Teach children, with a Fibby and training videos, how to save themselves after a fall into the water. Eventually even without Fibby!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
📲 App available, your first impressions & outside EU shipping
almost 2 years ago
– Sun, Jul 17, 2022 at 12:50:24 AM
A dream comes true Feebs!
More and more Feebs have received Fibby and started discovering the water through play all over the world, all thanks to your support. Amazing. In the meantime, our App became available in the App Stores. In this update first impressions from feebs, an invitation to follow our Instagram account, and a shipping update for outside EU backers!
Initial feedback from Feebs
We received lots of photos of Feebs, telling us their children directly wanted to wear their Fibby as soon as it joined the family. Jan-Willem said: She is inseparable from her Fibby! Gert-Jan: ‘Job is a big fan and wants to wear the Fibby all-day as well’ and Jolien: ‘Our daughters, aged 4 and 2, ran around the house with it, shouting: swim, swim! They would never have done that with swimming wings on.’
Also, many of you have started teaching their children to swim with Fibby. Backer Rick even made a video of his first steps in the water. See the movie below. Rick: “I am really happy with my son. I trust him with it blindly along the water and honestly, it has made my holiday a lot more fun”
Great to hear Rick, and we would like to take a moment and ask: Do you also notice the fun? The freedom of movement? And how independently Vince has been keeping his balance, lifting his face, and pushing himself against the water to get ahead? The first steps towards self-reliance. Amazing that you’ve teached Vince this yourself.
And we had more enthusiastic reactions: Wesly says: It’s nice to see how quickly they pick it up if you guide them correctly. Bart: used it for the first time, a great success! Wout: We have just swum with it for the first time. Tomorrow again! And we would like to ask special attention for Derek and Rianne, backers who borrowed a prototype during their trip last month. Below you see their son Bosse, flying.
Rianne: "What I noticed about Fibby is that Bosse himself has to do more to keep his face above water than with swimming belts. That means that in the beginning, you have to be more aware. But that was also the reason why we started with Fibby, it is about working towards swimming independently. As soon Bosse felt more confident he quickly felt freer and freer. From looking underwater independently with Fibby - he never dared do that before Fibby - to his proposal to swim completely underwater. That is only possible without Fibby, so I thought, if you want it, let's try!. By now he can swim to the edge without Fibby. It is important and valuable to teach your son this before swimming lessons start. As long as Bosse does not have a swimming certificate, he wears a Fibby and I always stay with him, but now we have much more confidence that he can save himself."
Thank you all for your feedback. Fantastic to see Fibby and the App enables you to teach your children essential water skills. We also received feedback from three parents about Fibby’s floating device. They noticed that if they let go of their child, their face goes under the water. We want to highlight to you how this can happen and how to avoid this.
What can happen during this learning process - I speak from my own experience - is that when you let go of your child instead of the other way around, your child can stiffen up out of fright, doesn't lift his neck anymore, and then goes underwater with his face.
It is important that you react calmly so that your child learns that it is part of the learning process. It is also wise to tell your child that you will never let go without him or her letting you go. This is how you restore trust. From there, follow the instructions from the app.
The biggest difference between Fibby and other swimming aids is that children have to do something to keep their faces above water, namely at least kick their legs. In this way, you stimulate the first step towards self-reliance. From that point of view, you could see Fibby as a balance bike without training wheels, where a child also has to learn to balance before it can ride.
How long it takes each child to swim independently is different and irrelevant. Follow their pace, have fun, and then the rest will follow naturally.
Do you have questions? Don't hesitate to contact us. For example via WhatsApp
Shipping Fibby to outside EU backers
While almost all EU backers have received their Fibby, Feebs from outside the EU are still waiting to get theirs. We can fully understand that you can’t wait. We’re almost ready to send your Fibby to you. The reason why your Fibby hasn’t shipped yet is because of finalizing liability insurance. We have received an offer and we’re almost at the end of the process. We are convinced about our product, meets the most strict safety standards in the market, but for shipping outside the EU, we require such insurance. We hope you understand this and ask for your patience once more
So that’s it Feebs! We are glad to hear all your stories and experiences. First of all, because we like it, but more importantly: we want to keep learning. Please feel free to share anything you think is worth sharing. In this way, we create the best Fibby for most parents worldwide.
And: we would love to share your stories too on our Instagram account. Have a worthwhile experience to share? Please send them to us!
Best!
Hugo
🎊 Shipping has started, time to discover the water through play! (VIDEO)
almost 2 years ago
– Fri, Jul 01, 2022 at 03:31:05 AM
Fi-nal-ly Feebs!
Right now, the very first Fibby’s are traveling the world to the first backers, a dream come true! On Tuesday, we received the final certification from TÜV, so it’s official: Fibby complies with the latest and most strict safety standards: EN 1318-1: 2021.
A day later the first Fibby’s arrived after which co-founder Gerben and myself immediately started the shipping process. Some of you already received their Fibby, others their Track & Trace. In the coming days and weeks, we are shipping new batches. Outside EU backers will soon receive the previously announced email with extra terms and conditions. Due to our efforts to get the certification done, start shipping, and get the app pushed to the App stores, we did not find time to send it earlier. Our apologies!
Your voyage of discovery starts now!
Last month we finalized the video content for the Fibby App together with experts of the Dutch Don’t Drown Foundation, parents, industrial designers, children, swimming teachers, brand strategists, illustrators, a top film agency, artists, copywriters, and many more. As soon as Apple and Google approve our app in their app stores, all of this will become available to you. We are happy to share the two films made for parents already! We are super curious about your first impression, please let us know in the comments below.
Since we’re still in the process getting our app listed in the AppStore and PlaySotre, it’s possible that backers who receive their Fibby in the coming days can not download the Fibby app yet. We will send those backers an e-mail to let them know how to start with the Fibby course, even without the app.
Let’s continue together?
Getting the Fibby’s into your hands has been a huge milestone for us!. Your support was essential towards reaching this point and we would love to invite you all to stay with us on our journey.
Why? We would love to continue learning from hundreds of families worldwide about how they use and appreciate Fibby. Therefore we would like to invite you to continue the conversation with us via email, WhatsApp or social.
Literally can’t wait to getting your Fibby later due to the upcoming summer holidays? Please send us an email to [email protected], we will try our very best to send your Fibby on time.
Lastly, a personal note from a proud dad
Over the last 3 years, in several shapes and sizes, Fibby became a full member of our family. Both Mees and Jip, my two sons, developed their first water skills with Fibby, and Fibby was (and still is) always there during the wonderful moments near the water with our family.
I can’t describe how amazing the feeling is that soon Fibby will join hundreds of families worldwide and hopefully bring them precious moments of joy, learning, and safety too.
The picture below shows my sons Mees and Jip, on a Holiday in France, many years ago. Here Mees and Jip were wearing the first Fibby prototypes. The vest was made of a Yoga mat, made by our designer Jort and his wife Marleen.
Stunning to see where we are now.
That’s it Feebs!
Your Fibby’s are coming, all the best, also from our team!
Hugo
Ps. before we ship, you need to complete the survey and add your credit card to charge shipping costs. Check your inbox for an email from Backerkit and complete the survey if you haven't done it already.
🚚 Shipping starts as soon as we receive final certification
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, Jun 18, 2022 at 10:22:00 AM
Hi Feebs!
Almost a year ago Feebs from 52 different countries decided to join us in our mission to make it safer and more enjoyable for everyone to experience the water. Amazing! Since then, only one priority has mattered to us: deliver an outstanding Fibby including the learning app which you can use to teach your little one from as young as two years old essential water skills.
Unfortunately, we also experienced longer lead times for raw materials and higher costs, even now in the final weeks of preparation for our launch. During this campaign we had to extend delivery dates, we have only received full understanding and support from all of you. A few backers who I got to know better on video calls, wished me good luck with getting everything done and also highlighted to me that I should not forget to enjoy the achievement of this milestone (👋Emile, Helena, and Stan). All together makes us feel enormously grateful.
So in our last update, we announced we expected to deliver you Fibby end of May, or early June. In hindsight, this was still a bit too optimistic. Our bulk order for the neoprene was held up three weeks longer by the customs than expected. Also, Fibby is still in the process of getting certified by TÜV. We are in daily contact with TÜV trying to speed up the process. We are their top priority now, so hopefully, we’ll get a go soon. After the final certification, nothing will block us from shipping your Fibby’s.
Timeline for shipping process:
Our supplier will ship Fibby’s in batches once he has full pallets so we can start fulfilling the Kickstarter orders as quickly as we can
By the end of week 25 (next week) we expect to receive the first batch to fulfill 40% of the Kickstarter orders.
TÜV says they expect final certification by the end of next week in the best case scenario. So if everything goes according to plan, the first Feebs will receive their Fibby’s by the end of next week.
After this first batch, we expect to receive the remaining Fibby’s to fulfill the last 60% of Kickstart orders in week 26 or 27.
Good news for USA & Canadian backers,
In our last updates, we mentioned that we couldn’t get product liability insurance for Canada and the US. Together with our lawyer and insurance company, we have found a solution where backers need to comply with extra terms and conditions. We will likely send these with Backerkit again, so please keep an eye on your inbox. Likely to be sent next week. This only applies to backers from outside the EU.
So that’s it Feebs! We know you are really looking forward to receiving your Fibby. The waiting is almost over! Once again, thank you for your support and for being part of this,
On behalf of our team, enjoy your weekend with your loved ones.
Let’s Am-Fibby-Fy humanity!
Hugo
PS: for those who haven't completed their Backerkit survey, please do as we otherwise won’t be able to ship your Fibby.
🎈Production is about to start, surveys have been sent out
almost 2 years ago
– Thu, May 26, 2022 at 01:25:25 PM
Together we are making it happen Feebs!
Since our last update, we have continued making huge progress. Production is about to start, TÜV is testing Fibby for the final certification and we started collecting shipping costs. Please read this update carefully to receive your Fibby as soon as possible. Here you go!
⚙️ Production is aligned and about to start!
The day after I sent my last update we jumped on the plane to visit our Bulgarian production partner. We went through the production process one more time. We are doing everything we can to deliver your Fibby as soon as possible so you can start discovering the water through play with your little one before the summer starts. Our last hurdle is receiving the final certification from TÜV Rheinland. We are optimistic this won’t take long as every part has been pre-certified already.
📠Insurance US & Canada
As you could read in our previous update we were having issues with our insurance company for coverage in US & Canada. We’re still waiting for their final decision. Once we have more clarity on this we will let you know.
📩 Backer surveys, please pay your shipping costs
Yesterday we sent the Backerkit survey. You will be asked to add or confirm your shipping address, accept our terms and conditions, and pay for shipping costs. We are happy to announce that we have been able to match the earlier communicated shipping costs for almost all countries. In reality, it’s a bit more expensive but the difference is on us as a token of gratitude for your support and patience.
However, for US & Canada, the shipping costs turned out to be twice as expensive. Here we had to decide to split extra costs which means shipping will be €5 more expensive than promised for backers from US & Canada, hope you understand.
As Fibby is super light, shipping costs are the same for 1, 2, or even 3 Fibby's! From that perspective, you may want to consider adding an extra Fibby to your pledge for friends or family to share shipping costs.
👋So that’s it for now Feebs!
Let’s am-Fibby-fy humanity!
Best!
Hugo
🎉 First Out of Tool (FOT)
almost 2 years ago
– Wed, May 11, 2022 at 12:18:38 PM
It’s happening Feebs!
The mold has arrived in the Netherlands and gave birth to the first 7 Fibby’s. We are super excited with the results including the skin which was chosen by you. You see below the mold and the inspection of the first Fibby’s by our Industrial designers Jort and Jip (left), together with Co-founder Gerben (standing in the middle) and our supplier Paul. As you can see, now Fibby is sunbathing nicely under the Rotterdam sun!
We are eternally grateful to all of you for making this possible with us. I am happy to share that we are still right on track with the shipping dates mentioned in the previous update. Expect your Fibby at the end of this month or early next month, depending on the final certification process with TÜV. Read further for more details!
📭 Shipping process, keep an eye on your inbox!
To confirm your shipping address, collect shipping costs and accept our terms and conditions we will be using a service called Backerkits - it’s a trusted resource for crowdfunding campaigns that help us ensure your Fibby is fulfilled and shipped on time.
The survey will be sent out somewhere over the next couple of days. Please fill out the survey in the invitation as soon as you receive it so we can ship out your Fibby as soon you receive our e-mail.
🎬 Behind the scenes footage
As we know you can’t wait for the moment you’re able to start discovering the water through play we've ramped up our app video content creation as well. See below for a sneak peek of ‘Joy’, giving everything she has for the final Fibby videos.
💰 Final Call For Discounts!
As we slowly move to a new phase with Fibby, this is your last chance to add discounted Fibby’s to your pledge via Backerkit. The Fibby discount will officially end on May 16th at 11:59 CET, when we’ll move to our regular pricing of €70. We’re going to begin shifting sales to our Fibby website and swimming pools across the globe. Be sure to share Fibby with your friends and family before it’s too late!
So that’s it Feebs! What a great journey it is so far. And this is just the beginning! With the support of many people, Fibby will be delivered after all these years of research and hard work to backers in 52 countries all over the world. An incredible milestone!
