Business Opportunities Weblog

July 30, 2008 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

Kingsburg Recorder:

The dream to invent the next can’t-live-without-it product is one that many people harbor, but for most would-be inventors, the idea never reaches beyond the scope of the imagination. But a woman whose career in hair has invented what may just prove to be the next big thing in hair.

Kelly Fitzpatrick, mother of two, has taken what she saw as the biggest problem women have with their hair and turned it into a business that is already gaining nationwide attention. “Can you believe that something so simple didn’t exist?” Fitzpatrick said of the “Bumpit,” a plastic device women apply to the crown of the head to achieve that ever-elusive volume.

Fitzpatrick said that the most common complaint she heard from the clientele who used to frequent her salon was that they could never achieve the volume in their hair that they had after a trip to the stylist.

With a little money she had stashed away, Fitzpatrick set out to create a prototype for a device that volumizes the hair. She knew that what she needed to do was lift the hair off the scalp somehow. She said she had about 50 different prototypes using everything imaginable.

The end result was the “bumpit,” a curved plastic piece with tiny gripping “arrows” that hides underneath the hair. The utility-patent-pending design comes in four colors to blend with light blonde, medium blonde, brunette and black hair, and there are three different sizes, depending on the amount of volume desired.

Over 17,000 bumpits have been sold in under five months, and Fitzpatrick is confident that they are just getting started. Bumpits are being sold in 400 stores, and they just signed a deal with Gottschalk’s to sell them in 80 of their stores.

The mother-daughter team will be appearing on the Home Shopping Network at the end of this month. The Australian Home Shopping Network sold out of bumpits after Fitzpatrick’s appearance on their show, and recently placed a second order.

But what really gets Fitzpatrick excited is that celebrities are starting to buzz about Bumpits. “American Idol” finalists Carly Smithson and Brooke White wore them for their “AI” photo shoots.

Photo by Big Happie Hair.

In Fashion, Invention, Success | 2 Comments