We The People: This Kickstarter Store Lets You Interact With Crowdfunded Gadgets Before Purchase

If you haven’t heard, read about or seen We The People, this product store is bridging the gap between popular crowd funding website Kickstarter and the consumers.

That’s right, now all you people out there that are too damaged on the inside to put your trust and money into buying a product online you saw on Kickstarter can physically experience some of the best gadgets of the crowd funding site.

Allow We The People to take you by the hand and ease you into the idea of Kickstarter, freeing yourself from the shackles of online scam commitment issues. How you ask?

We The People believes very much in letting customers get hands-on with Kickstarter products, before whipping out your wallet to bring it home.

The store revolves around three categories, namely, retail, pre-orders and live funding, all of which help fill the gaps between digitally crowd-funded products and potential consumers.

This means you can purchase products on the spot, pre-order those that are in the manufacturing phase and as for live funding, you’ll be able to inspect the products and even meet the creators if they’re at the store.

As we wandered around the shop, it became increasingly difficult to keep the bank account in check due to the following popular culprits.

1. Goat Story Coffee Mug

Does your body run on coffee? This mug that pays homage to goats, the unsung heroes of the discovery of coffee. What better way to celebrate them than by designing what should be recognised as the perfect coffee delivery device, shaped like a horn so that we never forget who to thank for this sacred nectar.

10,617 backers pledged $458,071 to help bring this project to life.

Goat Story Coffee Mug faux/genuine leather & 12oz/16oz: $42-$49 SGD | Website

2. Everyday Messenger Bag – Innovative Camera Shoulder Bag

Are you a sucker for utility and quality? Peak Design’s Everyday Messenger is described as an adaptable bag. Designed to fit the varying shapes and sizes of photography equipment, that’s just scraping the surface of a product that won the hearts and minds of kickstarter backers the world over.

17,029 backers pledged $4,869,472 to help bring this project to life.

Everyday Messenger 13″/15″: $339/$399 SGD | Website

3. AirBolt – TSA Approved Smart Luggage Lock

A lock that does more than just keeping people out of your stuff, the AirBolt can be applied to more than just luggage. Syncing with your phone to set varying degrees of security is one of the things that caught our attention, as the AirBolt plays host to a whole range of nifty features to keep your belongings safe and sound.

1,633 backers pledged $202,306 to help bring this project to life.

AirBolt: Estimated $100 SGD (Presale) | Website

4. Foldio2 – Portable Photography Studio

Crap lighting holding you back from capturing insta-worthy pictures? Cuss and fret no more, Foldio2 the photography studio by OrangeMonkie that folds into an easy to manage, art folio-like carrier, and not the A1 sized sort that all art students dread lugging to-and-fro school and home.

Foldio 2: $110 SGD  | Website 

5. SmartEgg – Elegant, Simple Universal Remote Control

The locally developed SmartEgg will put all questions about the chicken or the egg coming first to bed, because after you get your hands on it, your every (household) whim and fancy will come first.

A universal controller that will allow you to program and control anything with an infrared remote through your smartphone, forget about reaching for the remote control, heck, forget about having to get home to turn the air-conditioning on.

2,210 backers pledged $110,540 to help bring this project to life.

SmartEgg: $140 SGD (presale)| Website

6. Arc Boards – Most Portable Electric Skateboard in the World

Another locally developed product, and one of the latest and hottest ones mind you, is the Arc Board, a lightweight electric skateboard. No more lugging electric skate scooters around, now you’ll be able to get zip around town without breaking a sweat, and in style.

Designed around the concept of being the “perfect last mile vehicle”, which is meant to fit right into our urban lifestyle that relies a whole lot on public transport. We can definitely get on board with their vision of this compact personal vehicle.

Arc Boards: $999 SGD (Fully funded available for retail soon) | Website 

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Coming Soon

Talking to the folks at We The People, we managed to get the inside scoop on what will be arriving at the store soon. So keep your eyes peeled for products like the Zero gravity iPhone case, Tooletries bathroom travel case  and TUO (Travel Undergarment Organiser).

Think of this as the first step on some digital dating app, with most of the inherent dangers and possible pitfalls removed. If you like what you’ve seen, read or had your your interest piqued.

Then head down to have a chat with the people behind the ideas and products, get yourself some nifty products on retail, pre-sale or show your love for products in the pipeline by chipping in through live-funding.

After all, as much as we buy the product to use, it’s the stories we buy as well.

We The People Store: 181 Orchard Rd, Orchard Central #04-03, Singapore 238896 | Facebook | Website