Riptie began with a problem that Sarah Fox dealt with almost every week. Fox spent years around the ocean. She surfed in Hawaii and later lived in Guam where she worked at a large dive shop. Much of her free time was also spent in the water. After dives she often faced long sessions of combing out knots. Salt water wind and gear left her hair tangled and it could take hours with conditioner to get it straight again.
Fox started experimenting with a different type of hair tie. Instead of holding hair only at the base of a ponytail she tried wrapping loops down the length of it. The idea was simple. If the hair stayed bundled together it might move less in the water and form fewer knots. She made early versions by hand and gave them to friends who also surfed or dove.
Those early ties led to a small business. Fox launched Riptie in 2022 and began with a tight budget. She used about $2,000 from a final work bonus to buy materials packaging and shipping supplies. She handled the setup herself. She formed the LLC on her own after researching the process and built the website using a free Shopify template. The logo came from a design she made in Canva.
The early operation ran out of her own workspace. Fox packed orders herself and answered customer emails. Friends helped film simple videos for social media. She avoided spending money on professional photos or paid ads until the store showed signs that people were willing to order.
The first group of customers came from the scuba community. Fox later ordered a small production run of about 200 units and tested online ads aimed at divers. Orders started to come in and she kept handling fulfillment until the volume reached about seventy-five orders per day.
Messages from customers began to show that the ties were being used in other ways. Riders and other athletes wrote in about using them during sports. One message from a firefighter made Fox rethink who the product might serve. The design that began around ocean activities turned out to work in many situations where long hair moves around during work or exercise.
The product itself stayed simple. Each tie starts with a loop that forms a ponytail. A series of loops wraps down the length of the hair and a small loop secures the end. The ties use natural rubber elastic wrapped with nylon thread. The line now includes different lengths and hold strengths as well as a shorter “Mini” version meant for hair under twelve inches.
As orders increased Fox moved production beyond the early handmade batches. Manufacturing later expanded to facilities in China. Orders ship in the United States from Pico Rivera California through DHL eCommerce or the Postal Service.
