Gym buff invents a solution to carrying sweaty clothes

What to do about those dirty, smelly, sweaty gym clothes, shoes, towels and socks after you've used them?

Ted Kole, a Center Moriches entrepreneur, has come up with a new solution. So maybe it's no longer necessary to stash them in a plastic bag, which often rips.

Kole, a self-confessed gym fanatic, was a lead graphic designer in Northrop Grumman Corp.'s media services group. Last October he retired, after nearly 38 years with the company, and started a new sports gear company, Ironworks Gear Llc, in Center Moriches. The former Grumman company was nicknamed the Ironworks.

Kole and his brother, Walter Kole, now of Pennsylvania, developed the Ironworks Sport Tote, a reusable, waterproof, polyester bag coming in three sizes, the smallest 9-by-12 inches and the largest 14-by-20 inches. An antimicrobial treatment inside the totes helps keep the sweaty stuff from smelling, Kole said. The totes sell from $5.95 to $9.95. Kole said he wants to actively promote the totes, produced in pink, for breast cancer awareness, for promotional giveaways.

Kole has sold about 100 of the totes to Steve Nash Health Clubs, which has fitness centers in Canada. He has made the rounds of Long Island health clubs and bicycle stores, which he said have expressed interest in his product.

"It's just a sanitary way of schlepping around those clothes," Kole said.