Young Entrepreneurs Invent ReelCase Device

Zach Chavez and Daniel Brandt, both Santa Barbara High School alums, recently dove into the entrepreneurial world. Chavez came up with the idea for a smartphone device, which he calls ReelCase, that integrates a retractable lanyard into the back of a smartphone case. His friend Brandt quickly joined him. They market the lanyard as a need for active people who require greater flexibility with their smartphones. Made of sturdy and durable Kevlar, the lanyard gives 28 inches leave but is able to lock at any length necessary. “Our primary goal is to make the smartphone more accessible and provide users a sense of security,” said Brandt.

The two friends grew up in Santa Barbara attending Santa Barbara Junior High and going on to play varsity baseball at Santa Barbara High School. Chavez was taking design courses at Santa Barbara City College when he came up with the ReelCase idea.. They got the ball rolling by teaming up with LifestyleDesign and starting crowd funding. They soon were able to launch ReelCase production. Their current production run offers the case in six colors in an online preorder with 10 percent off of the original $39.99 price.

In the future Chavez and Brandt aspire to take ReelCase even further by expanding production and making the device waterproof. So far, they’ve fitted it for Iphone5/5s and are looking to produce them for the Iphone6 and Samsung Galaxy 5 as well.