As we were exiting the pandemic, Uggs seemed to be in such demand that they sold out everywhere or lead times were extended beyond the foreseeable future and exceeded required patience. People needed to have "Pretty" coming out of isolation. Understandable.
Also during the pandemic, we started selling the Adeen. We were looking for a chair to eliminate the need for nurses to bend over, potentially injuring their backs, in the course of their treatment of patients. We found a chair that more resembled equipment than furniture, functioned the way we wanted, and was more durable than any other product we had sold to date. I won't lie; the idea of not repairing chairs, having to exchange damaged mechanisms on Third Shift was alluring.
The Adeen chair was an immediate hit in Oncology. Port Flushes and Vascular Access, in Fast Track or in the Infusion Area, could now be done without back strain or discomfort. Patients were treated to contoured cushions, independent back and leg positioning motors, allowing them to dial in and change the precise combination to deliver comfort during long treatments.
But we didn't look like a fashionably designed recliner. We're the comfortable shoe, the practical, sensible footwear. We're not the seductive stiletto that turns heads. We're Red Wings - before they were cool. They were work boots. I bought my first pair at a shop adjacent to the refinery and they had to have steel toes so feet were protected. They did much more for me than I expected. You just wouldn't find them on the fashion runway.
When nurses saw the Adeen perform starting in 2021, the desire for the ever-popular Uggs become the need for the sturdy, dependable Red Wings. Nurses got it. Hands free elevation, no more lifting out of Trendelenburg, programmable positioning. And a 10-year warranty with no mechanisms to break. They could see how their jobs could be safer while providing comfort to their first priority, their patients.
It was gratifying to us. We were never flashy. We were never the popular kids. Maybe because our president is a nurse. Maybe because a spouse has had rotator cuff surgery. We want the Red Wings for protection of our nurse customers.
Durable and practical. But stay tuned. We're working on "Pretty" as well as sensible. We'll have our Uggs sometime in the future.
