ZipnHang: The ingenious answer to a common problem
Dorota Shoretell is a mechanical engineer, and a creative problem-solver. At one point she grew frustrated enough with the lack of good door-hanging options that she put her brain to it – and created a better way. Here’s how she tells it:
“The reason I invented ZipnHang was that we bought a beautiful new front door with stained glass in it, and I couldn’t hang my wreath. I bought a suction-cup wreath holder, but it fell off after a few hours. I bought over-the-door hangers, but the plastic ones were too thick and my door wouldn’t close, and the metal ones barely closed, scratching up my door frame.
“After all this frustration, I figured out a way to hang wreathes by experimenting with fishing line. Then I put my engineering skills to work and turned the idea into a product and got it patented. I wanted to bring this product to everyone who was fighting the same problem.”
ZipnHang today
Dorota continued her professional career and is now a successful executive running an engineering firm – which left her no time to focus on ZipnHang. But she knew the product held great promise, so in 2019 she licensed her patent to Ron Runyan, a colleague who had recently sold his own successful business.
Ron was starting a new company, Runyans, to bring exciting and innovative products to market, and he chose ZipnHang as the first product to market. He worked with Dorota to set up production and re-launch ZipnHang – because people everywhere still need a better hanger.
Find out more about Runyans, and look for other exciting products in the future.