Imagine seeking $20,000 through Kickstarter to fund your new idea. Imagine meeting that goal in five hours. Imagine raising a casual $9.2 million by the time your fundraiser finally wrapped up.
That was the reality of a guy named Hiral Sanghavi in 2015 when he debuted the all-in-one BauBax travel jacket on the fundraising site. It's since gone on to become one of the most successful crowdfunded apparel items ever, having raised that aforementioned sum on Kickstarter in addition to $11.6 million on Indiegogo.
So why are people so enamored with a simple hooded, zip-up jacket?
The thing is, the BauBax is anything but a simple hooded, zip-up jacket. It's like if a Swiss Army knife had a baby with a cozy coat: Jam-packed with useful features yet warm and durable, keeping you organized and comfortable no matter where life takes you.
It was Sanghavi's own busy, jet-setting lifestyle that inspired his wife, a designer, to create this revolutionary garment: "She works on the West Coast and I'm studying for my MBA at the Kellogg School of Management (at Northwestern University in Illinois)," he told CNN Money in a September 2015 interview. "It's a long flight and I'd forget to take my neck pillow and buy a new one at the airport."
Besides building Sanghavi's much-needed neck pillow into the BauBax — one that easily hides in the jacket's hood and inflates in two seconds — his wife gave it more than a dozen other travel-friendly features. Within the BauBax's soft cotton-polyester construction, you'll find an eye mask, gloves, earphone holders, a microfiber cloth, and a zipper with a built-in pen and stylus, as well as pockets for a tablet, a drink, a passport, a phone and its charger, a blanket, and sunglasses. Basically, it's a wearable replacement for your carry-on bag and your wallet.
But maybe a zip-up jacket just isn't your style. Maybe black isn't your color. Well, good thing the world's best travel jacket comes all sorts of different models and hues, including:
For a limited time, all of those BauBax styles are on sale in the Mashable Shop starting at just $109.99. Better hurry, though — this deal will be over faster than your flight attendant can say, "Welcome aboard."
