For those people who have cold feet about getting pedicures when the weather outside is not so hot – fear not. A new product keeps tootsies toasty and gives those who purchase them a warm feeling inside to boot, because a portion of the sales will help families with autistic children.
Joe Le stands next to his invention, Pedisock, which people wear during and after a pedicure to keep their feet warm. The Pedisock is the brainchild of novice inventor and professional manicurist Joe Le, 41, of Tinton Falls. Le works at the Nail Lounge in the Raintree shopping center, Freehold Township. His sister, Pamela Lee, and her husband, Kyle, own the shop.
“I got the idea for the Pedisock immediately after I started working at the Nail Lounge, but I didn’t have the right connections to make it,” Le said. “I noticed that people didn’t want to have pedicures in the winter because their feet would get cold (after they left the store wearing open shoes). I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if there was a pair of socks that people could use that would keep their toes exposed with toe separators built in?”
It took seven years, but Le got a trademark for his invention and formed a corporation. He made a prototype using a regular cotton sock designed with toe separators and sent it to a company that could perfect and mass produce the Pedisock at a reasonable cost. The socks sell for $10.
Le said, “One year after I began the process of creating the Pedisock, I received the first order. Two-and-a-half weeks later I had sold themall out just fromsetting up a display at the Nail Lounge.”
So far Le has been selling Pedisock at the Nail Lounge, but he plans to market them to salons and spas around the country. He also hopes to sell them on television, in department stores, and he would like to market them to private labels and designers using their individual logos.
Le said he plans to donate a portion of the proceeds to Parents of Autistic Children (POAC), a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of autistic children and their families.
Le’s son, Ryan, 3, was diagnosed with autism last year. Le said he and his wife, Jenny, are grateful for the strides Ryan has been making at theAtchison School in Tinton Falls and want to make this donation on behalf of him. POAC offers training and support to parents, siblings, caregivers and teachers in an effort to enhance the lives of all involved.
Ryan’s sisters, Tiffany, 8, and Emily, 5, do all they can to help their little brother.
“I want to be able to give back and help other people,” said Le. “I also want to be able to spend more time with my kids and have fun with them. I have lots of inventions in my head. If they are successful, maybe one day I can help other people who have ideas learn the process.”
Le’s optimistic view about never giving up on creating his projects, helping others and wanting to have fun with his children may stem from his own childhood experiences. Le remembers coming to the United States in 1980 at the age of 14 with high hopes after being sponsored by the Monmouth Baptist Church in Eatontown.
The deacon of the church and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Pearman, allowed the Le family to stay with themuntil they got settled.
The family had come to the United States after spending almost two years living in squalor in a refugee camp in Malaysia.
Le’s father, a baker who fled to Vietnam to escape communism in China, planned the escape of his wife and six children from Vietnam when the communists entered that country and took his business away. The elder Le planned the escape for three years before implementing it in 1975. He bought a boat and set off alongside two other boatloads full of people.
Only one boat made it to Malaysia, where the refugees were not welcome and where they were placed in a refugee camp with few provisions and deplorable conditions.
Five years later the family made it to America. “We arrived at JFK airport in New York on July 15, 1980,” Le explained. “I knew no English and was put in fifth grade at age 14. I learned a new language, lived in a different world and had to adjust. I was the oldest of six kids and worked after school picking strawberries and peaches with my mother. My father worked two jobs. When I got older I worked as a busboy. We all did everything we had to do to become proud citizens of the United States.”
Le eventually took out loans and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University. He then set out to learn how to be a baker in order to fulfill his father’s dream. He opened a bakery with his brothers and sisters on the shores of Sandy Hook bay in Atlantic Highlands, but a major storm that flooded the area contributed to the demise of that business. When he applied to a local business for a job as a baker he was told he was overqualified. At that point Le went to school to learn to become a manicurist for the Nail Lounge.
Le still dreams of making his father proud and helping others the way he and his family were aided. He believes that with hard work and perseverance, anything is possible.
“If I’m successful with this idea,” Le said with his ever-present smile, “I will have accomplished my American Dream and I will never forget those who helped me along the way.”
Formore information visit theWeb site www.pedisock.com.