When Anderson Wasden of Savannah and Will Reily of New Orleans met at boarding school as teenagers, the roommates discovered they had a lot in common – including a love of hunting and a keen interest in science.
Although they went off to separate colleges — Wasden to Washington and Lee and Reily to Vanderbilt — the two friends stayed in touch. Last summer, as rising senior engineering majors, they managed to snag research internships with the same company.
It was the beginning of what the young entrepreneurs hope will be a long and profitable partnership, one that combines the two interests they shared from the beginning — science and hunting.
“Our internship was on the research side of a company that produced bottled water,” Wasden said. “They were doing a lot of work on thermo-electricity, coming up with new ways to cool water, and with ozone, a gas used to purify bottled water.
“Ozone — activated oxygen — can also eliminate odors,” he said. “As avid deer hunters, we immediately started thinking about how it could be used to take the human scent out of hunting gear.”
The two did their homework and discovered they weren’t the first to ponder the possibilities.
“Someone had already patented an ozone pump that hunters could either wear on their shoulders or hang from a nearby tree limb,” Wasden said. “But we were thinking about something more convenient and effective.”
A deer hunter’s duffle
Suspecting they were on to something hunters would embrace, the two formed Akando Hunting Supplies LLC in August and set to work experimenting with prototypes.
Why Akando?
“It’s the Cherokee word for ambush,” Wasden said. “We thought it was appropriate.”
By December, the two knew what they wanted, so they spent Christmas break at Reily’s home in New Orleans, putting the product together and working out the wrinkles.
What they came up with looks from the outside like an ordinary duffle bag — unless you notice the small outlet on one end designed to accommodate an electrical cord. Mounted inside that end of the bag is a small ozone generator designed to eliminate odors in an average of 15 minutes.
“It’s really simple to use,” Wasden said. “You can literally throw your hunting gear in the bag, plug it in and go take a shower. By the time you’re out of the shower, your clothes are scent-neutral and ready to put on.
“There are no refills, no parts that need to be replaced. We’ve run one bag’s generator continuously for 60 days and it’s still working perfectly.”
The partners built several trial bags for friends to use while hunting last fall.
“We got rave reviews,” Wasden said. “They all wanted to buy the finished product.”
By January, Akando was ready to launch its website.
“We also participated in outdoor expos whenever our class schedules would allow,” he said.
All about timing
“Of course, we managed to come into the market at the worst possible time — shortly after deer season ended,” Wasden said. “But that was just the way things worked out. School is still our first priority, so we worked on this when we could make the time.”
Still, the partners are happy with the response thus far.
“Considering the timing, we feel like we’re doing pretty well,” Wasden said. “We’ve sold several dozen bags and the interest is high among outdoor retailers, who are looking at adding it to their fall line.”
When the two graduate in the spring, they plan to spend the summer and fall months giving the product their full attention.
“Retailers will be ordering their inventory around July for this year’s hunting season. And, of course, we’ll be busy promoting the website,” Wasden said.
The bags, made of heavy duty nylon, are 2-feet long, 1-foot wide and 1-foot high. They cost $120 and are available in black, forest green or digital camouflage. A three-initial monogram is available for an additional $25.
Expanding possibilities
Already the two have begun to look beyond their product’s obvious niche.
“It’s occurred to us that deer hunters might not be the only ones who would appreciate odor-eliminating technology,” Wasden said.
“Just ask our moms or any mother who spent years hauling athletic gear around in their cars,” he said, laughing.
“We actually put a pair of stinky gym shoes in the bag. It took 35 minutes, but they came out smelling great.”
That idea, too, is already catching on.
Katy O’Kennedy was at last year’s Rock ’n’ Roll Savannah Marathon Health and Fitness Expo promoting her North Carolina-based company, Silver Edge Gear, which makes shirts, bags, shoe inserts and pads of silver-lined fabric. Like ozone, the silver in the fabric kills odor-causing bacteria.
O’Kennedy launched her company in April of last year but began working on her product five years ago after driving her two sons home from soccer practice. The smell from the backseat was overpowering, she said, and she knew her young athletes would “only get stinkier” with age.
ON THE WEB
WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?
Why eliminate your scent when deer hunting? Whitetail deer have one of the best senses of smell in nature. A large portion of the whitetail’s brain is dedicated to odor reception and interpretation, and its nasal chambers can concentrate odors so that they are more identifiable. Deer have the additional advantage of not only being able to identify the source of the smell, but also the approximate distance and direction that the smell is coming from.