Word: grips
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...comfortable, quick-drying innovation is fitted with a variable web of beltings, tethers and buckles that snugly grip the toes and the ankle while keeping the foot from sliding back and forth. A tough rubber sole and a high arch take the off-road punishment expected by hikers and mountain climbers; hot colors and a high-tech look are now attracting buyers who want to wear what the rugged, back-to-nature types swear by. "They're all I wear when it's warm," says Dale Covington, who works at the Trailhead, a Missoula, Mont., outfitter, and owns two pairs...
...stick-to-itself Velcro on a sphere that is roughly the size of a tennis ball. Apply the same stuff to two mitt- size disks that have a strap across the back for a handhold. Presto! A craze known variously as Magic Mitts, Scatch, Katch-a-Roo and Super Grip Ball. On streets, playgrounds and at the beach, players have added their own fancy moves, twisting into pretzel shapes to make behind-the-back catches, or getting a grip on the ball while doing a high-kick. Another trick: strapping a mitt on each hand to grab two balls...
...popular version of the game is Super Grip Ball, which is distributed by Paliafito America Inc. The company's founder, Mark Paliafito, 25, tried out a South Korean-made set on young players in a baseball league he was coaching last fall. "They loved it," he says, "and I started thinking about the potential this kind of thing had." With his brother John, 24, he formed a small California company, and in January bought the U.S. marketing rights with the guarantee that he would spend at least $1 million on advertising...
During the traditional spring-break bacchanalia, the Paliafitos handed out hundreds of free mitts and balls to college students on Florida and Texas beaches. The game caught on like, well, Velcro, and since then the Paliafitos say they have sold 650,000 of their Super Grip Ball and taken orders for nearly 1 million more...
...popping neon colors, Super Grip sells briskly in toy stores and at the 75-store Sharper Image chain, whose typical customer is described as a man in his early 40s. What's the allure? "When the economy gets tough, you need a diversion," says Stephen Sandberg, owner of Sanco Toy Co., in Foxboro, Mass., who has shipped 100,000 Scatch games. "You look for something simple to do. You use your imagination, and make up your own rules...