You Can Customize Your Owala Water Bottle Lid Without Creating Chaos – Here’s How
The brand has asked customers to stop mixing and matching bottles and lids at stores before buying.
Photo courtesy of Owala
If there are two buzz words in the retail water bottle market right now, they are most likely “collectable” and “customizable.” Thanks to the boom of Stanley Tumblers, which seem to come out in new colors constantly, hydration-focused influencers and consumers alike have gotten used to having their pick of a veritable rainbow of hues and finishes. Now, that appetite for getting things exactly how we want them is causing problems for one popular water bottle brand: Owala.
According to Business Insider, customers at retailers like Target have been creating their own colorways by swapping the lids on Owala water bottles while at the store. Owala’s FreeSip Flip water bottles — with a locking, push-button, flip-top lid that allows for both straw-style and open top sipping — typically come with a solid color bottle portion and a multi-colored lid, with different combinations of colors making up the button, latch, rim and other components.
But if you check the stock at your local box store, you might notice some bottles that don’t match those appearing on the official Owala website. That could be due to someone deciding they prefer to top their bottle base with a different lid. Unfortunately, it has become an issue for Target and other retailers, Business Insider reports, because — especially when other customers are shopping their local store online — it means the exact product pictured isn’t available if someone has swapped or swiped the official matching lid.
The reports have even prompted a statement from Owala itself. “We encourage customers to please refrain from lid-swapping or altering bottles in any way prior to purchase,” a statement from an Owala representative to Food Network read. “Doing so disrupts the unique color combinations we work diligently to create, can prevent fellow Owala fans from finding the products they wish to purchase, and can cause an unnecessary drain on time and resources. We appreciate our customers’ kindness and understanding.”
It should be noted that Owala does sell individual lids in many color options online for $6.99 each, so customization without causing retail chaos is, indeed, possible.
According to some Target employees quoted by Business Insider, stores have dealt with mismatched bottles left on shelves in a variety of ways, from donating or dumping them, to marking them as “damaged,” or even just leaving them on the shelf to be sold as is. So don’t be surprised if the color you thought would be in stock doesn’t look exactly like it’s supposed to.
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