| Eliza B. started designing at an early age. She seemed to have
a good sense of composition and style. Her parents ignored her.
Around eighth grade, Eliza started showing up at her father’s
place of business where she began gluing ribbons together. On
weekends, she begged “to go to the factory” where
she would spend hours creating new designs. She became convinced
that some of her designs would have willing buyers. Her father
ignored her.
Eventually she became quite insistent. In an effort to “stop
all this nonsense,” some of her products were produced
and offered for sale at the Surf Show in Orlando. The line
had fresh colors and a youthful look. Retailers were quick
to give the line a try. Their customers were even quicker
to take the products home. In fact, Leather Man, a company
that traditionally sold men’s belts and sandals to
specialty stores, suddenly found itself in a whole new business.
For years, the factory was filled with navy blues, hunter
greens and khakis. After Eliza B. hit, it looked like the
factory had finally bloomed. Everywhere you looked there
were bright colors … grosgrains, gingham checks, polka
dots and stripes. In fact, everything seemed to be a lot
more fun. People were buying our products because they loved
them. Previously they bought them because the old ones wore
out.
There was one complaint. Most of the stores attracted to
our new products were upscale boutiques in East Coast resort
communities … Nantucket, Delray Beach, Boca Grande
and Vero Beach. They loved the line, but weren’t too
sure about the name. What did it have to do with leather?
Or men for that matter? And there was another issue. Our
salespeople would walk in to a boutique and announce they
were from Leather Man. The storeowner would thank them for
stopping by, then quickly send them on their way. On more
than one occasion, that same storeowner would call a week
or two later and ask to view our new line. Seems they had
heard about Eliza B. from another storeowner … wanted
to give it a try … were very sorry about running them
out of the store … how could a line called Leather
Man possibly fit into their product mix? So in the summer
of 2002, we went eponymous. Eliza B. became official.
The response to the line has been startling. Sales are up
sharply and at times, our deliveries have been awful. We
are trying to catch up, but it is apparent that there is
a market for an attractive, good quality, handmade, last-fitted
sandal. Rest assured that as we slowly rev up our production,
we will not lose our way. We make our products the best way
we know how. We charge a fair price and we try to be easy
to deal with. Thank you for your patience.
And Eliza B. herself? She is still around and stops by every
now and then to give us pointers. We are carrying on where
she left off. In the fall of 2003 she entered college.
Her parents are pleased that she figured out a way to pay
for her college education before she even showed up on campus.
|
