Did an Israeli sky diver invent summer’s new big thing?

Ilan Elmaleh’s “Otentik” and similar sun canopy designs are popping up across beaches across the world. Image by iStock
A trip to almost any beach this summer shows that clunky beach umbrellas have made way for the lighter, less-likely-to-fly-way sunshade. An Israeli company founded by a former skydiver takes credit for pioneering the product, variations of which dot the sands from Eilat to Malibu.
In 2011 Ilan Elmaleh launched the Otentik sunshade, a play on the Hebrew words for tent, ohel, and bag, tik, to sound like “authentic.”
The company is headquartered in the central Israeli town of Beit Yanai, and makes the Otentik from a stretch of material supported by extendable poles that are secured in the sand with sand or rocks. It’s hardly the only sunshade on the market — other brands include Botindo and Sun Ninja, which sells an eight-person shelter.
But Elmaleh said he was the first to hit upon a design for this next generation of sun protection.
He said he got the idea when a strong wind blew away his tarp shelter while camping at the beach, and a. He also worked as an event planner, and was tired of watching strong winds blow down tents he set up. So he created a tent that flowed similarly to a parachute, moving with the wind instead of against it.
“Without thinking, I took plastic bags and filled them with sand and tied them to the tarp,” he said in an interview. “When we got home, I Googled the idea of sandbags and saw that in 1936 someone wrote about it. I looked for something similar on the market and when I couldn’t find anything, I set to work on the patent.”
The Otentik weighs about 4 lbs. Touting its weight, the product website promises “No More Shlepping.”
Elmaleh — and his competitors — also promote their sunshades as protection from the UV rays that put beachgoers at risk for skin cancer and eye damage. Otentik says their sunshades provide a UV protection factor of 50+.
Retailing between $89 and $169, the tents provide shade for three to seven people, depending on the model.A first-time inventor, the Ashdod born Elmaleh spent two years on the design before releasing it. He told Israel21C a that the key design element was a lightweight Italian swimsuit material, resistant to elements like chlorine and sand, nimbly stretched over the top of flexible poles. The tents are manufactured in the Druze village of Peki’in located in Israel’s Northern District.
“To say this is an Israeli product gives me a great sense of pride,” Elmaleh said.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.