A Safe and Sound crochet animal key chain.
Photo: Supplied / Safe and Sound
Four students’ own experiences with unwanted attention has lead them to develop functional – but funky – personal alarms as part of a school business project.
The 17-year-olds from Lynfield College in Auckland have launched Safe and Sound – personal safety alarms concealed in tiny crocheted animals that have wrist straps or can be attached to a bag.
Nabeeha Kamran – one of the Year 13 students behind the project – told Checkpoint the idea came from their own personal experiences.
“All four of our founding members have gone through something in public where someone has approached them or harassed them, and they obviously did not want that to happen, and they didn’t know what they should do in that situation because no-one was coming to help.
“So we developed the idea of a product to create something that would catch passers-by’s attention.”
The students say market research confirmed there was demand for the palm-sized products.
Their research found that 82 percent of people in Auckland have experienced sexual harassment in public spaces, and 75 percent of women in Auckland have been followed by a stranger in public.
She said the student built each “quite loud” alarm from scratch, with some of the students having to learn new skills as they went.
“We crochet everything, we solder everything, we sew everything together. It’s all hand-made and made by us.”
Kamran said the alarms were discrete and aesthetically pleasing.
“And it’s got a bracelet and a coin pouch, so it’s like multi-purpose as well.”
She said with a target market of people aged 16-24, it was important to make the alarms as attractive as possible.
“There are other self-defence alarms on the market, but none of them come in an adorable crochet key chain. So that’s our advantage in the market.”
The alarms are being mostly sold through their Instagram page, as well as at school markets.
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