Tombow Pencil Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Kita-ku, Tokyo, President: Akihiro Ogawa) will launch a new product for the 2020 school year in the school children’s stationery series “Ippo!” Launch date October 25th, 2019.
The launch product is the “Ippo, Anti-slip Easy to Grip Training Pencil” featuring a non-slip treated surface and a grip guide.Easy to grip securely and apply pressure makes writing easier. In our survey 53.3% of parents replied they would like their children to use an anti-slip pencil (details on page 2)
Comes in hexagonal and triangular types. 2 hardnesses, 2B and 4B. 2 box styles (see page 2). 720 yen (792 yen including tax) per dozen paper box. Twin pack (hexagonal only) 120 yen (132 yen including tax). Annual sales plan is about 160,000 dozen. About 120 million yen (at retail price).
Slip resistant even with sweaty hands.
Children can grip firmly and apply writing pressure thanks to an anti-slip coating.
Multiple layers of micro particles are kneaded into the pencil coating producing fine surface irregularities.For dry hands about twice as resistant to slippage compared to our standard coating and about three times more resistant with sweaty hands (Internal test results).
Unique anti-slip coating. Lightly touching the surface feels smooth. Grip tightly and fingers conform to the fine surface irregularities making it difficult to slip.
Another feature is that in other respects it feels nearly identically to our standard pencil.
[Supplement] How to make an anti-slip pencil: There are these two approaches: (1) Using a rubber like material with non-slip properties. (2) Use a hard material with surface irregularities to generate a physical anti-slip effect.
(1) It was pointed out that anti-slip pencils made by other companies “feel sticky and attract dust”
Our product achieves an anti-slip effect (2) by physically altering the surface.
This micro particle process is an industry first.
The knurled grip of a standard mechanical pencil used for drafting is based on this same principle.
A guide for gripping is printed on the pencil.
A guide for correctly gripping is printed on the pencil.For hexagonal pencils there are 3 colored guide dots on the pencil, and for triangular pencils, there are 2 colored guide dots.
To grip correctly align your index finger with a guide dot and your thumb with the same colored guide dot on the opposite side.
Your child can self-evaluate to learn if they are gripping correctly.By gripping correctly your child can write with ease and less fatigue.By gripping correctly your child can write with ease and less fatigue.
[What is the guide?] The guide is a 3mm diameter dot in a two color pattern (blue & green, vermilion & yellow. etc.)The dots are printed at an interval of about 7 mm on one side. In the case of a hexagonal pencil the same color dot is printed on three sides (every other side) and printed on all sides for a triangular pencil.Shifting the starting point of the guide dot by about 4 mm for each side guides the thumb and index finger to the correct position.
The guide works for both right and left handed children.
[How to use the grip guide]
This product supports the first step of learning for children in the lower grades of elementary school who are not familiar with writing and are more likely have problems with slipping, leading to the correct way of gripping.
* According to our survey 53.3% of parents replied that they wanted their children to use an anti-slip pencil.
■ July 2018 Web Survey ■ Parents of Elementary School Students ■ Of 3,200 people surveyed 2,397 did not know about anti-slip pencils.
Ippo “supports the first step towards learning”A brand for children and parents.
IPPO Pencil
Hexagonal type, 1 dozen box
Hexagon type, 2pcs pack
Triangular type, 1 dozen box
Ippo series
