#HTE

A Cleverly Designed Tool (That We Shouldn’t Need in the First Place)

This has me pretty conflicted. I love a cleverly designed tool, and this one clearly fits the bill, but I am questioning what we are doing as a society that creates the need for this tool.

The HydroFlask Flex Strap Customizer was designed to allow you to easily remove the strap on your HydroFlask and replace it with one of a different color. Here’s how it works, and you’ll see why I call it clever:

My hat’s off to the designer(s). The tool executes its tasks perfectly. It’s pure form follows function and as minimal as you could make it. But 1) Why are we now spending money to bling out vessels for carrying water? And 2) Wouldn’t it be better to have designed the strap in such a manner that it could be replaced, if need be, using a teaspoon or something we’re already likely to own?

So yeah, I’m conflicted. You could argue I’m simply not keeping up with society, but in my eyes the whole point of a permanent water bottle is to use less plastic. It seems a step backwards to me that we have to create new plastic stuff to accessorize our plastic-saving stuff, presumably in the name of fashion.

https://www.core77.com/posts/111545/A-Cleverly-Designed-Tool-That-We-Shouldnt-Need-in-the-First-Place