All the Heart Shades seats!
Our Clek Olli has been a big hit with our family. My daughter likes how comfortable it is and we like how portable it is. More than one last-minute ride with friends has been made possible by the Olli. The Heart Shades print we have is also very fashionable. But, sadly, my daughter wasn’t as enthralled with the Heart Shades Clek jacket that her Olli was wearing as I was. It coordinated very nicely with her sister’s Foonf. This pleased me, but apparently, Valerie didn’t want her seat to match her younger sister’s seat. So when we got the chance to dress up her Olli in different clothes, aka a Clek jacket, I said YES! I always like having backup covers for our most commonly-used seats. Because you never know when snacks will attack and you’ll need a quick washing.
The first step in swapping the Clek jacket
The process of swapping out the jacket seems pretty simple but the included instructions proved to be very helpful! First, turn the seat over so that the LATCH connectors are pointing toward you. This is key.
Unlike a lot of car seats with covers that attach via a number of elastic loops, the Clek jacket attaches to the seat via 2 main points, the fastening strip and the triangular flap.
This simple design makes it fairly easy to figure out what goes where but the snug fit required a fair bit of muscle to swap the covers.
The fastening strip has been released
The instructions say: “Pull up on the bottom flap and sides of the seat cover releasing the fastening strips.” Then you’ll have a wide-open Olli, ready to wave back at you.
Release the triangular straps
The triangular flaps that cover the sides are released by this strap, which is under the jacket. They’re exposed when the fastening strips are released.
This Olli needs a jacket!
At this point, the Olli is halfway undressed. Wrestle the jacket off by starting from the back and pushing the sides of the cover. This will loosen the cover from the seat frame.
This Olli desperately needs a jacket!
Once the cover is off, you’ll have an Olli that’s in need of some new clothes! This is where the wrestling begins. Just like removal, putting the new jacket on starts with pointing the LATCH connectors toward you. Put the new jacket on the seat frame, lining up the underside grooves on the jacket with the grooves in the seat frame.
Front edge of the cover lined up with the front edge of the seat frame
Then, pull the cover over the seat frame. The trick is to line the front edge of the jacket up with the edge of the seat frame. This puts enough slack behind the front of the jacket to pull the jacket on. Once the front edge of the cover is lined up, pull the cover over the frame. Pull the cover over the armrests and tug it down over the back corners as far as you can.
Note: this part of the process requires a fair bit of tugging and pulling. If the front edge of the jacket remains lined up with the front edge of the seat, all that tugging will pay off in short order.
The Reveal
This Olli is all dressed up with a new look!
Clek seats now merely coordinate
It took quite a bit of wiggling to get the cover all the way on — attaching the last bit of velcro on the fastening strip was pretty tricky but the more I pulled the over the back corners, the easier it became to attach the final strap across the back. Patience and a lot of pulling eventually got the new jacket on.
And now, our Olli is all dressed up and ready to go!
Thanks to our friends at Clek for providing this lovely pink Clek jacket! My daughter is so pleased at the change in her Olli. Our opinions, as always, are all our own.