Local product receives 'awesome' endorsement

Würkin Stiffs, the Sarasota-based business behind Power Stays and Polo Stays, magnetic devices that connect collars to shirts, got the gift of entrepreneurial dreams just before Christmas.

The present was a 15-second plug on the NBC Today show, when standup comedian Chuck Nice and host David Gregory chatted about men's holiday gifts. “They make your collar stand up no matter what,” Nice told Gregory about the Power Stays.

Added Nice: “It's like Viagra for your shirt. It's awesome.”

Not exactly the firm's marketing tagline, but the publicity has nonetheless boosted Würkin Stiffs. The Today Show bit came at the end of what was already a big year for the company: Owner Jonathan Boos, who founded the firm in 2006, says revenues grew 40% last year over 2010. The six-employee firm now has more than $1 million in annual sales.

Boos expects to grow at least 40% again in 2012. “It's a lot of little things that keep adding up,” Boos tells Coffee Talk. “There's a lot going on.”

One big thing occurred earlier this month, when the U.S. Patent and Trademark office approved the firm's second patent for magnetic collar stays. The patent, according to a Würkin Stiffs statement, “encompasses the function and fastening of a shirt collar utilizing a magnetic collar stay in the broadest form.”

Boos says the patent process was lengthy because the patent officer in Washington didn't really get the product. “A lot of the claims were rejected,” says Boos. “So we just kept going further.”

Würkin Stiffs has also taken the product line further. The firm recently released a line of Italian calfskin wallets made to protect against radio frequency identification theft, a budding industry trend. The firm also has a new product line called iWurk, a series of bamboo and walnut cases for iPads and iPhones. The cases are etched in menswear inspired designs.

The firm, finally, has a new website and logo. “This has all taken root from one product,” says Boos, “which is fantastic.”