Colorado cool stuff: Leashlocket, glide-on wax, Flexfire

LEASHLOCKET
After running a collection agency in the Denver area for years, the husband-an s xd-wife team of Dave and Valerie Marshall dove headfirst into the pet products industry with the LeashLocket last year. Available in two sizes and four colors, the LeashLocket contains a 6-foot retractable leash, then snaps onto your dog’s collar when not in use.
“Our tag line is ‘Let your dog carry the leash for a change,'” Dave says. “It’s especially good for taking your dog to the
dog park.”
Almost six months after its launch, the product is “getting some traction,” he adds. “We’ve got leashes in the U.K. and Japan, and we’ve got a big order coming from Australia.”
$24.99 retail.

Made by LeashLocket Ltd., Denver, (877) 698-2011,
www.leashlocket.com . Also available in numerous stores in Colorado; a store locator is on the website.

GLIDE-ON WAX
Lin Martin got the recipe for her first batch of Glide-on Wax from her boss at her former job at a polymer lab in 2005.
“I mixed some up, not knowing anything about ski wax – I don’t even ski,” she says. “People loved it.”
So Martin honed the mix – which includes wax and a secret polymer but none of the toxic additives many competitors employ – in a lab at her home in Bayfield.
Today, numerous Durango-area ski shops use Glide-on Wax because of its durability and plasticity as well its green nature. “The product basically sells itself,” Martin says.
“It’s just a matter of getting people to try it.” $10 for
three sticks retail.

Made by Glide-on Wax, Bayfield, (970) 769-1282, www.glideonwax.com . Also available at Ski Barn and 2nd Avenue Sports in Durango.

SLATETEC
Longtime roofer Mike McDonough first installed a SlateTec-style roof in 2000, then found the manufacturer went out of business a few years later. A decade later, he located the banker who owned the patent and bought it, relaunching the product last year.
SlateTec roofs are real slate roofs designed to be installed as a replacement. SlateTec roofing materials are 40 percent lighter than traditional slate, so no extra reinforcement is needed, but they look just as good, McDonough says.
“If you put a traditional roof on the left and a SlateTec roof on the right, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.” The durability (and 100-year guarantee) is another big selling point, he adds. “Real stone is real stone. It’s been around for millions of years.” $425 per 100 square feet of material.

Made by SlateTec Inc.,
Wheat Ridge, (303) 462-3037, www.slatetec.net.

FLEXFIRE
Adam Wickam’s résumé includes a stint as a plumber and business school at University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, and he somehow managed to meld the two with his love of video games in his entrepreneurial career.
Four years ago, Wickam, now 30, made a bendable rifle to play Nintendo Wii shooting games out of plumbing scraps, and immediately saw the advantages over the motion-controlled pointers that come with the Wii and the PlayStation Move.
“It’s very difficult to operate those pointers,” he says “It’s almost like controlling the onscreen player’s eyes with
a wand.”
Compatible with the PlayStation Move, the FlexFire is more accurate and “re-centers automatically,” says Wickam, whose favorite PlayStation titles are “Resistance” and “GoldenEye 007.” “It makes playing these games a lot
easier.” $29.99 retail.

Made by ProdaGen LLC,
Windsor, (970) 325-3539,
 www.flex-fire.com . Also available on Amazon.com and
numerous stores in Colorado.
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