Tired of schlepping around a phone charger with you all day, only to find that you have nowhere to charge your phone? emPOWERED is a line of tech-enabled fashion that launched this week with the intention of solving this problem. The idea began when founder Loni Edwards noticed that her phone was always running out of battery, and she hated using bulky phone charging booster cases. She wanted something that would seamlessly fit into her life without adding extra baggage, and knew that other women felt the same way.
Edwards launched her first collection this week featuring the All-In-One bag, an elegant clutch style handbag with built-in battery power to charge you phone and other portable electronic devices (Kindle, iPad, digital camera, etc.) on the go in style.
The bag combines two major necessities: fashion and technology. As for the fashion, the bag is spacious and lightweight, made from high-quality leather. They are also versatile: it’s large enough to serve as a main bag during the day, but can also be turned into evening wear if necessary. The features such as the handle strap are all flexible and adjustable to fit a variety of womens’ style needs.
As for the tech, the All-In-One has a powerful built-in battery that can charge a phone from 0% to fully charged, with leftover battery to spare. It’s universally compatible, meaning the bags can charge just about anything with the included charging cable (mini USB) and
The bags retail for $149, and customers will receive 10% off for life if they order before February 28th.
I had a chance to catch up with Loni, founder of emPOWERED, to learn more.
Loni Edwards: It definitely is. It’s great for any conference/festival where you’re on the go all day and using your phone. My tech friends are talking about how they need the bag before SXSW and my non-tech friends are talking about how they need the bag before Coachella.
We looked into doing something at SXSW this year, but decided that, since we’re bootstrapping right now, our budget should be focused elsewhere for the time being.
Taub: How long can you go without having to recharge your bag? How will it compare to mophie packs?
Edwards: It depends on how often you use the bag to charge your devices. The built-in battery is powerful. It has a battery capacity of 2,800 mAh compared to 1,500 mAh for the standard mophie iPhone case, so almost double the battery capacity.
Essentially, you can bring your phone from 0-100% battery with plenty of battery to spare.
Taub: What are some of emPOWERED's goals for 2014?
Edwards: Our biggest goal is to set up partnerships and collaborations with great brands. We’re already in talks with one of our favorite brands to do a collaboration in the near future which we’re very excited about! We’re also aiming to expand our collection.
Taub: Do you have any plans to make a male version of emPOWERED?
Edwards: Absolutely. We’ve already started working on some designs. Stay tuned :)
Taub: Do you foresee a future iteration of emPOWERED to magically charge when you stick it in your bag (i.e. Powermat, Ubeam)?
Edwards: Perhaps in the future as new technology emerges. The available wireless charging solutions we came across while researching would have made it more difficult to charge the bag by requiring, for example, large charging mats. Our bags charge easily by plugging the included cable into your computer or wall adapter. We wanted to make sure that it was not only easy to charge your device but also easy to recharge the bag.
Taub: Explain 10% off for life? What does that mean?
Edwards: We’re running a special launch month promotion where people who order before February 28th, 2014 will receive a special code that they can use for 10% off from now until eternity on our site. We wanted to thank our early supporters in a way that made them feel like family. By gifting them 10% off for life, they’ll always have preferential pricing. They’re helping us grow and we want to thank them for it!
