Nothing annoys me more than car seats. They’re big, ugly, heavy and a nightmare to move between the car and, well, anywhere which isn’t the car. As my perfect, tiny humans have got slightly bigger I get more and more frustrated with them – car seats that is, not the tiny humans… apart from when they ask for yet another episode of Peppa rather than Bluey.
We are constantly moving the kids, between our cars, grandparents’ cars, Uber, taxis, hire cars or planes. I’m forever tripping over car seats left in the hallway as we wait for a grandparent to turn up and put it in their car. Luckily a lady called Leah Davis had similar frustrations. She saw how much hassle all this stuff was, and how big everything was and invented something quite brilliant. RyRy Compact. And let me tell you this, their Scallop car seat is a perfect game changer.
The perfect design
From the get-go, you can tell this seat is designed by a parent, with a parent in mind. Someone who has encountered all these problems, from trying to carry a heavy bulky car seat from an airport to an Uber, or getting a rental car with a car seat that costs £10 a day which is filthy and stinky. She’s managed to solve all the problems which frustrate her. Taking the motto of smaller is always better (insert your joke here) she’s managed to create a safe, small compact car seat which is also one of the most stylish ones I’ve ever seen.
Roughly the size of a large backpack, it goes as small as 52 x 40 x 25cm and weighs only 9kg. Complete with a contemporary bag with thick comfy backpack straps the RyRy Scallop can easily pop on your back as you transfer it from place to place, and neatly hides away in the cupboard when you don’t need it in a car.
All that size doesn’t discount its safety though, this is a car seat that can happily live in your car all the time. Hitting the EU’s highest and newest safety levels it’s safe for any child from 15 months up who is over 76cm but under 105cm and lighter than 18kg. One of the funky design features is there for safety. These little side pads are there to absorb kinetic impact as side impact production pads.
The seat itself packs small by having a headrest that nuzzles in tight and a seat bottom that folds up flat alongside isofix bars that tuck into the seat when not in the car. On the back of it are corner hooks to add the backpack straps for carrying and a well-padded handle at the top. It’s never been easier to move around in a car seat.
With a design that’ll make all the other parents take a second glance, it looks small, safe and modern all at the same tim- perfect. We went for the black and white version which pops on our car seats, although my wife loved the blush colour.
The seat itself is made out of Merino wool – just like your favourite expensive wool jumper, and is as comfy and snuggly as you’d expect. It even comes with its pilling comb to help get rid of the little bobbles that’ll form. I’ve never felt a car seat that I’ve wanted to touch so much, that natural material will survive over 16,000 abrasions before it wares hour and is not only anti-bacterial but also sustainable.
Sustainability is at the forefront of this awesome car seat. As a parent, you quickly realise how much crap you accumulate with a child and quite how bad for the environment it all is. RyRy Scallop has taken this mission to heart. The backpack is made out of recycled plastic bottles which means there are 60 fewer in landfills, parts of the chair are made with corona polymer (a plant-based material which is corn!) and the plastic they’ve had to use has been offset through the Big Blue Ocean Clean Up charity. That means that the 4.2kg of plastic they used to make the seat, 5kg gets cleaned up out of oceans.
As soon as it arrived my tiny humans clamoured around to see it, literally fighting to be the first one to sit in it. Fortunately it didn’t take long to unpack and set up and the video guides were a great help. It’s as simple as pulling the seat down, putting the headrest up and pulling the isofix bars out.
To attach it to the car, as always there’s a little bit of faff first time, but I can now do it in around 10 seconds making it as easy as cheating at a game of snap with a 3 year old to put in the car. You can attach it via a tether which I find to be the quicker option or the car seatbelt.
Quite simply this is a luxury, safe, compact, practical car seat with no compromises. It’s perfect for travel, safe enough for every day and goes straight to the top of the list. The Scallop is going to be the car seat you see everywhere. It’s the best kept secret in parenting, but the secret is now out!
For more information on the RyRy Scallop or to purchase see online.
