Happy Holidays! Ti-Ultra Update
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 12:39:23 AM

 Happy Holidays Everyone, 

First off, all Core êkö Kits have been fulfilled and nearly all of the original inventory has been distributed globally. Thank you.  It’s been a challenge getting the new titanium materials and production going but we are very close. We SOOO apologize for the delay. Here’s where we are at: 

1. Titanium êkö products are through production, finishing phases, and laser etching processes and now being bundled in new dark grey and green pouches. During production the modified mold broke but we have more than enough to fulfill rewards to Ti-Ultra backers.

 2. It’ll take 1-2 weeks for the shipment to arrive and for us to individually package and add shipping labels to send out. 

  3. The new harder titanium material caused .02 - .03 mm thickness change in the final Ti-Ultra metal hardware… The Clip-In mold had to be modified to accomodate this very small difference in order for them to work as intended.  These are about done and will also be sent  to our office in SF, CA soon where we will bundle them for Premium Ti-Ultra Pledge Levels. 

  Again, our sincere apologies. It’s been difficult to update yet again about Ti-Ultra delays… As a hardware designer and developer, factory and suppliers visits would’ve made this phase much easier which wasn’t the case during the Pandemic.  We are including extra perks to our Ti-Ultra Backers as promised.

 Thank you again,
 John and Team EKOwareUSA
 

A Good Start on Our SporKit! Campaign. Many Thanks for Making it Happen!
about 3 years ago – Tue, Nov 09, 2021 at 05:02:35 PM

Hello Awesome Backers!

We did a “soft launch” for SporKit! with a 30-day campaign duration last weekend in order to ship Rewards out by Christmas.  It's only been 3 days and we've had a good start.  Ti-Ultra êkö Cutlery production on all our titanium rewards is already underway thanks to you, our fantastic original êkö Core and Ti-Ultra Backers. We continue to strive in delivering on our campaign goals in creating substantial sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics.

Nearly 1000 Core and Premium Core êkö Cutlery Kits (of 304 stainless steel) have already shipped to our rad Core Backers, distributors, and retail partners.  For our patient 83 Ti-Ultra êkö Cutlery Backers we are including extra perks to your rewards as promised in appreciation for hanging in there these past few months. 

The reasons we decided to launch SporKit!, our Ti-Ultra êkö Spork-Only version, for this Holiday Season are as follows:

1. Feedback from Backers and Distributors asking for a more minimal êkö offering.

2. Production on all our titanium êkö products will be complete by November 16th after delays caused by global supply chain shortages and Asian power outages that greatly pushed back our previous shipping schedules.  We will recieve Ti-Ultra êkö Kits to ship to Backers by Christmas.

3. We have a surplus of raw titanium material to create SporKit! since more quantities were required to purchase from our supplier because of new 2021 titanium material shortages. In 2021 titanium became more scarce and more expensive.

4. We felt these would make great Christmas Stocking Stuffers!

We’ve added more limited Early Birds at 40% off MSRP and hope you could help spread word in sharing our campaign.  We’ve also partnered with KickBooster in creating an affiliated program where you could get a 10% cash back: https://sporkit-ti-ultra-eko.kickbooster.me/boost

$1 for every kit sold will be donated via our SurfRider Foundation page https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/SURFRIDER/EKOwareUSAAdmin

Thank You,

John & EKOwareUSA Team

Ti-Ultra SporKit Launched!
about 3 years ago – Sat, Nov 06, 2021 at 05:37:42 PM

Dear êkö Backers,

We just, out-of-the-blue, launched Ti-Ultra êkö SporKit! Limited Early Birds available now 40% off for our pure C1 titaniun SporKit! with delivery by Christmas 2021. It’s designed for eco-warrior minimalists in making our own destinies and future beyond the meh-tah (meta fb crap) and virtual BS. 

Let’s make something real and sustainable that can last. Peace! 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ekowareusa/ti-ultra-eko-sporkit-the-minimalist-titanium-edc-spork-kit

Thank You!

John & EKOwareUSA Team

Ti-Ultra êkö Production Resumes & Ships by Christmas 2021!
about 3 years ago – Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 06:25:57 AM

Dear EKOwareUSA Backers and Friends,

Titanium production has resumed and we expect to receive our first batch of Ti-Ultra by 19 November to ship for the Holidays!  Global supply chain shortages, Asia power outages, and shipping delays really wreaked havoc on our delivery and upcoming product launch schedules as a new eco-hardware start-up.

.  

We appreciate the patience of our current 83 Ti-Ultra êkö Backers and will be adding extra perks to your pledges as promised.  All Core and Premium Core êkö Kits have successfully shipped to our 250 Core Backers- Please message us if you hadn't received yours.  And we are super thankful to ALL of you for helping us bring EKOwareUSA to life!  We are offering Ti-Ultra to you at a special limited-time $15 off with discount code EKOTITANIUMS2021 at https://ekowareusa.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders.  We've also added a spork-only, Ti-Ultra Spork-It, with a smaller dark gray cotton pouch for the minimalists out there.

Ti-Ultra êkö Flatware is made of pure titanium which is super strong, lightweight, anti-corrosive, anti-microbial, anti-single-use, and hypoallergenic to boot.  It also feels great with a slight satin finish. The pouch was updated with a sturdy dark gray cotton linen cover with bright green inner lining. The serrations were removed in this version for a cleaner look, better manufacturability, and to ensure it can pass through airport TSA check points worldwide.    

We originally designed êkö to be an elegant, ultra-portable, no-fuss, sustainable alternative to single-use plastic flatware.  

We believe our community knows the ramifications of these ubiquitous toxic plastics to our world.  Approximately 240 pieces of single-use plastic flatware is used per person per year; and likely more through the Pandemic. With the almost 1000 êkö Core Cutlery Kits distributed and used in 2021 worldwide so far we helped keep approximately 240,000 pieces of single-use plastics from polluting the planet! 

We were planning to release newer updated designs this month on Kickstarter but production delays made it logistically unlikely to make product development headway.. . But with enough interest we'll share the designs for your feedback and push forward so let us know your thoughts.  We have excess raw titanium material (since we had to order more quantity due to global supply shortages to deliver your Ti-Ultra 2021 pledges) for this endeavor,  however, closing the production lead-time gap to ship before Christmas is impossible for new products at this time.  That said,  we'll likely launch Ti-Ultra êkö Kits as an In-Demand project on IndieGoGo while developing the new EKOwareUSA products for 2022 Release.  Stay Tuned!

Premium Ti-Ultra eko Kits with Clip-In Accessories will also ship by Christmas 2021, however, we've found that the clips fit a bit too tightly into the metal handle slots due to the harder titanium material forming stiffer in our current molds used to make the Core 304SS hardware. We hope this will be fixed during production. We also plan to share the 3D-printable CAD SLS files for those who would like to 3d print the the Clip-In Accessories themselves.  

We hope this answers any of your questions and concerns.  If not, please let us know.  And please message us a review of your Core êkö Kits "in the wild" and/or share pictures by tagging #ekotogo in your social media posts. Oh, and please share. We'd really appreciate it. 

Many Thanks,

John & EKOwareUSA Team

www.ekowareusa.com 

Updates on Ti-Ultra Production, Core Fulfillment & Japan êkö Launch
over 3 years ago – Mon, Aug 09, 2021 at 11:29:17 PM

Hello Everyone,

Those who pledged only for Core and Premium Core Kits should've already received rewards- please message if you hadn’t.  We've had a tooling mishap during the first Ti-Ultra pre-production test run and needed time fix the problem.. our sincere apologies for the delay.  

Tooling for Ti-Ultra had to be adjusted quite a bit since the same tooling (which was also used to make the 304ss Core kits) showed signs of failing when attempting to form the harder titanium material. The newly modified Ti-Ultra êkö Kits that are being made will have beveled cutting edges instead of serrations. This was done for a few reasons: 1. Better for mass production on the modified tool  2. Should have no problems clearing airport TSA baggage checks.  

We’ve gotten just a few reports from our frequent flyer friends that the serrations were questioned and on one occasion a Core êkö Kit had to be mailed out from the airport because it didn’t clear on a flight from SFO to Hong Kong.  We looked further into this problem: while portable flatware of this type is generally okay to pack with carry-on bags, it really depends on the baggage check agent on duty and the country.  We chatted with @AskTSA on FB/IG who say serrations on any metal flatware might be a problem. Even though the êkö serrations are soft and designed to not cut through skin, the serrations themselves might be a flag, visually.  We recommend carrying Core êkö in-flight at your own risk or put inside of your check-in luggage.  If asked at baggage check about Core êkö you could show how the serrations won't cut through skin and isn't dangerous at all but, as mentioned, it depends on the baggage check agent and country. 

We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and for the delay on the Ti-Ultra manufacturing. The updated design will be the same as Core minus the serrations and will come in a satin matte finish. We’ve also updated the pouch in dark gray with an êkö green lining:

The tooling is just about ready, however, since the last few months there’s been an even higher demand for titanium material and we had to order 2x as much to cover the new supplier MOQ and help bring the price down to make sense from a business stand point.  Wood and metals has seen an increased price surge lately. 

We understand the frustration of our Ti-Ultra backers at this point and sincerely apologize for the delays..  factory visits and in-person meetings for physical hardware design and development is always an essential step but the pandemic has made air-travel and in-person meetings/reviews near impossible.  And so for our Ti-Ultra backers who have been patiently waiting we’ll give a complimentary stainless steel Premium Core eko Kit (with clip-ins) that we’ll include in your Ti-Ultra pledge packages.  We (really really) hope to be able to ship Ti-Ultra by September!  But at this point we’re waiting on our manufacturing partners and material supplier.  We are frustrated about this and doing everything we can.

Some good news is that Premium Core êkö Kits have launched in Japan with our new Distribution Partner.  We have a few partner shops in San Francisco where's êkö is being sold and we’re planning a new marketing/sales push for Retail & B2B customers once Ti-Ultra’s are ready.  

We've also had requests for a Premium êkö Ti-Ultra spork-only option with pouch which will make it even more ultra-portable. We'll offer a limited number of 400 once titanium production is confirmed and may give a complimentary kit instead of a Premium Core Kit to Ti-Ultra Backers. 

About 250 packages have have already shipped to Core Backers and just under 100 left for Ti-Ultra Backers.  We appreciate your ongoing support and patience in helping bring EKOwareUSA to life!

If you have any questions please message us. 

Thank You,

John & EKOwareUSA Team

PS:  Kits are still available at www.ekowareusa.com (forwards to backerkit) and please use any of the coupon codes mentioned here or on social media, like this $15 Off code: EKOPREMIUMS2021

We're on instagram @ekoware.usa & twitter @ekowareusa 

Please follow and share pics of your êkö in the wild. 

We've also started a SurfRider Foundation Fundraiser:

https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/SURFRIDER/EKOwareUSAAdmin

and active in helping make a more sustainable world. 

Thanks again!