By KAITLYNN HAGER
From building 230-plus unit apartments to building ingenious space saving bags and accessories, BagButton owner and inventor South Bend’s Larry Storey’s story would impress most.
After a serious motorcycle accident involving a drunk driver left him in a coma for three days and paralyzed most of his left side, it was clear that he could not return to his former construction career.
In 1996, Storey had designed the BagButton and was applying for the patents. The beginning of his products, the BagButton is a small circular ring that allows and plastic bag to become a vacuum-sealed, waterproof, storage unit. He was inspired after moving his family to a mobile home on 10 acres in the beginning of winter. Many of their clothes were damaged the weather and other vacuum bags were not doing the trick.
In February of 2004, BagButton went online and manufacturing, packaging, and marketing began. The BagButton had a surprisingly strong beginning hitting the shelves of Kroger stores, Bartell Drugs, QFC, and many home, camping, and lifestyle shows. If that weren’t big enough, the Storey’s were negotiating a contract with popular TV sales personality, Billy Mays. Unfortunately, due to his untimely death, the contract never went through.
To get the word about the BagButton line out, Storey has traveled much of the West Coast attending Christmas bizarres, home and lifestyle shows, camping expos, and resorts.
Not only was the BagButton line increasingly popular in the U.S., the products were being recognized internationally with features in several popular European and Australian magazines such as Camping Magazine and On The Road. Storey had developed a reputation to back his products international fame with customers leaving rave reviews all over the Internet. He also had distributors in Australia, Ireland, the U.S., and the United Kingdom!
When his business needed to take a backseat to his personal life, Storey went on a three-year sabbatical but he did not spend his time idle. He designed a vacuum bag for foods with revolutionary features that made them better than anything on the market.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been excited about all of this,” Storey said. “It feels great to be doing this again, especially when we’re back to a point where it is exciting. There’s not much money in it as of yet, but I am passionate about it.”
After contacting several bag companies to get a prototype, he was still empty handed until he found AirLock, out of Korea in September of 2012. Together they produced the AirLock Food Saver bags. What sets the AirLock bags apart from their competitors is their corrugated double layer, nylon material, and their milk-jug-inspired valves. The corrugated layer allows only air to be pumped out of the bags and any juices or liquids to remain. Using nylon as opposed to the typical vinyl material keeps each bag more durable that the competitor’s. They are UV resistant and dishwasher safe. The special valve has several rings that hook into each other to solidify the airtight seal.
Along with a new product, Storey is in the process of lining up a package with QVC, the home shopping network that would include more than one BagButton product. This would bring BagButton to daytime television and make the incredibly useful product available to many more.
From the unique features to the vast availability, Washington native and current South Bend resident Larry Storey has created something every household should know about. Storey proves that no matter where you start with passion and determination, anyone can create something huge!
For more information and to purchase anything from the BagButton line, visit BagButton.com