THE PATENT-PENDING ConvertAHanger transforms anti-theft hotel and cruise ship hangers into regular, usable hangers.
Society tends to romanticize inventors, crafting fantastic stories to explain the flash of brilliance that weaves itself into the world’s first light bulb or flying machine.
However, most inventors don’t lend themselves to heroic tales of keys on kite strings or brothers leaping off hills in wooden planes. More often than not, inventors were simply trying to rid the world of a particularly aggravating pet peeve.
For Battle Ground’s Rick Schlang, the aggravating factor at the heart of his new invention, the ConvertAHanger, centers on the hookless hangers found in hotel closets throughout the world.
“They’re a common pet peeve for travelers,” Schlang, 59, says of the ubiquitous anti-theft hotel hangers. “I’ve traveled for 30 years and always hated them. So, when I started researching this idea, I couldn’t believe no one else had come up with it.”
Schlang’s ConvertAHanger does exactly what the name implies: It converts the hook-free hotel hangers into regular hangers, allowing hotel guests to hang their clothes wherever they please. It’s especially useful for people who like to hang their clothes in the bathroom for a de-wrinkling steam during their morning shower. And, thanks to a special notch built-into the ConvertAHanger – an idea that came from Schlang’s business partner and wife, Linda Schlang – the invention also works on the small, hook hangers found in international hotels and aboard cruise ships.
The durable gadgets sell in packs of two for $9.95, are “made in the USA” by a Minnesota-based manufacturer and are available online as well as in certain retail shops, including Portland Luggage Company stores in Portland and locally at S&I Equipment Rental in Battle Ground and Pacific Northwest Best Fish Company in Ridgefield.
For Schlang, who also works full-time as a business development specialist for the automotive industry, the journey from idea to working invention has been a bit of a whirlwind.
His first ConvertAHanger concept, developed on a 3-D printer, took shape in early May of this year. One month later, Schlang had contracted a company to tweak his design into a two-sided injection mold and hired a manufacturer to produce the invention in time for the holidays. By mid-August, Schlang had a working website, inventory and an ever-growing list of potential wholesalers, retailers and online outlets.
Schlang has been promoting his new product like mad, but says he’s a little bit frustrated by the slow response. “I had read so many articles talking about how people hate those hotel hangers, and here was a solution. I really thought it would catch on right away,” Schlang says.
Instead, Schlang finds two camps of people: Those who get it immediately and want to order two packs that day – probably veteran business travelers – and those who don’t understand what the ConvertAHanger does.
“I knew I was going to have to promote the product, but I thought people would be excited that it finally existed,” Schlang says. “I had big dreams.”
The invention may not be on the overnight-success trajectory that Schlang imagined, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t had its share of successes. In September, the product received positive accolades on www.Gizmodo.com, a respected tech and design blog, and Schlang saw an immediate bump in sales. And in mid-October, the national online retailer www.Overstock.com picked up the ConvertAHanger as part of their Main Street Revolution series, which concentrates on products designed and made in the United States by small businesses or individuals like Schlang.
In an effort to better promote the ConvertAHanger, Schlang has contacted magazines, online bloggers, travel associations, mega-retailers, airport franchise businesses and even national television stars like Ellen Degeneres and Oprah Winfrey.
“I know this has the potential to be big,” Schlang says of his unique patent-pending product. “It’s just a matter of getting it into the right hands.”
AT A GLANCE
ConvertAHanger
What: ConvertAHanger, a patent-pending invention that converts hookless, anti-theft hotel and cruise ship hangers into usable, “hang anywhere” hangers.
Who: Inventor Rick Schlang, 59, of Battle Ground
Cost: The ConvertAHanger is sold in packs of two for $9.95
Buy locally: The ConvertAHanger is available at the following local retailers:
Portland Luggage Company, 440 SW 4th Ave., Portland
S&I Equipment, 6710 NE 219th St., Battle Ground
Pacific Northwest Best Fish Company, 24415 NE 10th Ave., Ridgefield
Buy online: Find the ConvertAHanger online at the following sites:
Convertahanger.com
Amazon.com
Overstock.com
Portlandluggage.com
More information: To learn more about ConvertAHanger, visit these sites:
Facebook.com/convertahanger
Plus.google.com/+Convertahanger
Youtube.com/user/convertahanger
