Firm hopes new crutch range will transform lives of children
Harrogate-based Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks featured in Victoria Beckham’s Paris show
A YORKSHIRE mobility aids business, whose customers include Victoria Beckham, Olly Murs and Amanda Holden, has launched the UK's first customisable children's crutches.
The founders of Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks, based in Harrogate, hope the range will revolutionise the lives of the millions of children living with a disability.
Clare Braddell and Amelia Peckham aim to empower those who need support to walk with fun and stylish designs and innovative features to provide the most comfortable and safe experience for users.
The business went viral last month after Victoria Beckham was spotted sporting a pair of its chic black crutches at her Paris Fashion Week show, leading to a 350 per cent increase in searches and 70 per cent increase in sales for the brand.
The children’s crutches range is available in multiple designs, from plain black, footballs and unicorns to rainbows, glow-in-the-dark and forest camouflage.
Customers can even choose to print any design they like with a Design Your Own customised service.
The crutches are lightweight, moulded to a left and right hand with comfy, squidgy grips and offer adjustable heights to maintain a stable and safe walking gait, especially as a child grows.
They also offer handle adjustment from 45 to 69 cm, which fit children approximately age four to 12.
Made to be silent, children can walk in peace without the loud sound of clicking with every step.
The detachable cuffs also prevent the crutches from falling to the floor when children open doors. The crutches, which launched this week, retail from £132.50.
Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks, which was founded in 2006, was inspired by Mrs Peckham’s experiences of using regular crutches after a spinal cord injury from a quad bike accident left her with a life-altering disability at the age of 19.
Issued with hospital standard crutches, she was confronted with agonising blisters, a constant clicking with every step and a feeling that the future was hopeless. Mrs Peckham said: “When we started the business, we were a mother and daughter adjusting to a new reality in the wake of a life-changing injury.
"Our world from 15th October 2005 was similar to my spine, shattered and changed forever, overnight.
"Whilst I was navigating putting one foot in front of the other, mum was focused on doing everything possible to help her child.
"Our two perspectives have been integral to the creation but also the evolution of the business.
“Now, 18 years on we are both mothers, with an acute and shared understanding of how children’s mobility impacts the present but also the future.
"In a similar way to adults but with one big difference, if a child doesn’t love their mobility aids they simply won’t use them which will either compromise their current or limit their future health.”
Mrs Peckham added: "Having spent the last 18 months working with some incredible children and their parents, it’s become so clear that by providing comfort, silence, confidence and style we can give children crutches they (and nearly as important, their friends) genuinely think are cool.
"In doing this we have been able to boost function, recovery, confidence and hope for their immediate and long-term future. Not just for children, but their parents as well.”