An Accrington businessman has developed an ingenious T-shirt that seeks to reunite lost children with their parents.
Lee Cunningham has tags embedded in the clothing which can hold information accessed by a Smartphone or alert emergency services or a ‘first attender’ of a child’s medical condition.
Lee, owner of Ahead Solutions, on Hollins Lane, came up with the unique idea after developing a wristband using the same ‘near field communication’ (NFC) technology that is used in debit and credit cards.
The father-of-one, 44, who once pitched one of his wearable technology products at TV’s Dragon’s Den studios, wanted to design a more sophisticated product, smaller than the band but with more information storage.
He said: “The wristbands were popular with parents but we found three or four-year-olds sometimes pulled them off, which could potentially be disastrous.
“Customers also said they needed to include more information about medical conditions, so I came up with the Childsafe garments which provide a much safer system.
“No-one else is making them.”
There are currently two T-shirt designs available, one featuring hearts and one a rabbit.
“There are five colours, with more designs and some long sleeved versions for winter planned.
The tiny, wafer-thin tag measures roughly 12mm by 20mm and is washproof and waterproof, with no app needed to access its information.
Lee said: “It must be read at point blank range by almost touching the ChildSafe ID logo with the Smartphone.
“It cannot be scanned from a distance.
He added: “It’s still really early to say how successful the T-shirt will be as I only brought it out a few weeks ago but I’ve spoken to some parents of young children and they think it’s a great idea.
“They asked if the tags could be scanned from across the street but I reassured them they couldn’t be.”
He added: “A child can remove a wristband but would be unlikely to remove their T-shirt and if they did, mum or dad would surely notice.”
The former BT and Bury council worker with a background in IT, said: “I love what I’m doing now and am absolutely passionate about it, especially being a parent myself.”
The T-shirts can be purchased on the company’s website at you-id.me.
