The Origin of the Autoshade
Outlook Baby is a small, family run business and all of our products are developed and tested by me and my family. I developed the Autoshade to protect my baby daughter’s eyes from the sun’s glare (she’s now nineteen, so not so little anymore!). Originally, I started with just a single layer sunshade on the window, and whilst this protected her from UV, it didn’t stop harsh glare and the sun would continue to stream through the window and hit her sensitive eyes.
This short term exposure irritated her eyes, and boy would she let me know about it in the only way a baby knows possible - with LOTS of crying, which made for a very stressful car journey for both her and me. Whilst short term effects of sun exposure can cause your child’s eyes to become red and sore, with repeated exposure it can cause long-term effects such as cataracts, damage to the retina or cornea, or even cancer.
I tried every available option at the time to try and protect her eyes – I tried putting sunglasses on her but she didn’t take to very well (do you know any six-month olds that do?!), I tried suction cup type shades but the sun always managed to come through the little gap that wasn’t covered, and I tried a towel in the window but found that this blocked my vision and noisily flapped the whole trip. Having tried everything available, I eventually decided to take matters into my own hands to find a better solution.
After a lot of research engaging product designers and engineers, we decided to mill and develop our own cloth which provided a weave that was the highest UV protection available whilst still allowing visibility through the window, but more importantly, also protected from sun glare. To achieve this, we incorporated a ‘glare shield’ which takes the form of the top third of the shade that sits on the outside of the car.
Outlook shades are tested by ARPANAS ( the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency) and our products provide the highest car shade protection possible at 90%, with glare shield for eye protection. Our Autoshades are also recommended by the Australian Skin and Cancer Foundation, and are exported around the world which means they meet stringent European standards (it is also one of the highest selling car shades in the UK!). Not bad for product that was originally developed to help make my car trips more enjoyable.
Twenty years later, we are still ensuring that our shades provide the best protection on the market for your bub, so you can drive peacefully knowing that they’re protected and comfortable in the back seat. After all, we wear sunnies whilst in the car to protect our eyes, so why not protect their eyes too?
~ Eileen