One day at a baseball ground,
After the fielding drills, the kids came back with their gloves that are flattened like pancakes.
The kids are always told to make their gloves stand during break time and batting practice time. But their gloves cannot stand on their own and always fall on the ground.
Flattened baseball gloves are not able to stand on the ground.
By seeing this situation, Yoshimura, the CEO of Field Force took it into consideration.
This flattened gloves give the kids unnecessary movements. Because they need to forcely open their gloves before catching the balls, they may not be able to catch the balls smoothly.
It may cause a negative habit to catch balls with too much strength to grasp.
The kds need suitcases for their gloves!
Professional baseball players carry their important gloves in attache cases. The kids also need glove bags type of things to carry around and protect their gloves.
How Glove Shaping Case was Made
What would be the best way to store the gloves in an open position.
The kids coming to baseball practice always carry their huge and heavy bags. The glove case needs to be lightweight.
The price of this product needs be affordable. But the material of this case must be light and have a high strength to protect the glove inside.
It took so much time choosing the right material for the case.
When I have visited our associated company's factory that produces Disney character bags, this particular product has drew my attention.
It was a backpack with a three-dimensional Disney character on its lid.
How did they make this three-dimensional effect?
It was very light but tough and with great shape memory. This was exactly what I was looking for!
The manufacturing process of the backpack involves bonding (laminating) polyester fabric onto foam rubber and then stamping the shape.
If we could develop a mold using this manufacturing method, we could create the ideal Glove Shaping Case to protect the glove from external pressure and store it in an open position.
I was convicted that this would be our new product.
Then, I started to seach for the shapes and sizes of the baseball gloves on the market.
Designs of this product has been revised so many times. Even the mold was revised.
And, finally,
Without compromising my idea, this innovatinve product, Glove Shaping Case, which can store the baseball glove in an open positin has been developed.
What I prioritized the most was the shape, height and size of the space for the glove pocket.
And then,,
Make sure that there is enough space inside when the lid is closed.
Moreover,
It needs to be good size and weight for the kids to carry.
6th grade player
It ws not just kids who were looking for this kind of product!
Middle and high school players and even the team from the industrial baseball league are now using Glove Shaping Cases with the team logo and uniform numbers on.
This product will prevent the gloves to be flattened in their bags or lose their shapes.
When they first saw Glove Shaping Case, some of the staff said "It is an egg? Or a helmet?" But when they started using it, they reazied the innovative structure of the product that can solve the problem, believing that it would become a new normal.
It actually became one of our top selling items!
Glove Shaping Case
Nowadays, I see baseball players coming to practice with Glove Shaping Cases and Mitt Shaping Cases in their hands.
Our challenge to product development by the president and staff of the baseball equipment manufacturer who sincerely care about kids will continue without end.