Cuffums: Pants support

Local inventor seeks to find distributor for innovative product

Advertisement

By MARIA PHELAN

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Years of watching teens walking around with the cuffs of their pants dragging on the ground gave North Las Vegas resident Stacey Wells an idea.

Wells, who is already the inventor of a back support and harness system called the Iddo Back Support, imagined a small device that hooked onto the back of a pair of shoes and held the bottoms of a pair of pants off the ground. The idea remained at the back of his mind for about six months, and then Wells decided he might be on to something.

The only problem was that when Wells tried to build a prototype, he found it wasn't working, so he enlisted the help of his neighbor Edgerton Hartwell.

And the first Cuffums were created.

"God gave me a vision, but I needed some help making it happen," Wells said. "So I came over here because Ed is good with his hands, and he made the models."

Hartwell built the prototype Cuffum about a month ago using metal wire, plastic and a variety of fabric materials to create Cuffums in various colors. Wells and Hartwell plan to take their invention to the World Shoe Association next month and possibly to MAGIC, a major annual clothing design and retail convention, with hopes of signing a contract with a distributor for the Cuffum.

The convention, set for Aug. 1 through 4 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center, will mark the first time the Cuffum has been displayed publicly.

"The reason for the Cuffum is to keep from tearing up the bottom of your pants," Hartwell said.

If the invention finds a distributor, he hopes the metal wire pieces on the prototype will be replaced with plastic.

In addition to the Cuffum, designed to be worn with men's shoes, Wells and Hartwell also created the Cuffit for use with women's shoes, and the Cuffey for children's shoes. The two said they hope that if the Cuffum line finds success, a line of shoes created for use with the product will follow.

Wells' previous invention, the Iddo Back Support, went on sale in Orchards Hardware stores nationwide earlier this month.

The back-support device, which retails for $99.99, is designed to evenly distribute the weight of the item being carried or pushed, similar to a stretcher or a wheelbarrow.

The Iddo Back Support fits like a belt and suspenders, and has sleeves that attach to the handles of the item it is used with.

"Stretchers used in war can take four to six men to carry," Wells said. "This makes it possible for two men to carry the same amount of weight."

Wells first started working on the Iddo Back Support about 3 1/2 years ago. He said the inspiration for the item came to him while he was sitting on the back of a cement truck.

"I drive a cement truck, and the other guys were hauling cement out to make a patio slab, and my heart really went out to them -- they were hurting pushing those wheelbarrows full of cement," he said.

After coming up with the initial idea for the back support device, Wells had several sketches of the Iddo Back Support drawn, then submitted them to Invent-Tech, a company that assists independent inventors in getting their ideas and products to the correct industry. The patent for Wells' Iddo Back Support is still pending.

Wells and Hartwell hope the back support system and the Cuffum will find success.

"We're hoping this will be selling well one day and we can give something back to the local community," Wells said.