18 Fantastic Products from SkyMall, America's Final Great Bastion of Innovation
On Thursday, the company behind the nearly ubiquitous in-flight catalog SkyMall filed for bankruptcy. As the Wall Street Journal put it, the institution was simply a “victim of evolving rules and technology that now lets airline passengers keep their smartphones and tablets powered up during flight.”
For those who spent the majority of their early ’90s flights thumbing through the quarterly magazine, this is a tragedy. Like the mall staple Sharper Image, the catalog pushed the boundaries of absurdity in almost every category of domestic existence. Rather than attempt to fill the space of a practical retailer, the SkyMall catalog enticed you with overpriced items you never dreamed existed, items like hair-growing laser headsets or kitty litterboxes that resemble the Death Star.
They were all wildly expensive and impractical but all a tantalizing possibility when you were stuck on a delayed six-hour flight.
Below, we offer some of the more ingenious products the forlorn catalog brought us (some sourced from this wonderful Tumblr). Rest in peace, SkyMall, on your glorious and weird neck pillow in the sky.
1. Night Glow Toilet Seat: $50
So you don’t miss.
(Via SkyMall)
2. Litter Robots: $340 and up
Uses a patented sifting process that pushes your cat’s waste into a separate drawer, then fills the pan back up with clean litter.
(Via SkyMall)
3. Seabreacher Customized Boat: $85,000
It’s a boat that looks like a shark.
(Via SkyMall)
4. Biffy Butler Bidet Sprayer/Digital Accessory Caddy/Toilet Paper Stand: $100
So you can surf Tinder and clean your butt.
(Via SkyMall)
5. Orbitwheels: $100
A lawsuit waiting to happen!
(Via SkyMall)
6. Leo Men’s Padded Butt Enhancer Brief: $35
For those with less endowed backsides.
(Via SkyMall)
7. Single-Handed Barber: $60
Terrifying trimmer that supposedly cuts your hair evenly in every direction.
(Via SkyMall)
8. Hair-catcher
Pair with the Single-Handed Barber.
(Via Twitter)
9. FaceTrainer
Meant to train your face muscles so your skin won’t wrinkle.
(Via Tumblr)
10. Sleep Neck Brace
"Sleep like a baby while sitting up."
(Via Twitter)
11.The Human Slingshot
For people who are going places.
(Via Tumblr)
12. iGrow
Points lasers at your skull to grow back your hair “within a few months.”
(Via Ruthless Reviews)
13. Wine Glass Holder Necklace: $25
I’m not ashamed to admit I want one.
(Via FirstWeFeast.com)
14. Tugo Drink Holder
A cup holder designed to burn your ankle skin.
(via Tumblr)
15. Large Super Skate Sail
Cowabunga, dude!
(Via Tumblr)
16 Sit Fit Exercise Device
Move your feet on a track while sitting down in this modern-day torture device.
(Via Tumblr)
17. Wristband iPhone Holder
Who needs an Apple Watch?
(Via Tumblr)
18. Whatever the hell this is.
(Via Twitter)
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