Get Autside With Your People
Converting an idea into a reality requires vision, hard work and creativity. Creative types like Glen Collins will tell you that ideas are always popping into their heads and most of them never come to fruition.
Glen knows this well as he, the client director and managing partner of Switch, a creative and branding agency, makes a living creating ideas for companies. For every one idea that works for a client, dozens are considered and rejected.
Last year, just before the pandemic hit, Glen and some other creative types were shooting the breeze over tacos and beer and the seed of one idea in particular among the hundreds discussed that night was planted. This month, that seed is sprouting and by late summer/early fall, the seed will bear fruit.
Glen Collins is the founder of Autside, a lifestyle brand that creates and sells premium outdoor games and accessories ideal for home and commercial use. The brand’s moniker was inspired by the great outdoors where families and friends come together for socializing, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a developmental disorder his son, Cam, was diagnosed with in 2014.
Autside is personal for Glen and his family. Since he and his wife Alice have become acquainted with ASD, they’ve adapted and incorporated social skills and sensory integration therapies into daily life for their family of four which includes Cam’s twin brother, Field. Equally, if not more, important is play therapy which helps everyone, neurologically atypical or not, learn social skills, problem solve and boost self-esteem.
One of the Collins’ family favorite games is corn-hole toss, which just happens to be the first product Autisde will sell to the public later this year.
Autside’s flagship product is Bags & Boards, also known as cornhole, and is made with design, sustainability, and longevity in mind. The product is made to the standards of the American Cornhole Association’s (yes, there really is one) which requires specific dimensions and “bounce” on the board. The shape and weight of the bags also comply with the ACA’s standards. If you’re really serious about your cornhole game, this is the board for you. And something tells me the Collins’ family has tested the product a few hundred times and have gotten very good at cornhole.
Down the road, Collins expects to launch Autside’s own Pickleball net and paddle set and is considering other large format outdoor games such as a giant vertical “structural integrity” puzzle. Games that will bring people together. For now, Glen is focusing on raising the profile of Autside and chose April, Autism Awareness Month, as the moment for the movement.
“It was important to me to include social good from the start,” Glen says. “Alongside design-minded mercantile, Autside will give a portion of sales to non-profits dedicated to supporting families with children on the autism spectrum.”
Autside’s tagline is “Feel Good Field Goods,” which succinctly summarizes why this idea that should become a reality. For more information on Autside and how you can help support the company, visit https://getautside.com
