Craig Atwood is the first person to admit, "I'm just a guy off a boat with a good idea."
Humbling and creative, this former ship captain invented and patented a novel idea for fashion enthusiasts and boot aficionados who are looking for a fun way to protect the life span of their boots. "The Captain's" design, affectionately touted Heel Ad-Vantage, serves three main purposes: Appealing to the eye. Protection from wear and tear on the back heels of boot wear. A marketing tool, as the space allows for logos to be displayed on the plated design.
Perusing through his marketing plan, one could conclude "the Captain" has thought of everything from a business perspective. His journey began back in the seventies when he was searching for a product much like Heel Ad-Vantage to protect his boots while he was driving his Camero, a normal wear and tear problem for sports car owners. With nothing on the market, the Captain began to research his idea further.
At the time, Craig Atwood was a barge captain working in and around New York Harbor. Heel Ad-Vantage became a pet project as he began to collect data, study patents, develop a prototype, create a demonstration video, and meet with a high caliber marketing company in New York seeking advice to further his mission during his off time.
Almost a year of this grueling work went by when the Captain stopped at the bus station, set down his briefcase full of all the amazing work he had accumulated on Heel Ad-Vantage, put some change in the cola machine...when it happened. A thief grabbed the gold mine of informa- tion encased in his briefcase about Heel Ad-Vantage and ran off with it.
The Captain comments on the horror story, " The shame of it all. there was not a thing in my briefcase that would have done that person any good."
Consequently, he put down Heel Ad-Vantage and decided it was not meant to be.
He admits, "I suppose I could have salvaged what I had to make the Heel Ad-Vantage work, but I felt so violated. It just took all the wind out of my sails, and I concluded
some things in life weren't meant to be for me at that time.
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