Our Story

About origins of the idea

Humble beginnings

A certain individual had always been a law abiding citizen. He had been obediently taking off his inline skates before entering public transit. He hadn't been skating through stores. He didn't even bother entering them. He either had water in his backpack or suffered without it.

One day though, he had to change from inline skates to shoes and back three times in the same day. He was finally fed up with this. So much time and energy wasted. So much hassle just to become pedestrian for a few minutes. He had to do something about it.

He wanted something that he could attach onto his inline skates that would enable him to switch from skating to walking. Well, something that ice skaters use to protect their blades from concrete – ice skate guards ... but for inline skates instead. Of course, he started with searching for something readily available on the market.

Surprisingly, he found nothing. He had to make it himself.

  • Proof of concept. The "wrench" had to be added later to tighten the screws robustly.

The first idea was to 3D print sliders that could enclose the wheels and attach them to the planks of wood. It was clunky, heavy, uncomfortable, slow to put on, too big to fit into the backpack ... but it worked ... kind of ... sometimes it was detaching.

Taking shape

There were a lot of issues. Most notably the locking solution didn't really work and the thing was just too big.

He needed a better solution, but it also had to be something he could manufacture himself. Drawing inspiration from various clamping systems, he came up with a new approach.

  • New system locking with steel frame.

It was much better. During the field testing some people spotted him and expressed interest. He started realizing that maybe he is not the only person who needs it.

Next, he started working on improving the locking system, to shorten the frame, because it was still uncomfortable to walk in.

  • Locking screw moved up to shorten the profile. Steel frame replaced with a lighter aluminium.

There was also an issue of damaging the footing when walking on rough concrete. The cheap and dirty idea was to simply glue in a rubber layer.

  • Guards with a rubber layer. The first practical version.

After long hours of design work and several spools of 3D printing filament, his efforts finally paid off. The result was exactly what he needed. Satisfied with his creation, he never again had to leave home with both inline skates and shoes. Admittedly, he spent far more time redesigning and reprinting it countless times than he ever would have switching between skates and shoes. But he knew it was worth it.

In the pursuit of perfection

After some time, he felt the urge to revisit the project, but this time with a business in mind. He envisioned a company where fellow skaters could discover his product and recognize its necessity, wondering how they had ever lived without it. The Guards needed to be fully functional, durable, comfortable, aesthetically pleasing and of course cheap.

He made final major adjustments: rounding one side to further shorten the profile and replacing the glued-in rubber with proper soles featuring treads, 3D printed from flexible plastic.

  • Front side was rounded. Glued in rubber was replaced with proper soles.

The rounded fronts made walking more comfortable, while the new soles improved grip. The raw aluminum frames were upgraded to polished and anodized versions, enhancing both scratch resistance and appearance.

After a few more minor tweaks and cosmetic adjustments, he finally arrived at a version he felt was truly perfect—until the day he would come up with new ideas and further improve the product.

  • Finished WheelsInShoes Guards for inline Skates.

  • All major versions together