Inventor Brings Fashion, Function to Smartphones

Jamie James says "necessity is the mother of invention," although the North Hampton woman also found out that being a creative and responsive matriarch can also lead to an invention that has the potential to transform Seacoast technology.

James' daughter, Kaitlyn, was at Princeton University and frequently losing her student ID, which was required to enter her dormitory.

The ID often fell out of the loose gel case keychain she carried wherever she went, and James said Kaitlyn often found it cumbersome to travel across campus with her cell phone and credit card just in case she would need them each day.

This struggle helped spark an idea in the mind of James, a 20-year divorce attorney with an entrepreneurial spirit: What if there was an accessory that attached to a cell phone and managed these items in a fashionable way that wasn't bulky or prevented the phone from being "right in the palm of your hand?"

And thus, the "cellfolio" was born. It took over a year for James to get her leather, gender-neutral designer invention onto the market in 2011, although she said she's starting to see business take off because she's "cornered" a necessity in the technological marketplace.

"Cell phones really simplify your life, so I thought, 'Why not simplify your accessories and make your accessories part of the phone and in not a pocketbook or bag?'" said James, 52, who moved with her family from Andover, Mass., to North Hampton roughly two years ago.

The cellfolio, which James said is universal for all smartphones and is made on Long Island using Italian leather, comes in a variety of colors for each of the five different styles:

• "The Hamptons," the basic model and only one without a flip cover;
• "The Rye," which has a stand-like flip cover and room for cards and cash;
• "The Manhattan," a sleek wallet-like model made for men;
• "The Princeton," which has an exterior-facing ID window for students and professionals requiring ID;
• "The Uptown," which includes a zippered accessory pocket.

James said she's sold over 4,000 cellfolios across the country so far, largely through online sales and strong word of mouth. The latter, she said, has been generated by local vendor exhibitions and the fact that students are selling them on campuses like Princeton, Northwestern and Bates, and doctors are using them during national conferences.

"The Hamptons" costs $35, while all other models cost $58 and 5 percent of all profits go directly to helping fund child surgeries as a part of Smile Train. All models come with two sets of stiff loop-and-hook "snapping" Velcro, similar to the kind used on E-ZPass transponders, said James.

James said one of the most difficult parts of creating her invention at first was designing and patenting the fastening mechanism so phones didn't need alterations and could easily be removed to take pictures, the only phone use blocked by the case.

That turned out to be one of the easier steps when compared to social media networking and trying to gain market traction for a product she said isn't suited for sale in regular stores. Regardless of the challenges, though, and the long hours added on top of her busy caseload, James said it's all been worth it.

"I think you really have to be determined to make something work and you really have to believe in the product," said James, 52, who quickly comes across as an enthusiastic individual with wholehearted faith in her product. "I'm the kind of person who you can never tell, 'You can't do something.' It drives me that much harder... I go out to prove them wrong."

James said she hopes to one day expand the business into an international fashion accessory line, and has ambitions to have her product featured on "The Today Show."

She also has dreams it may one day be her sole form of income, as she's currently spending her retirement money to get her dream off the ground. That could create challenges down the road, although James said she's confident she'll be able to continue to expand her business and attract "angel donors" to help the Jamie James Collection brand really take off.

"It's all been really exciting, and really rewarding," said James, who said she particularly enjoys seeing strangers around the community using her invention.

More information about the cellfolio is available on James' website, as well as in the video attached to this article below the pictures of James, which were taken recently inside .