There’s no telling when Josh Mitchell and his girlfriend Kailyn Bailey will one day be able to eat at their dining room table.
It’s now covered with a large board at which Mitchell spends late nights pouring his creative talent into Scufflinks, a decorative and functional metal pin he’s invented that works like a cufflink, only for the hems of jeans which are prone to wear and tear.
“Every single day I see 50 to 100 people wrecking their nice jeans,” Mitchell said, adding that tailoring jeans shorter ruins their original look.
His pants-saver idea has been simmering for about 10 years, but the name Scufflinks only popped in his head about eight months ago.
“It was eureka,” he said excitedly. “One night I said it out loud and I haven’t stopped saying it since.”
He finalized his product design in November, came up with a unique logo, You Ain’t Trippin’, and recently designed and built – he’s a carpenter – a pant-leg-and-shoe stand on which Scufflinks can be displayed in stores.
Mitchell has partnered with Esquimalt resident Jeremy Green to launch the product under their company, Mayhem Marketing, as in “we may hem your pants.”
“It’s like we’ve reinvented the pin,” said Green, a professional barber.
In addition to pounding the pavement and approaching retail stores with their “bling for your ankles,” they’re now preparing for a Dragon’s Den audition on Feb. 17 when CBC producers hear business pitches in Victoria.
“We could be global,” Green said of the television opportunity.
Customers can choose from several different Scufflinks designs in an online catalogue, or create their own. The pin, which will retail for $7.99 a pair, can also be a decorative addition on handbags to hats.
“We’re both believers in everything happens for a reason,” Green said. “A lot of good things are going to come of it. There’s no negatives in that at all.”
More information is available at www.scufflinks.ca.
emccracken@vicnews.com