CAKOON UV Products - How We Got Started

My name is Cathy. I'm the owner of Raybeth Enterprises, Inc. and the designer of CAKOON UV-Products.

In the spring of 2002 I received a "wake up call" by having two skin cancers removed. My mother has suffered with skin cancer most of her life as have many other members of my family and friends. So, the lesson about sun protection had been made all too clear. By necessity I needed to protect myself and fight off the recurrence of skin cancer.

While traveling in Florida in the middle of the summer of that same year, I was so overcome with the relentless sun, heat, humidity, and sudden rainstorms of a typical afternoon - that I became determined to come up with an idea or a product that would address all of those situations.

As the saying goes, "Necessity is the Mother of Invention" and necessity is the force behind the creation of the CAKOON line of ultraviolet protection products. The name CAKOON was selected because it indicates what our products do - protect, shelter and insulate from harm. Having grown up in the era of baby oil and iodine, baking in the sun for hours and slathering sunburned skin with Noxzema, a hard lesson was learned. I wanted something that would:

Block ultraviolet rays (both UVA and UVB) as much as possible
Keep me cool in the sun
Protect me when it rains
Be small and lightweight…easy/convenient to carry around
Be able to attach to my belt or other convenient item

When I returned to Los Angeles after my trip, I began to research the products available at that time which could provide me with the solution to my problem. But I could not find anything to match what I was looking for. When I did find a UV product - it was not necessarily a tested/rated product for a determined level of protection or it was rated “SPF” - a rating used for lotions or creams applied to the skin rather than UPF which is the rating used for fabrics.

I researched UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Rating) the correct rating for fabrics and found that the United States really did not monitor claims - so pretty much anything could be said about any product. I found that Australia did have government certification for products claiming ultraviolet protection which provided the gold standard test used throughout the world for UPF testing.

I began working with a fabric manufacturer to come up with material that would be rated UPF 50+, the highest rating possible based on the Australian testing standards. After several attempts, we were successful in reaching a rating of UPF 50+ for our material, the highest rating possible for a fabric. To add further validity to these test results I had additional tests performed by three different independent laboratories and all those tests proved the same UPF 50+ results.

Once I had the material - I designed my first product… The CAKOON UV-Brella - a super mini, ultra light, umbrella in a Carry Bag with a Velcro Bracelet that would attach to another item like a belt or backpack. I obtained Design Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks and exhibited in my first tradeshow in January of 2003. The CAKOON UV-Brella was successful not only as a great product for protection from the sun but also a great little travel item.

Following the success of our UV-Brella - our customers began requesting more products using our proprietary CAKOON material - and now we have expanded our line of umbrellas to include a variety of styles and sizes. We have added caps and hats to our product line and we will continue to add additional items in response to our customer’s requests.

All of our products are made with our CAKOON UV material rated UPF 50+. This material blocks 99.9% of UVA and UVB rays, reflects the sun’s heat keeping you cooler; and provides great protection in the rain too. All of our products have user-friendly design features and never veer from the focus of providing protection from the sun and ultraviolet rays.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about any of our products please contact us - we love hearing from our customers.