1,000,000 RFID Sleeves: A Number We Never Imagined

One million.

I've been staring at that number on my screen for about ten minutes now, and it still doesn't feel real. One million RFID-blocking sleeves sold. A million little envelopes of protection, scattered across the world, tucked into wallets and passport holders and back pockets on every continent except Antarctica. (Though honestly, if there's a researcher at McMurdo Station with one of our sleeves, please email me. I'd love to know.)

Where It Started

I remember the first order like it was yesterday. It was 2015, and I'd just convinced myself that RFID-blocking sleeves were going to be a thing. My friends thought I was nuts. "People don't even know what RFID is," they said. "You're going to sell sleeves for credit cards? Like... little paper sleeves?"

Yes. Little paper sleeves. With aluminum lining. That protect your credit card information from being scanned by thieves.

Our first production run was 50 units. Fifty. I packed them in my apartment in Vancouver, printed shipping labels on a borrowed printer, and drove them to the post office myself. I think we sold maybe 12 that first week.

Now we've sold a million.

The Stories That Got Us Here

What I love most about this milestone isn't the number — it's the stories. Over the past four years, we've heard from thousands of customers, and some of their messages have genuinely changed how I think about what we do.

There's the retired couple from Manchester who bought our sleeves before their first trip to Europe in 30 years. They wrote to tell us they felt "safe and modern" — their words — for the first time in ages. That one got me.

There's the solo female traveler from Melbourne who said our passport sleeves gave her one less thing to worry about while backpacking through Southeast Asia. She sent us a photo of our sleeve next to a bowl of pho in Hanoi. It's still pinned to our office wall.

There's the college student in Texas who bought a 12-pack for his entire family for Christmas because it was all he could afford, and his mom wrote to us saying it was her favorite gift. I'm not going to pretend I didn't get a little emotional reading that one.

What a Million Means for a Small Company

Let me be honest: we're not a huge corporation. We're a small team based in Vancouver. We don't have a fancy office or a marketing department with 50 people. When I say "we," I mean a group of passionate humans who genuinely care about making useful products.

A million units for us isn't what a million units means for Samsung or Procter & Gamble. For us, it's proof. Proof that a small company can make something people actually want. Proof that you don't need a Super Bowl ad to reach customers — you just need a good product and the willingness to listen.

It's also terrifying, if I'm being honest. A million people trusted us with something. That's a million opportunities to either earn loyalty or lose it. We don't take that lightly.

What's Next

We're not slowing down. If anything, hitting this number has lit a fire under us. We're working on new travel products, better materials, and more ways to keep your stuff safe on the go.

But tonight? Tonight I'm going to open a bottle of something nice, sit on my balcony overlooking the Vancouver skyline, and just... appreciate this for a minute. Four years ago, I was packing sleeves alone in my apartment. Today, a million people carry a little piece of what we built.

Thank you. Seriously. Every single one of you.

— Stan