Creating Defender Ring™ (3) - Why We Chose Jewelry and Rings

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The Defender Ring™ team knew that there were several current self-defense products that could effectively deter or incapacitate an attacker.  However, due to practicality issues, no woman wants to carry around a large and bulky can of pepper spray.  We realized that a self-defense product was only good if you were able to use it.  Most stun guns and pepper sprays sit in a woman's drawer at home collecting dust.  So while good at protection, they will never be used.

Self-Defense Wearable Options

The one must-have trait for our personal protective device was that it must be seamlessly worn or carried all the time.  This would be the only way to ensure that a woman carried it regularly and could use it during an attack.

Therefore we decided to create a product that combined both an everyday item and our self-defense weapon.  Guns are too dangerous, pepper spray requires liquids, and stun guns require voltage/amperage/electricity.  There's no way we would combine such complex weapons into an everyday item.  However, a blade or knife stood out to us since it could be small, light, and not complex. 

We compiled a list of everyday items for women consisting of clothing, shoes, bags, and jewelry/accessories.  We analyzed each category to determine if and how we could incorporate a blade/knife into the item.

Clothing

Every woman and man wears some sort of clothing on a daily basis.  Clothing would be an ideal category based on the regularity that clothing is worn.  

However, upon further review we would encounter some challenges.  It would be difficult to seamlessly incorporate a blade into clothing since of course clothing is made from soft materials and fabrics like cotton, nylon, silk, etc.  Knives are made from metals, and it would be difficult to safely and securely affix a knife into a piece of clothing.

Additionally, women have closets full of different types of clothing.  No woman wears the same exact shirt or pair of pants every day of the year.  Therefore it would be impossible to combine the knife into a piece of clothing that would be worn regularly.

Shoes

Shoes presented a few interesting ideas as the foundation for a self-defense product.  We liked the fact that shoes were made from hard materials and a metal blade could be incorporated without adding bulk and weight. Additionally shoes are located on someone's feet, and the feet are a great natural self-defense weapon for humans.

However there were several drawbacks.  Women don't wear the same shoes everyday.  Not only are different shoes required for different surfaces like flats, high heels, boots, slippers, and running shoes, but women have many different pairs of shoes for different occasions.  It would be a fashion fopah if a woman wore the same shoes every day to work.  Also the majority of people are more comfortable using their hands and arms as opposed to their legs and feet for fighting and protection.

Bags

We analyzed the bag category and realized that they posed similar challenges to clothing and shoes.  Most women wouldn't carry the same bag every day.  But also, many women don't carry the same bag to do different activities such as working out, going to work, or going out to dinner on a date.

However, we liked that bags are carried at arm's reach.  Also bags are already quite big and could house a blade fairly well.  But the cons outweighed the pros and we cancelled it from our list.

Jewelry

Once the thoughts if jewelry came up, we knew that it was the category we wanted to use for our self-defense product.  Not only is jewelry versatile, light-weight and durable, but there were so many other pros to utilizing jewelry as the base to our self-defense weapon. 

1. The vast majority of women wear jewelry every day, and can wear jewelry to any occasion such as work, dinner, or exercise.
2. The majority of jewelry is made from metals and it would be easy for us to incorporate our metal blade into a jewelry accessory.
3. Jewelry can be small and light, yet durable and strong at the same time.  These are characteristics we wanted when creating the product.

After we decided on jewelry, we discussed the various types of jewelry women wear such as earrings, rings, necklaces, and bracelets.

Comparing Different Types of Jewelry

Jewelry is a huge industry.  It can be for fashion, style, accessorizing, personality, statements, flare, and utility.  There are several categories within the jewelry industry and we analyzed all of them for a potential self-defense tool. 

Necklaces

A necklace is a piece of jewelry that is an ornamental chain or string around one's neck consisting of beads, stones, jewels, or other decorative pieces.  Necklaces were an interesting option for a self-defense weapon because they are very accessible and could be a good carrier for a blade.  One of the main issues with a self-defense weapon necklace was that it was slightly dangerous for the wearer to have a blade, tho sheathed, around her neck.  Necklaces are also very loose around the wearer's neck, so it may pose retrieval and arming issues in a sudden attack.

Earrings

Self-defense earrings would have been a difficult self-defense jewelry idea.  Earrings are small, light and hanging from the wearer's ears.  It would be hard to incorporate any type of blade, knife or other self-defense weapon into what an earring was designed for.

Bracelets

Bracelets for personal protection were an interesting idea.  One big pro for bracelets are that they're located right around the hands and can be easily accessed and armed for a sudden attack.  Bracelets normally contain charms or other items that dangle from the chain and could be used to encase a blade or knife.  The drawbacks to this jewelry option are that not too many people wear "heavy" bracelets as it will dangle and pull at their wrist since it's rather loose.  It might also be a little bit awkward to access and arm the product if it's not fixed onto a body part.

Rings

Upon our discussion of rings, we realized that this was the best type of jewelry for a self-defense weapon.  Rings come in many different shapes and sizes and we felt a blade or knife could be integrated into the top of a ring where the stone or design normally goes.

There were many pros to using rings for a self-defense weapon.  Rings and our weapon of choice a blade, are both made from metal which would make integrating the blade and encasing it a lot easier and safer.  It's not only on your hand, but it's securely attached to your finger.  It's also already mounted to one of the most effective natural fighting tools we have on our bodies; our fists.  All of these factors combined make the ring the perfect platform for a self-defense tool.

Read our next article to learn about the challenges of not only combining the ring and a blade, but the issue of mechanical functionality.