SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.—Santa Barbara-based eco-entrepreneurs are launching Hitch, a water bottle with a removable leak-proof cup hidden inside. The design of Hitch was born from a desire to make the reusable cup so effortless to carry that conscious consumers can easily ditch single-use cups and go zero waste.
The creators of Hitch discovered that most people who carry a reusable bottle won’t also carry a reusable cup. In fact, even at forward-thinking coffee shops that promote reusable coffee cups as an alternative to single-use, adoption rates are low. As co-founder Sky Gilbar explains, “The essence of the problem is that people already carry so much—water bottle, phone, chargers, laptops, and other essentials—that their hands and bags are full, so carrying a reusable cup all day on top of all that is just too inconvenient.”
By stashing a cup inside something many already carry—a water bottle—Hitch makes it so the reusable cup is always available. And unlike collapsible cups, thermoses, or hybrid vessels, Hitch’s bottle and cup are full-sized, insulated, and include leak-proof lids. Hitch also has a built-in cupholder, to carry a full bottle and full cup one-handed. These specs, along with Hitch’s elegant, easy-to-carry design make it perfectly suited for a modern on-the-go lifestyle.
Though many businesses are on hold during the COVID-19 crisis, founders David Silverander and Sky Gilbar believe that we must still consider the planet. As single-use paper cups are virtually impossible to recycle (because of the plastic lining inside), 300 billion paper cups end up in landfills every year, while over 100 million trees are logged annually to make new ones.
Silverander explains that, “Prior to the crisis, many coffee shops and cities were eliminating or surcharging single-use cups, and we hope to see this continue. To help drive change, we need to give people an easy way to carry multiple reusables, which is why we created Hitch.”
In addition to Hitch, which helps consumers go zero-waste, the founders wanted to go further in fighting climate change. Hitch is carbon neutral, and a portion of each Kickstarter pledge is used to plant a tree, via One Tree Planted, and remove 1kg of ocean-bound plastic, via Plastic Bank.
