Anyone who has been in a wedding collectively knows that there isn’t an ideal way to secure a boutonniere to a garment. The open back pins that everyone uses are difficult to use, somewhat dangerous and typically fail within the hour. As a result, wedding photos, with upside-down boutonnieres, are ruined. After being in a couple of weddings, I thought that there had to be a better way to secure the boutonniere to a lapel. I bought several tools and spoke to a couple of jewelry designers to learn how to bend and straighten wire. I cut the wire to the proper length, twisted it with clamps to straighten and harden it, then put one end of the wire into a drill attachment and rotated it at speed between a sharpening stone and a file to sharpen the wire to a pinpoint. Then I bent the wire and added locking pin backs. After the prototype proved useful, I found a manufacturer to make the pins and bought the backs wholesale from Shenzhen. My partners and I then started a business to sell these pins. I have learned about branding, accounting, manufacturing, design, patents, selling, website design and entrepreneurship from this venture. I hope this device will secure all boutonnieres to wedding and formal attire in the near future.
