Blunt Umbrella Exec

We love nothing more than when a company takes a classic product and looks at how it can be improved, finding the issues that we have become so accustomed to that we no longer even recognise and producing solutions that appear so obvious it will make you question why no one did it sooner.

Well, Greig Brebner an engineer from New Zealand did just that with the umbrella, whilst living in rainy old London he noticed how unsafe umbrellas were in crowded situations, being a tall man he would often have the spikes from the umbrellas poke him in the eye. Can I just say here, I am not tall, in fact quite the opposite and I have also experienced the sharp jab in the face or head from other brollies.

Brebner also wanted to change the way we regarded the umbrella as a throwaway commodity, we have all seen plenty of mangled umbrellas abandoned on the path on windy days due to poor construction. Thus, the Blunt Umbrella company was created with a revolutionary new design. We received the Exec to take a closer look at, this umbrella comes in Red, Blue, Navy, Charcoal and Black. The Exec has the largest canopy of all the Blunt umbrellas, it measures up with a 138cm diameter and is 95.4cm in length, weighs 910g bare and comes with a black carry sleeve with a long shoulder strap, it is open at the end so the top of the umbrella pokes out, this provides longevity and drainage but also means it could drip on you when carried across the body.

The Exec feels strong in your hands, it is made with ‘superior materials and tested in extreme conditions, all Blunt Umbrellas undergo a 38-point quality control check’, it also come with a global two-year warranty. They are Tested to 115km/h and are wind adaptive so in some cases the smaller models will flip inside out which they are supposed to, the engineering of the ribs means that they are strong enough to handle this and pop back into place. We didn’t get the opportunity to play around in a wind tunnel, but we took it out on some rather blustery days, and it resisted the temptation to flip inside out. It is effortless to open up, the additional double struts redirect the energy into the specially designed floating ribs, and to close it you simply pull it down, no risk of nipping fingers in complicated mechanisms.

Our absolute favourite thing and the most recognisable feature are the blunt tips (Blunt umbrellas, get it now?) these tips open like miniature umbrellas into their specially designed pockets, evenly distributing tension right to the edge, where it is needed, preventing poking people in the eye or catching this in their hair, it just makes so much sense. The Exec is big enough to fit two people under making it handy for coffee runs or commuting with team members but equally a sensible choice for those non-executives too. The Exec is a crowd friendly, durable umbrella with a generous canopy size, with a professional finish it is a good choice for both work, social and family use. RRP £79.99

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