For those of you who have followed us from the beginning, you've seen most of our products start out their creative journey under a prototype name (usually an acronym). Why? Our founder Jay saw it as a little tradition we wanted to establish at Nexus to showcase the journey a product takes from start to finish. Once a product has a pre-production model ready, it's market is then revealed.
November 2020: The Failed Project
The first product ever to be sketched when Nexus was created, wasn't actually a bag...
After months of working with a factory on developing a prototype, nothing was delivered and we were lucky we got out money back on this failed project.
Although it hasn't come to life yet, we are working behind the scenes to bring this product to fruition in the future.
January 2021: The MMK
With the failure of the first project, Jay shifted his design efforts to Plan B: Bags. The Modular Medkit (MMK) was the first ever soft goods bag developed and tested in our home state of Florida. While the MMK was a bit rushed in it's development, and not ready for production, the failures in its design led to numerous lessons learned in basic bag design.
The design concept was based on tradition vertically oriented sling bags, but of a slightly larger design, as market research showed athletic trainers did need something portable and multi-purpose.
From this, weeks upon weeks were spent making modifications into developing the first generation Deadbug.
For Jay, developing this bag was stressful because social media groups/pages showed that many athletic trainers were switching to generic Amazon bags, and this design was going in a different direction.
March 2021: Deadbug DV1
Based off the MMK prototype, the first generation Deadbug was what truly started Nexus.
Five prototypes were field tested and marketed by: Megan Burke, Gus Canals, Thomas Anania, Jimmy Spinale, and our owner Jay.
Over a few weeks, the first marketing images were taken to help setup the pre-order campaign in the early spring.
The first batch of Deadbugs was 300 kits slated for a pre-order to fundraise the project. Within a few hours all 300 were sold out in pre-order and more bags were requested to be made to meet the demand.
This immediate sellout proved the concept right in the athletic training market change was needed for personal carry kits.
December 2021: Deadbug DV2
From DV1 to DV2 so soon? After the first batch of Deadbugs were delivered to customers, minor flaws were discovered and Jay wanted to correct them immmediately.
The DV2 included a handful of minor modifications and included some new color options.
The biggest difficulty of the first DV2 batch was that the minimum order size was tripled compared to the first batch of DV1s, because using a different interior lining required a much larger order volume.
Still, in the DV2 pre-order, sales volume was tremendous.
March 2023: The Firefly
At the end of 2022, it was still very difficult to accumulate funding to make more styles of medium sized kits, so the development of a true minimalist kit was started in the summer of 2022.
The Firefly started it's development under the prototype name "GMP". With the limited budget going into this project, Jay focused on something else that the market wanted: A minimalist kit to hold gauze, gloves, scissors, and a little more.
With this, we wanted this pouch to be able to mount to the DV2 and future kit models to start showcasing the versatility of Nexus pouches.
February 2025: The Nemesis
The sketch phase of the Nemesis started back in 2022 when it was prototyped as the LSS (Light Sling System). Unfortunately, we did not have the budget to make Nemesis during this time because most of our production budget was allocated towards the DV2, which was still selling good. With the little room in the production budget we had at this time, we made the Firefly before the Nemesis.
We've always planned on making a smaller sling bag model and the matter was more of when, not if. The Nemesis has been the most difficult kit to develop as it has gone through more sketches than both DV2 and Firefly combined.
This new kit model is specifically designed to meet the needs of what many of our community has been wanting: a crossbody sling bag with a horizontal opening that is smaller than the DV2.
The Nemesis stands as tas a testament to our dedication of staying ahead in our work. We strive to be originators, not imitators.
February 2025: The Drone
The Drone started out its development under the prototype name "Slimmy".
It was primarily developed as an easy rip on/off velcro backed pouch to store extra items without adding too much bulk.
Upon nearing the completion of it's design, we found it could actually serve as a minimalist kit and as a travel pouch. From this, the glove dispensing flap was added to give it more versatility along with the side ribbons for various mounting options.
We also found a way to make sure our modular straps are compatible for use as a waistpacwaist pack or crossbody bag.
July 2025: The Glove Dispenser Pouch
On social media, we put out numerous polls and comment boards for feedback on new products the community wants to see. Over the course of 2 years, verbal demand for a true dispenser pouch was noticed.
While this looks very similar to the Firefly, we ensured this pouch could also be a gauze dispenser and have the same modularity as the Firefly. The Glove Dispenser Pouch (GDP) also got some little design changes that helped us develope the new Firefly VF2.
July 2025: The Mini Dispenser Pouch
The Mini Dispenser Pouch (MDP) was a project we weren't sure of, and actually didn't ask much feedback for during it's short prototyping stage.
The primary goal of the MDP was to have something that can be used as an extension/add-on to our modular straps.
It can attach to anything that was 1.5in open webbing, velcro surface, or traditional MOLLE webbing.
The MDP is another pouch that showcases our product versatility for something that is very small.