Big Blanket Co. crushes goal in latest Kickstarter

Big Blanket Co. this morning ended a monthlong crowdfunding campaign nearly 1,000% ahead of its initial goal.

Its second Kickstarter campaign since the company’s launch last year, the latest effort raised $147,078 via 623 backers. The original goal was $15,000.

The campaign this time around was for the company’s 30-pound, 8 foot by 10 foot product, called the XL Weighted Blanket. Doubling as a comforter, the product is said to be an improvement over the standard 4 foot by 6 foot weighted blanket that’s good for “cold toes,” “broken relationships” and “drying tears,” according to the Kickstarter campaign.

After the campaign’s launch last month, co-owner Bryan Simpson told Springfield Business Journal the Kickstarter was designed to gauge demand for the product ahead of the holiday season.

“We only had one chance to approximate how many units we should order,” he said.

The company’s website is its primary sales channel, Simpson added, though future Kickstarter campaigns are likely.

The XL Weighted Blanket crowdfunding initiative also beat Big Blanket Co.’s first Kickstarter launch, which brought in $94,286 — 943% above goal — for its flagship product, a 10 by 10 polyester and spandex blanket designed to cover customers from head to toe.

Big Blanket Co. is the brainchild of Springfield marketing and web design firm Hook Creative LLC founder and CEO Josh Stewart, Chief Operations Officer Simpson, Queen City native and NBA player Anthony Tolliver and Dane Watts, a former teammate of Tolliver’s at Creighton University who played professionally overseas. Watts last year was hired to run the blanket business full time, according to past SBJ reporting.