STRICTLY BUSINESS: INVENTOR'S GIFT TO GIRLFRIEND PAVES ROAD TO SUCCESS

They called him the "crazy inventor" in the Cape Girardeau area during his college days at Southeast Missouri State University.

Now, Gary Kellmann is called the "successful inventor."

Kellmann's latest, and hottest, invention emerged from a homemade birthday present for a girlfriend.

The girlfriend liked it, a St. Louis discount drug store liked it, and Fit-All Sports Wear of North Carolina liked it.

And, Kellmann, now a successful St. Louis area inventor/entrepreneur likes what is happening with his "Hair Holder Holder."

"I'm responsible for the design and manufacture of the holder," said Kellmann. "Then, Fit-All takes over the distribution, marketing and financing end. In return, I receive a royalty check."

In September 1996, Fit-All introduced the Hair Holder Holder to Wal-Mart.

"We were showing it to them for their spring 1997 line," said Kellmann, "but the Wal-Mart buyer was excited about the product and wanted it for Christmas 1996."

The timing was tight, and it took some doing, but we managed to provide 50,000 holders for Wal-Mart shelves nationwide, said Kellmann.

By January, several stores had ordered more, and the Hair Holder Holder was the No. 3 product in the health and beauty section of the San Diego Wal-Mart store.

A return to Cape Girardeau

The product is moving on to other discount stores now.

Kellmann returned to Cape Girardeau recently to showcase some of his inventions at the Heartland Women's Show. These included the Hair Holder Holder and Kellmann's new hair accessory line for 1998 and 1999.

One of Kellmann's new products, the "B'Rae Hairlacer -- described as the next Topsy Tail -- will be introduced on QVC in January.

Kellmann has come a long way from his college days, where he admits he was "swindled" by an invention marketing company.

"I was just a kid then," said Kellmann, "I was 19 and didn't know any better. I thought this one company would really help me get my product on the market. All they did was take me for about $3,000."

Kellmann is older and wiser now. He's 28 and president of his own company, Kellmann Marketing in St. Charles, and he's a full-time inventor, doing the things he likes.

He is also involved as a consultant on a limited basis, working with three to four clients. "I still work with the Small Business Development Center at Southeast Missouri State University," said Kellmann, who worked with SBDC part-time while in college.

Remember the SEMO Chop?

We met Kellmann during his senior year at Southeast.

It was during the fall of 1991, and Kellmann had just contracted with a St. Louis manufacturer to produce the Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) Chop, a red-and-black foam-rubber version of the Atlanta Braves' notorious tomahawk chop.

The SEMO Chop was developed for use by Indian sports fans at football and/or basketball games.

"I didn't see it as offensive to anybody," Kellmann said. There was some controversy surrounding the "chop" in Atlanta, where the Braves and Minnesota Twins had been battling it out in the World Series, but Kellmann said he didn't see it as offensive to anybody.

Native Americans at the time were protesting the use of the chop as degrading. Kellmann said if he thought the tomahawks were degrading to Native Americans, he wouldn't sell them (I wasn't making any money on them, he said). But he was hoping the chop would rouse Indian spirit, not controversy.

During his college days, Kellmann created T-shirt designs, a Missouri Lottery key chain, a unique alarm clock and numerous other "inventions."

He said he came up with 50 new ideas a day, but that most of them didn't make it past the drawing board.

An earthquake shirt

One of them that did make it was a T-shirt commemorating the 1990 earthquake centered in New Hamburg. The shirt reads, "I'm leaving but I don't know where. I'm staying but I don't know why."

Once a product has been developed, the challenge, he said, is following through with the marketing and sales of it. Once an inventor finishes a product, he often loses interest in it and wants to move on to the next one, said Kellmann. As a result, the latter part of the cycle sometimes gets overlooked.

For example, his Missouri Lottery key chains were 1 1/2 years in the making. What made them unique was that one could use the "Bootheel" to scratch off the material that hides the numbers on the lottery card.

"While in college, I made prototypes of my products and gave them to my friends. That's how I tested them," he said. When friends come back with complaints that the product breaks easily or doesn't perform up to standards, Kellmann used the information to improve his products.

A native of Owensville, Kellmann said throughout high school and college, his parents, brother and sister thought he was "goofy" because he was constantly in his room, working on his next invention.

"I was always working on something, but they finally got tired of yelling at me," he said.

Now, they're proud.

Inspired by ex-girlfriend

Kellmann's successes helped him pay for college expenses and a car.

Kellmann's idea for his latest products, actually started several years ago, and was inspired by a girlfriend at the time.

The girlfriend constantly lost and misplaced her hair "scrunchies, barrettes and hair clips," said Kellmann. "I'd find them in the car, by the driveway and scattered throughout her house."

Kellmann was fresh out of college when he hit on an idea for a birthday present fo her -- an organizer for her hair accessories. I built a prototype and she loved it."

While the enthusiasm for the organizer lingered, the romance faded.

It wasn't until spring 1995 that the organizer came back to mind.

"The ex-girlfriend called, just to catch up," said Kellmann. "However, she mentioned that the thing that held her hair holders had broken and wondered if I had another one."

Kellmann redesigned the device he called Hair Holder Holder. It now had a new look, was stronger, and had some style.

"I decided to market it," said Kellmann.

Working with a Chinese manufacturing company, Kellman ordered 20,000 pieces and by early 1966, he was ready to market them. He got an order from a discount drug store in St. Louis, where it became a good seller. During the summer of 1996, developed a strategic partnership with Fit-All Sports Wear.

Two patents and two pending

Currently, Kellman has two patents and has two more pending. And, he's working on new products for the hair accessory market.

"A lot of people still know me simply as `the inventor,'" said Kellmann last week. "Several people came by at the women's show that remembered me. They didn't know my name, but they recalled me as the inventor."

B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.