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A father's idea turns into a family business at Versa Gripps

Mike Parker started Versa Gripps in the late 1990s to help give people lifting weights a better grip. Today the family business makes around 600 pairs a day that are sent all over the world.

SORRENTO, Maine (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- A small town in Hancock County is home to a successful business in the world of fitness and body building.

Mike Parker started making Versa Gripps in the late 1990s. Friends had complained to him about the wrist straps and gloves they used to work out with. He decided to come up with a product to solve their problems. If his company's reach today says anything, it's that his idea was a good one. Versa Gripps are ordered by customers all over the world.

"Organically grown through word of mouth," said Parker. "Person walks through a gym with these on and the next thing you know the gym wants to put them in their pro-shop, or a personal trainer wanting to offer them to their clients."

A pair of Versa Gripps.

Versa Gripps is a true family owned business. Parker is the CEO, his wife Heather is President, daughter Willa is a co-owner and other daughter Katelyn Brey is the production and event coordinator. Brey left her job as a personal trainer in Boston to come back to Maine and join the Versa Gripps team. Who better to demonstrate and explain how they work than her.

"Gives you confidence when you go into the weight room," said Brey. "Gets you off of that cardio machine and gets you so you can really lift and get your body in a stronger performance level."

Around 600 pairs of Versa Gripps are made a day at the Sorrento business. An efficient process for employees and the family that manages them.

Versa Gripps worker sewing. 

"More than anything else it's a lot of fun," said Parker. "It's a lot of fun to have something that you create catch on to a degree that it takes on a life of it's own. To do it in the state of Maine, even that much better."

Versa Gripps start at around $35 a pair. To celebrate spring and warmer weather the company is offering free shipping in the U.S. until May 1st.

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