2 Brothers & their Mom's Innovation
KingKooler is a relatively new business, but the heart of its products
has existed for years…decades really.
That means the lifetime warranty isn’t an empty promise, it’s a lived
out time-tested reality. Co-founder, Joe
Hicks, uses the same KingKooler concept wrap he’s owned for more than thirty
years. It still keeps his beer cold
until the last sip even though it’s even older than his brother and fellow
co-founder, Kyle Hicks.
KingKooler’s story starts in the shag carpet days of the 70s with the
ingenuity and resourcefulness of these co-founders’ mom, Dawn. Her initial goal wasn’t actually to design a
high-quality beverage wrap, but to efficiently insulate her home. Dawn sewed some window coverings for her old
drafty single pane aluminum windows. When she was finished, she didn’t want to
waste the excess scraps and wondered what she could do with them. Out of that
practical desire, KingKooler insulators were born. Dawn sewed several and passed them around to
friends and family. They raved about
them, and their positive feedback fueled another idea. What began as using up
scraps became a dream to grow a successful business.
Dawn took her ideas to some big retail stores as well as local
ones. They were positive and interested,
but she soon learned it was difficult to secure a manufacturer to produce the
quantities needed. Additionally, she was
working a daytime job as the primary breadwinner for seven kids, going to
college, and studying for her architectural exam. Needless to say, life’s
demands meant KingKooler didn’t get the attention it needed to overcome the
barriers and thrive. Instead, products and dreams were soon buried in storage
boxes mentally labeled with “maybe someday”.
Fast forward through the decades to 2016. Kyle’s family lived in
northern Colorado, and Joe moved there with his family and the boxes of old
KingKooler dreams. Over cold drinks (wrapped in KingKoolers, of course), the
conversation turned to their mom’s business idea. The dream resparked. Over the next few years the brothers decided
to give KingKooler the attention and effort it needed and deserved.
KingKooler was born in 2019, or reborn depending on how you look at
it. From the onset, the brothers decided
to make the same kind of high-quality products their mom always did. They knew
they’d essentially be creating their own niche market and didn’t want to
compete with the cheap neoprene throw-away koozies on the market today. They also resolved to make every part of the
products in the USA. These standards
made finding a manufacturer difficult for them as well, especially at a
reasonable price point. Navigating these obstacles only made Kyle and Joe’s
resolve stronger to see KingKooler thrive. The business now has a solid local
manufacturer and is blazing the trail to provide customers with the last
beverage wraps they’ll ever need. They hope to grow the company with new
business connections and individuals who experience the versatility and quality
of KingKoolers for themselves. Even more than that, these brothers want to make
the KingKooler dream that was born of their mom’s practical ingenuity, a
reality.