Amphibia Sport:Changing ideas for the sporty

TAKING ON the might of the big sports brands is brave, but can a budding entrepreneur compete successfully against global companies with deep pockets? Adrian McGreevy, the fearless founder of Amphibia Sport, certainly thinks so.

In a few weeks’ time, he will launch the fourth product in his line up: a silicone cover to protect rings from getting scratched during gym work and outdoor pursuits. “People hate taking their rings off in case they lose them and they don’t like leaving them in lockers for security reasons. This solves the problem for around a fiver,” McGreevy says, who is a keen sportsman and a regular participant in triathlons.

McGreevy is no stranger to how big brands operate as he worked in marketing with Red Bull before being laid off and then ploughing his redundancy money into setting up Amphibia Sport last year.

The ring cover is McGreevy’s second product launch this year. Earlier this year he launched the Amphibia Sport dry mat, which was initially aimed at swimmers and watersport enthusiasts but has also gone down a treat with walkers who use it as a little cushion when taking a break or to stand on when changing their footwear.

“Personally I hated putting my towel down on a wet floor in a changing room and found most other people felt the same,” McGreevy says. “Then there was the issue of what you stand on outdoors to change. That’s where the mat idea came from and it has really struck a chord with people.”

The Irish-made mat sells for €15 and the company’s products are available online or from specialist sports stores in the Republic and Northern Ireland. The UK and Germany are Amphibia’s next target markets.

Amphibia’s first product was the X-Bag and a smaller version, the Evo, followed.

“I had watched people dragging equipment in bags and boxes of all sorts and there were drawbacks to all of them so I decided to design my own,” McGreevy says.

He teamed up with design house, Spear Product Design, to turn his drawings into prototypes and the X-Bag was born. The bags are made overseas, mainly for cost reasons.

The Fingal County Enterprise Board has supported McGreevy’s project and Amphibia is one of the companies shortlisted for its annual Enterprise Awards.