Founder's Story: How Hegen's Design Made the Difference
Established in Singapore, the Hegen success story was not one that happened overnight, even though ours is a well-loved brand among parents today. Our vision was to create a locally designed range of baby feeding equipment with a global outlook that ticks all the boxes for new parents today, from ease of use to the pleasing aesthetics of Hegen's design ethos.
At the heart of it all is our founder Yvon Bock’s ambition to celebrate breastfeeding and make this journey both sustainable and enjoyable for parents through the design innovation of breastfeeding products.
When Yvon discovered data that showed only 1% of mothers in Singapore continue to exclusively breastfeed their infants for six months after birth, she was determined to find solutions that could help these mums. Having been a breastfeeding mum for 10 years, she had experienced the joy and fulfilment it brought her and her babies. She felt a strong calling to empower and enable other mums to find the same, especially since she had access to the right resources through her background in manufacturing.
With this mission in mind and the support of a parent company with over 30 years of experience, Yvon founded her own brand, Hegen. Drawing from part of the German idiom, hegen und pflegen, which means “what you hunt, you must farm; what you eat, you must crop”, the name Hegen represents our desire to make a positive impact on our customers and the industry as a whole, in all that we do.
Designing for convenience and longevity
Coming up with the current product range took countless design tweaks and thousands of drafts in the five years leading up to launch.
Yvon knew that our bottle design was in its final stages when the patented Press-to-Close, Twist-to-Open™ (PCTO™) innovation was finalised. This is perhaps the key feature that has won over fans, who rave about its ease of use (especially with a crying newborn in hand).
By doing away with the traditional screw thread, which requires two hands to operate, our PCTO™ innovation allows parents and caregivers to close the bottle with a storage lid or feeding collar using just one hand, freeing their other hand to carry or tend to their baby.
Our users have reported that they are able to finish assembling Hegen bottles in five seconds or less! And as many attest, every second saved is a boon to parents, who are always time-strapped. Even our bottles’ square shape meant they were easier to wash and “wouldn’t roll away when dropped”.
Another feature parents love is the space-saving, stackable square design when the bottles are used as milk storage containers. Hegen containers can be used for everything from breastmilk collection with a pump, to feeding, to breastmilk storage (or vice versa), simply by swapping lids, covers or collars. This minimises spillage, as there is no need to transfer breastmilk from, say, a storage bag to a bottle. It also cuts down on the number of baby feeding and breast pump parts cluttering the household.
As our containers were intentionally designed to be pleasingly neutral with an aesthetic focus, parents can easily reuse them as their babies become toddlers, young children and beyond. Our parents have repurposed Hegen bottles as snack containers, water bottles and even kitchen containers for condiments and spices.
Protecting the design for quality control
The PCTO™ innovation became our first patented design, with many more to come in the very near future! As a design-led company, it became important for us to look out for imitations in the market, not only from a business standpoint but also as a form of quality assurance to protect our customers from inferior quality fakes.
Although imitation is a form of flattery, these copycats are worryingly unethical. We have seen exact replicas of Hegen products at trade shows in lesser-known markets, down to our packaging! These fakes are usually produced with cheaper components and under unsafe production standards. For baby feeding products, safety is our utmost priority, and we have a responsibility to protect customers from products that may be hazardous to the end user.
We had no choice but to look into patenting all our designs. Intellectual property protection is an expensive and time-consuming affair. The time and cost involved in filing, maintaining and updating the Hegen portfolio can be more than what it takes to create the products themselves.
But Yvon is adamant about continuing to do so, not for commercial gain but to make sure that the safety and promise of Hegen products are held to high standards for our customers.
Incorporating the PPSU material
To further our goal of continuously providing the best and safest products for babies, Hegen switched to our current PPSU material for all our bottles and containers in 2016.
PPSU, or polyphenylsulfone, is an FDA-compliant, food-contact-grade material known for its superior toughness and high-temperature resistance. It combines the advantages of both glass and plastic, being BPA-free and lightweight.
PPSU is naturally amber-coloured and contains no artificial pigments. This means no dangerous materials will leach into the contents under high heat of up to 180 degrees Celsius! Bonus: the rosy tone is also a pleasing match for the pastel-toned Hegen lids and covers.
Colic prevention built into the design
Many people would recognise Hegen’s signature off-centre teats, but this isn’t a random aesthetic choice. The off-centre placement actually helps reduce the chances of colic and reduces milk wastage. More importantly, the angled design also encourages upright feeding, so that baby doesn’t lie down to drink milk.
To some, this may seem a small contribution to the health and wellness of babies, parents and their caregivers, but for a breastfeeding solution brand like Hegen, it means the world. Receiving a message from a happy mum who tells us our product has helped her baby in some way gives us every reason to stay true to our roots of making a positive difference through innovative design.