Grocery Vest: One Trip, 200 Pounds, and a Spot on FOX's *Snake Oil*
- Product
- Grocery Vest, a wearable vest with eight hooks for carrying groceries hands-free
- What we did
- Engineering, product development, prototyping and manufacturing
- Result
- A product on the market, featured on Snake Oil with David Spade on FOX (2023)
The problem
Anyone who has lived in an apartment up a few flights of stairs knows the routine: you refuse to make two trips, so you hang every bag on your fingers and wrists and hope nothing tears. The inventor of the Grocery Vest lived exactly that. As he explained on TV, the idea came from "the struggle of carrying the groceries up the stairs" to his apartment.
The idea
A vest you wear like a tactical vest, with strong hooks to hang shopping bags on. The weight goes on your shoulders and torso instead of your fingers, and your hands stay free.
What One Stop Inventing did
We worked with the inventor to turn the idea into a real product. For a wearable that has to carry serious weight, the engineering questions are:
- Strength: eight hooks rated at 25 pounds each, for up to 200 pounds total
- Materials: durable military-grade nylon that holds that load without tearing
- Comfort: weight spread across the body so heavy loads are actually comfortable to carry
- Price: a product simple and affordable enough to sell at an impulse-buy price ($29.99 on the show)
We engineered, developed, prototyped and manufactured the Grocery Vest, so the inventor could go from an idea to a finished product he could sell and show on TV.
The result: on national TV, and judged real
In 2023 the Grocery Vest appeared on *FOX's Snake Oil*, the game show hosted by David Spade where contestants and celebrity advisors have to decide whether a product is real or a fake ("snake oil"). The contestants watched the vest's infomercial and questioned the inventor before deciding. The verdict: the Grocery Vest is real.**
What other inventors can learn
- Everyday problems make great products. Millions of people carry groceries up stairs. A simple solution to a common problem is easy to understand and easy to sell.
- Simple products need real engineering too. "A vest with hooks" only works if the hooks, stitching and fabric hold the weight safely.
- A finished product creates opportunities. TV producers, retailers and investors want something real they can show, not an idea on paper.
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