![\"SharkNinja](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/5VKHXC3Z75HMDBRTI6MYBUOSWM.jpg\")
SharkNinja chief executive Mark Barrocas.Photo courtesy of SharkNinja<\/p>\nDe Innocentis, 1620\u2019s chief executive and largest shareholder, said he hopes to make all of the company\u2019s clothing lines \u2014 which include $200 work pants, $150 hoodies, and $300 cold-weather jackets \u2014 at the East Boston plant within the next 12 to 18 months. (1620 cofounder Josh Walker left about a year ago, but remains a shareholder.) De Innocentis said two of the factories he relied on have filed for bankruptcy, underscoring the advantage of taking the manufacturing work in-house. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to secure our own destiny,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Revenue at Amesbury-based 1620 Workwear continues to grow at around 20 percent a year \u2014 solid, but not as strong as during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also recently pared back the number of different items it sells, to get more efficient, though it still guarantees the workmanship for life, with a permanent offer for free repairs. It can also turn around designs more quickly because the clothes aren\u2019t made overseas. And focusing on product quality instead of price point has allowed 1620 to differentiate itself from competitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking better, longer-lasting product, it takes time for that reputation to come to fruition,\u201d De Innocentis said. \u201cThe consumer that seeks out an American-made product is more committed now than ever. Have we reached the riches that we thought we would? Definitely not. But has the product exceeded expectations? 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
SharkNinja chief executive Mark Barrocas.Photo courtesy of SharkNinja<\/p>\n
SharkNinja is setting up its own \u201cShark Tank.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much like that reality TV show, Needham-based SharkNinja is holding an entrepreneurship contest in which finalists make in-person pitches for business ideas. The consumer products company is working with startup accelerator MassChallenge to run the contest.<\/p>\n
The SharkNinja Innovation Challenge<\/a> is open to 18- to 24-year-olds with ideas that could help SharkNinja solve consumer problems, including how to make products or packages more universally accessible or reimagine them so they\u2019re more environmentally sustainable.<\/p>\n Entries are due Oct. 24, and six to 10 finalists will be picked for a \u201cShark Tank\u201d-style pitch meeting in March. The top three will win cash prizes of up to $25,000, and all finalists will get support and mentorship from SharkNinja and MassChallenge, including assistance with patent preparation.<\/p>\n For chief executive Mark Barrocas, this is another way of promoting SharkNinja as a cutting-edge company where engineers and technical designers want to work, and to build on its science-and-math outreach to local schools. \u201cI want SharkNinja to be known as a Boston innovation powerhouse,\u201d Barrocas said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also a way for SharkNinja, perhaps best known for its Shark line of vacuums and Ninja blenders, to find new ideas.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could partner with these entrepreneurs . . . to commercialize these ideas,\u201d Barrocas added. \u201cIt\u2019s not the exclusive reason for [the contest]. That is definitely the hope.\u201d<\/p>\n MassChallenge chief executive Cait Brumme says SharkNinja\u2019s sponsorship will help cultivate a new generation of entrepreneurs. <\/p>\n \u201cWe think this will help us support a whole new category of inventors,\u201d Brumme said. \u201cWe absolutely hope that the teams that are local will think of us as a home base, as they will also hopefully think of the SharkNinja offices [while bringing] teams from other cities to Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n Health care pays off, for lobbying<\/p>\n All the uncertainty<\/a> around the future of health care<\/a> is great for business \u2014 if you\u2019re in the lobbying business.<\/p>\n In Massachusetts, the top four spenders on lobbying in the first six months of 2025 were health care trade groups, according to new data from Secretary of State Bill Galvin\u2019s office. The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association ($578,000) nudged out last year\u2019s number one spender, the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, which was close behind at No. 2 ($550,000). Rounding out the top four: the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and the Association for Behavioral Healthcare.<\/p>\n The biggest corporate spender was Keolis, the commuter rail operator ($225,000), followed by simulcasting operator Sterling Suffolk Racecourse, and hospital chains Beth Israel Lahey Health and Mass General Brigham.<\/p>\n For Smith, Costello & Crawford, which is on track to be the busiest lobbying firm yet again, founder Jim Smith said health care was the primary growth driver. Smith\u2019s firm reported $3.7 million in lobbying fees on state issues in the first six months of 2025, compared to $2.9 million a year ago, widening its gap ahead of Tremont Strategies Group, the second-busiest firm. <\/p>\n Smith\u2019s firm took on most of the late Phil Johnston\u2019s clients after his death, and recently landed Danielle Fleury, who lost her job as deputy administrator at the federal Health Resources and Services Administration because of budget cuts. The firm now has 10 full-time employees and a half-dozen consultants.<\/p>\n Drops in federal reimbursements under President Trump and a Republican-led Congress are driving much of the uncertainty, especially for a sector primarily consisting of nonprofits. <\/p>\n Smith, Costello & Crawford rose through the ranks of Boston lobbying firms by focusing on health care, energy, and marijuana. Energy continues to keep the firm busy, particularly as Massachusetts officials plow ahead with decarbonization efforts. But oversaturation in retail cannabis has meant that some of the firm\u2019s marijuana business has gone up in smoke.<\/p>\n No early exit for John Nucci<\/p>\n There aren\u2019t many people in Boston who can draw three former mayors along with more than a dozen current and former city councilors for their retirement party.<\/p>\n But there aren\u2019t many people in Boston quite like John Nucci, the former city councilor who helped reposition Suffolk University\u2019s downtown campus<\/a> as its senior vice president of external affairs.<\/p>\n Nucci, who is 73, drew a crowd of political and business leaders to his sendoff at Suffolk\u2019s law school last week \u2014 including former mayors Ray Flynn, Marty Walsh, and Kim Janey. State Representative Adrian Madaro, who hails from Nucci\u2019s neighborhood of East Boston, read a proclamation from Mayor Michelle Wu declaring Sept. 30 to be \u201cJohn Nucci Day.\u201d<\/p>\n Suffolk president Marisa Kelly talked about the lasting impact Nucci has had on the university, in part by shifting its locus away from the Beacon Hill neighborhood with its construction in the Downtown Crossing area over the years.<\/p>\n Walsh worked with Nucci on a deal to refurbish<\/a> an East Boston park so it could be shared with athletes from Suffolk and local high school and youth teams. Walsh also praised Nucci for helping to open up Suffolk dorms in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic for homeless residents, saving \u201chundreds of lives with that gesture of kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n One recurring joke involved Nucci\u2019s skill at quietly leaving events early. State Representative Aaron Michlewitz congratulated everyone for staying longer than Nucci would have stuck around, and Nucci\u2019s son Daniel Nucci noted how his 6-foot 4-inch Italian dad \u201cperfected the Irish exit.\u201d (All three of Nucci\u2019s sons, including Michael Nucci and John Nucci, graduated from Suffolk.)<\/p>\n Other than Nucci, the person who drew the most applause was Kerri Perullo, who in 2018 donated one of her kidneys to ensure he could have a life-saving transplant. <\/p>\n Nucci started off his remarks by joking how lucky he felt, seeing who would attend his funeral, before he dies. <\/p>\n He offered sobering words about public discourse in today\u2019s charged climate. \u201cTry to find common ground,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t always have to win to move things forward.\u201d<\/p>\n And he joked that maybe he has one more political adventure left in him, by saying: \u201cI\u2019m going to go home and wonder if I should run for something or not.\u201d<\/p>\n And he probably was only half-kidding about that.<\/p>\n Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @jonchesto<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Health](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AYIS5UDHJ3XYPFA46OCRXZ4OKA.jpg\")
Health care is a hot topic among the state’s lobbyists.Suzanne Kreiter\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/HTVEGIBLAXURTI7GQ67W5XVJXY.jpg\")
John Nucci posed for a portrait in 2021.Erin Clark\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n