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Niko Easy-Wash Children’s Car Seat Cover Raises 120% of Kickstarter Goal, Launches Online Shop

Mompreneur Jinah Kim-Perek Launches Online Sales at NIKOCarSeatCover.com

A month-long Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the Niko Easy-Wash Children’s Car Seat Cover successfully ended with a total of 186 backers pledged over $12,000 and helped give us our start back in 2018!

Following on the success of the Kickstarter campaign, mompreneur Jinah Kim-Perek is selling her invention online at https://nikocarseatcover.com/ and also on Amazon.

“Parents taking small kids on a road trip this summer can travel free from worries about barf, potty training accidents or wet butts from swim outings if they take the NIKO,” said Kim-Perek back when we launched our first styles. “Countless moms emailed me, asking if I could deliver their NIKOs sooner. I am thrilled this years-long labor of love will be in their hands in just a few weeks.” Since those first sleepless startup nights, we have added to our line-up and now have 7 styles currently available to meet all of your needs, whether it be for warm summer days, or cool winter nights.

The NIKO and it's creator are being covered by numerous mom blogs and mainstream media including:

About Jinah Kim-Perek

Jinah Kim is currently a part-time correspondent for NBC News in Los Angeles, reporting primarily for NBC News Channel and MSNBC. She is also the owner and executive producer of WorldWise Productions (www.WWPVideo.com), a video production company specializing in education, training and marketing videos for corporate and healthcare clients. She’s also an inventor, having created several patent-pending commercial products.

About Niko Easy-Wash Children's Car Seat Cover

The NIKO Easy-Wash Children’s Car Seat Cover is to car seats what fitted sheets are to beds. It protects your child and your child’s car seat from dirt, grime, food, barf, poop, and pee. The Niko comes in a soft, gorgeous fabric with plans to launch additional fabrics and styles.   It is equipped with cup-holder openings on both sides and two extra pockets on each side. The waterproof lining protects the car seat from juice spills and potty-training accidents. It fits almost all toddler car seats.

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About the NIKO and Why Jinah Kim Invented it

The NIKO Easy-Wash Children’s Car Seat Cover is to car seats what fitted sheets are to beds. It protects your child and your child's car seat from dirt, grime, food, barf, poop, and pee. It takes 10 seconds to put on and even less to take off. Throw it in the wash and put on another one. It's a no-brainer.

The Niko comes in soft, gorgeous fabrics and is light enough to carry in a diaper bag. It’s exactly what you need if your child has to ride in a car seat from a car rental company. Lord only knows what kinds of creepiness lurks in its crevices.

The NIKO is equipped with plenty of storage pockets, cup-holder openings on both sides and two extra pockets on each side to hold snacks, toys and drinks. The bottom of the NIKO has a waterproof lining to prevent potty training accidents and juice spills from seeping into the car seat.

The NIKO fits almost all toddler car seat models. It is very durable and double-stitched throughout.  In a lab, it passed a test of 100 washings with flying colors!

How Inventor Jinah Kim Came Up With the Idea

The NIKO was invented after a particularly messy day at the beach. My son Niko, who was 2 at the time, had wet sand coming out of every crevice of his body.

Putting him in the car seat would mean tiny sand particles would remain on the car seat for months. I thought, "I wish I could slap a towel on his car seat!"  

An easily-washable car seat cover for children just did not exist in big box stores. After my beach experience and then watching all of the food and grime that got deposited on Niko's car seat, the idea of a car seat cover started percolating in my head.

After two years of experimenting and testing, the result is The NIKO: simply the best and most child, and parent-friendly car seat on the market.

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Biography: Jinah Kim, Inventor of the NIKO Easy-Wash Children’s Car Seat Cover

Jinah Kim is currently a part-time correspondent for NBC News in Los Angeles, reporting primarily for NBC News Channel and MSNBC.  She is also the owner and executive producer of WorldWise Productions (www.WWPVideo.com), a video production company specializing in education, training and marketing videos for corporate and healthcare clients.  She's also an inventor, having created several patent-pending commercial products.

She is a past president of the Asian American Journalists Association’s Los Angeles chapter and San Diego chapter.  She also sits on numerous national boards and mentors aspiring journalists, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs. She was co-chair of two national AAJA conventions.  She is frequently featured as a guest speaker and emcee at dozens of major events in Southern California throughout the year.

Jinah was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was six. She grew up in the Los Angeles area and attended UCLA, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, with a BA in English Literature.

Jinah's journalism career began with her high school newspaper, then the Daily Bruin at UCLA. She got her first full-time job at KTLA in Los Angeles while still finishing her last year at UCLA. She has also produced in Monterey, reported and anchored in Salinas, San Diego and Denver.  Jinah has won numerous prestigious national and regional awards for her work as a journalist.

Jinah has a passion for languages and speaks, reads and writes Korean, German and Spanish.

Download the Bio

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What is the NIKO?

Parents - did you go the entire past year without washing your child's car seat?

Have you ever come back from a day playing in the sand, snow, mud and thought: "Gosh, I wish I could put something on the car seat so my kid doesn't get it all dirty?"

The Niko Easy-Wash Children's Car Seat Cover will relieve your guilt and worries. It protects your child and your child's car seat from dirt, grime, food, barf and potty training accidents.

The NIKO is to car seats what fitted sheets are to beds. It takes 10 seconds to put on and even less to take off. Throw it in the wash and put on another one.

The Niko comes in soft, gorgeous fabrics and is light enough to carry in a diaper bag.

It’s also exactly what you need if your child has to ride in a borrowed car seat from a car rental company.

How is the NIKO superior to competing products already on the market?

There are other car seat covers on the market. But they haven't gotten any traction because they simply lack the features and convenience of the NIKO.

The NIKO is equipped with cup-holder openings on both sides and two extra pockets on each side to hold snacks, toys and drinks. The bottom of the NIKO has a waterproof lining to prevent potty training accidents and juice spills from seeping into the car seat.

The NIKO fits almost all car seat models. It is very durable and double-stitched throughout.  In a lab test, it held beautifully despite dozens of washings!

What are the benefits of using the NIKO?

The NIKO keeps car seats looking and smelling brand new. The washable, reusable car seat cover is the easiest way to keep your kids from having to sit on months-old food and grime.

Car seats could be dirtier than toilets, according to a study by the University of Birmingham.  It shouldn’t be a surprise, considering all the outdoor play dates, diaper blowouts and spilled food.

The number of loops, holes and attachments makes it difficult and cumbersome to remove the manufacturer’s car seat cover. Reassembling it often takes a video re-play of how you took it off. Even worse, many car seat manufacturers say you must hand wash and line dry their covers to prevent shrinkage. Extremely inconvenient at best, and at worst, it’s a near-impossible task for today’s busy families.

Has the NIKO been tested for safety?

Yes. The NIKO has undergone extensive safety crash testing by Calspan Laboratory to ensure it does not interfere in any way with the safety features of the seat.

 

Jinah, how did you come up with the idea?

After leaving the beach one day, my 2-year-old son was covered in sand and had wet sand coming out of every crevice of his body. 

Putting him in the car seat would mean tiny sand particles would remain on the car seat for months. I thought, "I wish I could slap a towel on his car seat!"  

An easily-washable car seat cover for children just did not exist in big box stores. After my beach experience and then watching all of the food and grime that got deposited on Niko's car seat, the idea of a car seat cover started percolating in my head.

After two years of experimenting and testing, the result is The NIKO: simply the best and most child, and parent-friendly car seat on the market.

Why should parents buy the NIKO?

Every mom, dad, grandparent or caregiver on the planet with a car seat in their car should have a NIKO.

Children's car seats become a hot mess after just a few weeks, if you are lucky, a few hours if you are not!

Not using the NIKO may mean having to replace an expensive car seat to the tune of hundreds of dollars down the line because it has simply become too gross.

Is the NIKO approved by car seat makers?

All car seat manufacturers warn against using any third-party products not tested or approved by their company to protect themselves from lawsuits.

Child Passenger Safety technicians are trained to say “no” to all car seat accessories, while many understand the majority of these products, such as the NIKO, do not interfere with the car seat’s 5-point harness system or its safe uses.

Does the NIKO interfere with the safety of children’s car seats?

It is specifically designed to not impede or interfere with a car seat’s 5-point harness system or its safe use.

We also created the NIKO to be about a millimeter thick - so that any possible compression that may occur in the event of a serious car accident is no more than the compression that could come from a typical child’s clothing.

Has the NIKO been safety tested?

Absolutely! This excellent product is lab tested for everything from multiple washings to car seat compatibility to choking risks, flammability and other factors.  We made sure it passed every test with flying colors!

Safety is a top priority. The NIKO team has researched, tested, and consulted with experts to create a well-designed, safe, and reusable product.

All the moms we surveyed about spraying fire retardant chemicals on the NIKO overwhelmingly said NO.  The manufacturer also strongly urged against it, saying the chemical was not only potent and potentially toxic to sensitive children - but that it would also wash off after a few washes.  In the event of an accident where fire could be a factor, the child’s clothing - with which they are strapped in the seat - is also not sprayed with fire retardant, so we didn’t feel there was a compelling reason to add it to the NIKO.

There is no demonstrated / recorded case of a car seat cover ever having caused additional harm to a child in the event of a car accident.

What about flammability?

All the moms we surveyed about spraying fire retardant chemicals on the NIKO overwhelmingly said NO. 

The manufacturer also strongly urged against it, saying the chemical was not only potent and potentially toxic to sensitive children - but that it would also wash off after a few washes. 

In the event of an accident where fire could be a factor, the child’s clothing - with which they are strapped in the seat - is also not sprayed with fire retardant, so we didn’t feel there was a compelling reason to add it to the NIKO.

Is the NIKO patented?

Yes! The NIKO was granted a utility patent in February 2021 and we are so happy!!!!