The Circumstances

I went backpacking near the Pacific Crest Trail in eastern Washington in early May 2012. During my hike I wore a regular pair of foam nitrile gloves to provide comfort, protection and better grip on my hiking poles. While walking I enjoyed listening to an audiobook on my mobile device.

The Problem

However when I wanted to repeat a section of audio for better understanding, I quickly realized that I couldn’t operate the player while wearing my gloves. It required me to remove one of my gloves from the strap of my hiking pole, and then remove the glove from my hand in order to use the touchscreen with my bare finger. When this was done, I had to reverse the process. This frequent inconvenience was time consuming and frustrating, often forcing me to stop walking just to complete this operation.

The Solution

To address this issue I decided to take action. I removed the glove from my hand and used the scissors on my Swiss army knife to snip the tip off the index finger area of the glove. This modification allowed me to operate my mobile device without having to take off my gloves. With direct contact between my skin and the touchscreen surface, my fingertip became more accurate, significantly enhancing my experience while listening to the audiobook and walking.

Driven by my curiosity I delved into further research to explore other ways to adapt the gloves. I discovered that the thumb is considered the “power digit” as it enables users to do things like operating a cell phone with one hand. Utilizing this insight, I incorporated an open thumb tip design into the gloves to improve usability across different devices, tools, equipment, keys, buttons, zips, maps, coins and millions more.

This innovative solution led to the creation of Trutaj, and the design was successfully patented, marking a significant milestone in my journey.