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Denver Company Offers Tools Just For Women

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May 29, 2009 6:24 am US/Mountain

Denver Company Offers Tools Just For Women

Written by Brooke Wagner

Reporting
Brooke Wagner
DENVER (CBS4) ― A dozen women fill a comfortable living room, eating hors d'ouvres and chatting. Meantime, a smiling consultant shows off her latest wares -- not jewelry, makeup, or food storage containers ... but tools.

Pink tools, as a matter of fact.

This is the scene at a typical Tomboy Tools party.

"These aren't just pink, cute tools. These are practical tools," noted Denver party guest Debbie Steele.

They have been called "Tupperware parties - With Tools," but the Tomboy Tool parties are unique. The brainchild of Tomboy Tools CEO Janet Rickstrew and co-founder Mary Tatum, these gatherings are designed to educate and empower women by arming them with not only tools, but knowledge.

Rickstrew says fixing your own home is one of the best ways to beat the recession.

"We're offering a value, so when someone comes to a tool party, they can feel good about spending money on something that, in turn, will save them money," said Rickstrew. "You'd be amazed by how much you can save by doing some of the simple projects, like basic plumbing. Who has not had a leaky faucet? We'll show you how easy that is to repair."

When the idea was born, Rickstrew had attended a direct sales party for gourmet food and wondered if the concept would work with tools. At the time, she was fixing up houses and "flipping" them for sale. She was frustrated with the size, shape and limited function of many of the tools she used.

Tomboy Tools are designed to be ergonomic and sized for a woman's hands.

"We put unique features on our tools that make the job easier. So, for instance, our tape measure; it's fractionalized, so instead of counting hashmarks, which I used to do all the time, now you can identify it as 5/8ths of an inch," Rickstrew said.

Denver-based Tomboy Tools took baby steps toward expansion, according to Rickstrew. However, last year, it posted a 46 percent increase in growth, during one of the nation's toughest years for business.

"We're saving our customers money and there's that additional opportunity to join the company and make extra money. So what we're seeing is a lot of women who are out of a job or looking for additional income. This is a perfect fit, because you're your own business owner," Rickstrew said.

Tomboy Tools has more than 2,000 consultants and has plans for overseas expansion beyond its current presence in the United Kingdom. Through "Pink for a Purpose" sales, the company has donated a $250,000 to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

The company adheres to its slogan, "Women, Tools, Knowledge ... Pass it on" by teaching women how to do everything from tiling a backsplash to fixing a toilet.

"We say, 'We clean them, why not learn to fix them?'" Rickstrew said.

Tomboy Tools sells kits for specific jobs, such as tiling or plumbing, so women don't have to brave the big box store. The tools are for sale on the company Web site, but Tomboy prefers to sell them through parties, so fix-it education is included in the purchase price.

"I can go put the whole project together and have the right tools. I never thought that was something I could do," said Steele "They've thought about the things we want to do with tools."


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