I as soon as ruined a laptop computer when an Owala opened mid-commute, so I admire a reliable latch.)
