ONLINE COMMUNITY:

A NEW WEB SITE BRINGS INDEPENDENT HANDBAG DESIGNERS TOGETHER.
(Emily Blumenthal's Handbagdesigner101.com)


Source: WWD
Publication Date: 03/29/2007
Author: Levs, Melanie Lasoff
COPYRIGHT 2007 Fairchild Publications, Inc.
Byline: Melanie Lasoff Levs



Independent handbag designers and handbag aficionados now have a new online resource to support their passion.

Handbagdesigner101.com, created by designer Emily Blumenthal and launched in October 2006, features information on a different independent designer each day. The site gives personal background and business history, as well as photographs of the bags and where to buy them. Visitors can search for specific bag types, write comments and read blogs such as "Celebrity Bag Watch" and "Bag Trends." Designers also can post events related to their lines in "Handbag Events."

"It's more accessible than glossy fashion Web sites where you don't even feel you can afford a pair of socks they're talking about," Blumenthal said, adding that she logs some 1,000 new visitors per day.

To be featured on the site, designers must make their own bags and/or be part of the business process. If they make that cut, they then answer questions "on how they got started, their greatest successes and biggest nightmares," said Blumenthal. "The essence is that this designer's unique bag is now humanized for the customer."

Blumenthal herself designs a line of wallet-wristlets called Yasmena and its lower-priced version, the Yazzy Bag, which retails for $12 at yasmena.net. While working toward her MBA at Fordham University in 2000, she was looking to put her business skills to the test. Rather than study an existing business, Blumenthal started her own. Guerilla marketing led to the Yasmena bag's appearance on HBO's "Sex and the City" and sightings on the wrists of celebrities including Edie Falco and Sarah Jessica Parker. Blumenthal also appeared on QVC three times.

Soon, aspiring designers contacted Blumenthal for help starting their own companies. "The more people I spoke to, the more it became obvious that there is no venue for handbag designers to truly be featured and appreciated for the time, effort and love that is put into developing and creating their lines," she said.

Jessica Weisblum, who worked in production development for a large cosmetics company, was a designer of the day in December 2006. She started creating her Jessica Jaye Italian leather bags in 2005 and learned of handbagdesigner101.com from a friend. "I've used the site to see what other new designers are creating," she said. "It's always great to see the many ways style and trend can be interpreted or even re-created."

Being on the site has widened exposure of her bags, which retail for $325 to $400 and are sold in one Connecticut boutique and in her online store (jessicajaye.com). "I've sold bags to customers from other states and I now have customers I wouldn't have been able to reach before," Weisblum said.

Handbagdesigner101.com also provides publicity for new designers who may not have money for their own publicist, she added. "Not only does the site offer us a chance to get our names out there, but it's also a sort of support team."

Blumenthal plans to grow handbagdesigner101.com into a membership-based organization for independent handbag designers within the next year, and include a job board and educational opportunities.

Costs of running the site are nominal. Currently, there are no ads and designers do not pay to be featured. But Blumenthal expects to generate income from the site by yearend through sales and advertising.

Currently, the Web site is generating income through a new venture - organizing the first Independent Handbag Designer Awards, which will be given out June 20 at the Museum of the City of New York. Paid sponsors include the Fashion Business Improvement District, M&J Trimming, Rosen and Chaddick Fabric, Global Leather, Parsons The New School for Design and Wells Fargo Century Factor.

The event will include awards for best student designer, most socially responsible handbag and best handmade bag, among others. Blumenthal hopes to hold the event annually.