Looks like a Japanese design firm tried something similar back in 2013 called the unbrella, still shipping for about $90 (http://h-concept.jp/fs/hshop/c/unbrella).
Minor marketing fail that while the Kazbrella solves the 'brush against other people's pants' problem, it doesn't solve the 'drip water on the floor problem', yet the promotional video implies it will.
For what it's worth, I preferred watching the Japanese teaser video[0] much more than Kazbrella's video[1]. It was clear and honest, while Kazbrella's video feels like an infomercial with poor acting.
yeah, i agree that the Kazbrella is too showing off. and the mechanism is not that much innovative.
the normal double fold umbrella (not sure how it is called) has similar mechanism, the difference is that it double folds which makes the folded umbrella smaller.
> it doesn't solve the 'drip water on the floor problem', yet the promotional video implies it will
What do you mean? From the video it seems pretty clear that it does. With a regular umbrella there's no way to carry it without dripping water; with this one, the water's on the inside, so you can carry it without dripping.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phdeprKdVwU [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BLYLrdOXe8