about us

The seeds of the Pocket Shades story were planted over a decade ago, as a private school principal and teacher in Frankfort, IL. They germinated into the actual development of this invention a few years ago in response to requests from a local public school district looking for solutions to safety issues presented by small windows during Lock Down Drills/Active Shooter Drills. As an industry professional, I realized the opportunity presented by this problem. My research into window treatments currently on the market and their fabrication, revealed that there weren't any "great" solutions that were cost effective, just some custom blinds that could be MADE to work. There were several challenges. The primary one being how to quickly cover the windows when visual security was appropriate, without obstructing visibility the rest of the time. Use of a mini blind or fabric shade on a door or sidelight window would have meant dealing with expensive custom shades, as well as the (hidden ongoing) costs for repairs, dangling cords, breakable parts, etc. Alternately, "home made" options such as taping something across the door, were not realistic for real world scenarios. In a crisis, who wants to spend precious time scrambling to tape something over a window? As our clients continued to ask for solutions, we began to seriously "play around" with some ideas. [Pocket Shade Patent] After a few evenings spent "playing around" with parts in our shop, and bouncing ideas off a friend in the business, some clunky early prototypes were conceived. As the whole concept continued to percolate, a few "eureka moments" led to the refining of the concept into the current shade design. In the search for answers design challenges included ease of installation, reliability, and quality (at the best price possible). Things were refined even further, as we considered materials for actual production. Early in the process, we realized that it would be prudent to protect our unique combination of materials with Patents. This process took some time, as we operated on a shoe string budget funded by a few people who believed in what we were doing. The school and classrooms, where I taught, were actually used to test the early prototypes of our shades. While I fortunately never had to deal with a Lock Down situation as a principal, classrooms across the continent like those in which my wife teaches or my son studies in now have Pocket Shades to improve their security. The local public school district whose requests started this adventure is also a client, with Pocket Shades going into windows in buildings throughout their district. While we started down this road as a result of the safety concerns brought to our attention by a few local schools, our Pocket Shades are now available to a wider customer base. They have been sent to clients from coast to coast throughout the US and Canada. Whether providing privacy during sensitive court appearances in the Superior Court in Washington state or hanging in schools, colleges, hospitals or churches, use of our product continues to spread.