Canadian glow-in-the-dark toilet seats to light the way

An entrepreneur in southern Ontario claims to have built a better toilet seat.

Tim Fittler of Fittler Sales & Marketing is the man behind NightGlow Toilet Seats, a line of glow-in-the-dark toilet seats developed and manufactured in Windsor, Ont.

The seats are traditional white during the day but glow blue or green in the dark.

Fittler hopes to market the seats to hotels, nursing homes and hospitals.

Fittler originally founded Pottyglow Inc. in the fall of 2000. By 2004 he had sold more than 50,000 Pottyglow toilet seats.

The early version of his seats were primarily a novelty and had a relatively short "glow time."

Fittler now claims his NightGlow toilet seat will glow for more than eight hours and "require very little light source to charge the glow seat."

The seats can use sunlight, incandescent light bulbs, fluorescent lights and black lights to charge.

Fittler worked with St. Clair College's director of applied research and development, Scott ONeil, in developing a brighter and longer-lasting glow resin.

The seats retail for $49.99.

Fittler also worked with a group of six marketing students from St. Clair College to launch, promote and market his toilet seats.

The partnership was part of the Colleges Ontario Network for Industry Innovation. The program provides funding to entrepreneurs and inventors, as well asstudents and instructors, in design, development and marketing of the products.

"This project has given them a tremendous opportunity to be involved in the launch of a unique and fun new product for the home dcor category," marketing professor Steve Janisse said. "The students have put together a number of reports including target market analysis and marketing strategies."

Students also set up a Facebook site as well as a Pinterest page for the product.