Twist & Sift The Revolutionary Kitty Litter Scoop

Welcome to my series of crowdfunding campaign insights hub pages that focuses on creative and innovative designer products on crowdfunding platform such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter.

The purpose being to provide insights on the idea or concept as well as the product itself. In addition this series of hubs aims to introduce the crowdfunding movement and new products to a wider mainstream audience. A topic i wrote about in my hub:Crowdfunding 101 with a Capital C.

This hubs series will be a learning experiences for myself and i welcome feedback and comments. Now please join me in exploring both the amazing designer products and creative idea that are appearing on crowdfunding platforms today.

I first came across this interesting campaign just after i had finished another one of my crowdfunding hubs, Most have been quite similar and were in the later stages of develop. So this time i wanted to take a look at something different and found it in The Twist & Sift cat litter scoop. Personal i think it is this type of campaign which crowdfunding platforms were made for and has the most benefit.

Created by wife and husband team Rosalie and Travers from London, these fellow cat lovers have been working on a hated problem of cat lovers for a number of years, that being and easy way of cleaning the kitty litter tray. And now the pair has designed the ideal solution in the Twist & Sift by partnering with a industrial design company.

So far they have gone through a number of prototypes, beta tested the product with friends and even patented the design. Now with the support of there local cat lovers community they started the crowdfunding campaign to fund the products tooling and first production run.

Unlike other products and ideas in this series of crowdfunding hubs that we have looked at the Twist & Sift is a single design solution to removing cat litter from a tray without making a mess as well as save you money in the process. As stated on Indiegogo the solution must have the following design criteria:

• It must be affordable
• Effective at targeting both solid AND liquid waste
• Prevents litter spillage into and around the tray by containing it
• No detachable parts or lock in services
• Easy to use and dispose of waste
• Function-led design
• Makes a perfect gift
• Suitable for your everyday litter types

While the Twist & Sift is nothing more then a modified scoop for caramel popcorn at the movies with grill slits, The Twist & Sift while seeming simple it is well designed and performs the task at hand well. with a simple scoop of the waste litter and rotation of the scoop upside down the waste can be sifted to remove the dried unused litter back into the tray. Turn the scoop back upright and the un-removed waste can be trashed without spillage and mess on the floor.

The features of the Twist & Sift is really its design. unlike other scoops, it has a curved grill top once turned can be sifted. Essentially two utensils in one what amounts to a dust pan and grill spatula combined. The Twist & Sift has a flat base, volume in the scoop to hold most amounts of litter and comes in a array of colour options.

On Indiegogo and still in early stages there is a small discounts for the Twist & Sift which can be purchased for 9 GBP as a early backer but normally 11 GBP which is about $16 USD you can get a black versions of the Twist & Sift, For colours versions however you are looking at 15 GBP which is about $22 USD, pricing the Twist & Sift at the upper end of litter scoops and utilities. At this stage no final retail price of the products has been published.

Normal cat litter scoops seems to range from about $5 to $20 with mid teens being an average price. Ideally the Twist & Sift would match these prices say the $10 to $15 but remember the product is from the UK and not mass produced yet.

However at its current price is still quite a reasonable asking price for the nature of the product. I assume prices could go down with volume and when production picks up. Its is also likely copy cat products will coming out soon too. pardon the pun.

For the cat lover, however $16 to $22 is not a high price to pay and in the long run the Twist & Sift could save you money on litter and time too.

The Twist & Sift is a great solutions to the problem of a clean and easy way of removing cat litter and is also an elegant design, but it does seem a little bulky from appearances. I am just thinking of apartments situations then again dust pans can be the same. Maybe the inclusion of a storage container might like in toilet brushes would help in storage and consealing the item.

Its really the only comment i have on the Twist & Sift so far, and that other cat litter scoop made of metal & plastic and ranging from $5 - $15 USD its price could be more competitive at a lower price however other designs does not look as nice as the Twist & Sift which offers another choose and certainly it will be a nice gift product.

Beside scoops you do also have other options when dealing with cat litter in the form of self cleaning trays like the Scoopfree self cleaning litter tray but at around $150, it maybe over kill and a options out of reach of most people, it being more a hi-tech solution to the problem.

That being said the Twist & Sift is a easy enough product to try out and wont put a dint in your pocket.

Certainly the Twist & Sift is not a product that will change the world or industry however it may make you feel better about the task of cleaning the litter tray. It has also meet most if not all its design criteria when it was first conceptualized. The product is easy to use and has potential to save you money long term. The novelty of the scoops function no doubt make it a nice inexpensive gift for any cat lovers.

Finally, While too early to predict i can see this campaign doing quite well, weather it surpasses its goals that is hard to say but looking forward to seeing how this project does over the next month, Historically, online topics related to cats does well so i can not see why this will be different.

To visit the campaign on Indiegogo: Twist&Sift

Please also cast your vote on how useful the Twist & Sift will be to you below.