New Take on Familiar Gear

MINNEAPOLIS — Crutches have largely stayed the same over the last decade, but folks at Minneapolis-based Mobi believe it's time for the venerable walking aid to undergo a 21st century makeover. From a design standpoint, the company's Mobilegs and Mobilegs Ultra feature soft saddles, saddle pivots, hand grips and universal rocker feet.

"Our mission is to establish entirely new benchmarks in the world of assisted mobility technology," said Todd Nelson, director of retail sales and business development. "Let's call it the freedom of movement, movement."

The company's "Mobi Manifesto" declares its new line, set to launch in July, is "human-engineered for comfort, safety and usability, easily upgradable, sustainably conceived and manufactured" and "infinitely customizable by the individual."

Mobi is also employing some 21st century marketing techniques to attract a younger consumer. The website at www.mobilegs.com is positioned to provide a branded, connected experience via social networking sites such as Facebook, with tools for users to have their Mobilegs signed by family, friends and physicians. After the virtual "signing," message-laden MobiE-sign skins will ship the same day.

 "Customizing Mobilegs with more than 50 upcoming skins that can be applied adds a further component of individuality and customization to what can be a not-so-fun experience," said Nelson, adding that "boomers and millenials alike have also become more design-oriented and demand more from the products out in the marketplace — in both function and aesthetic."

With broad-spectrum appeal to design enthusiasts, the upstart company is calling out to consumer magazines such as Details, GQ and Men's Health as primary targets for reaching younger men and women. "The skins offer a broad appeal to men and women alike," said Nelson. "We are also targeting the primary caregiver — mom — who will know about where to get upgrades and connect to the Internet to order Mobiskins."

Mobi's design guru Jeff Weber experienced a broken heel a few years ago that relegated him to crutches for an extended time. Weber described his search for a comfortable, well-designed product as futile to difficult at best, so he set out to do something about it.