posted by Lesley A Eaton, School Travel Administrator, People
After hearing too many tragic stories of children dying after being hit by cars in the dark, local entrepreneur Sooz Chirino knew it was time to take action. Utilising her past lecturing experience in fashion and textiles, Sooz set out to start up SanSooz: a company specialising in designing clothing that merges fashion & function.
SanSooz uses innovative ‘SAN’ (Seen at Night) technology, which allows the designs to appear normal during the day but highly visible under direct light e.g. car headlights at night. This allows children to dress fashionably; yet also visible to cars! The designs don’t include the average high-viz piping or stripes normally associated with reflective clothing, but instead feature patterns and designs such as footballs and flowers that have been approved by over 800 school children in the Aberdeen City and Aberdeen-shire area. Founder Sooz says ‘our mission is for you to be safe, seen and stylish. We intend to keep you and your children fashionable by day and highly visible by night with our unique designs; giving drivers vital seconds to take preventative actions in the darks nights.’
To support SanSooz, they have enlisted the help of mascot SANdy: his name represents SANdy: Seen at Night-dy. SANdy is a large, cuddly friendly road safety mascot who wears his stylish reflective dog coat (with white reflective bones) everyday to ensure he is seen in the dark. He will be making appearances at local schools soon to spread awareness of road safety and SanSooz!
Angus, Aberdeen & Aberdeenshire Council are supporting the forthcoming crowdfunding campaign and business support is also being provided to us by Business Gateway, Elevator & Scottish Enterprise. Shelley Hague, Business Manager (Funding, Policy & Projects) – Economic Development, Angus Council says “The products are great; we think they will be a great success with kids and adults alike. I also think it’s great that SanSooz have even created a loveable road safety mascot dog called SANdy (Seen At Night dy).”
SanSooz want to get their brilliant products out to the public as soon as possible. In order to do so; they will be launching an ambitious campaign through Crowdfunder to get support from the local and wider community alongside corporate organisations. They are aiming to raise £200,000 which will enable them to fund their clothing and accessories for volume production. They will also be able to continue with their research and development and expand their line.
In conjunction with the general public, SanSooz is aiming to prevent tragic stories from reoccurring like the one that set Sooz Chirino on this track to find a solution to unnecessary deaths in the dark. Around 5000 children are seriously injured or killed in road accidents every year in the UK. To help SanSooz keep the nation safe, seen and stylish; have a look at their social media where you can find out more about the company and their upcoming crowdfunding campaign.
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