Lisa Murphy

Seattle, WA (USA)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal

Emilie Sloan

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Location: Seattle
Industry: Wholesale
Year Founded: 2008
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Business Stage: Growth (not profitable)
Entity Type: "C" Corporation
Description: Emilie Sloan is an innovative lifestyle brand, focused on offering busy women expressive, functional handbags and accessories with a designer's touch, at an accessible price. Most printed bags on the market are cheaply made and don’t offer women the functionality they need to have as their go-to, everyday bag. Emilie Sloan products are made from the inside out; each bag is created for a purpose and designed for the products that are put in them. Our bags are also heavy duty and made to last in any kind of weather, with cotton laminated fabric in a matte finish, so you have to feel the fabric to even know there is a coating on it. We have a strong customer base who we listen to; we improve our products on a regular basis from reading unbiased customer reviews on sites like (URL removed) and (URL removed). By making products women appreciate and love using on a daily basis, we have become a fast growing brand with a sales network of over 1000 independent retailers in a short amount of time. The company was started in the founder’s basement in 2008 where bags were made on a simple sewing machine. The brand has quickly grown to nearly $800,000 yr, in less than 3 years. The response has been strong and has continued to grow each year! Business Model: Emilie Sloan designs products that are manufactured in China at a very reasonable cost producing 70% contribution margin while achieving the product quality, look and feel that distinguishes ES from our competitors. Our products are then sold wholesale to independent boutique retailers, e-commerce sites and to direct customers who order on our website at a high profit margin. We have over 1,000 stores who wholesale our products in nearly every state in the country. We also have a national sales force of independent sales representatives who are paid on a commission basis. We have been contacted by several international distributors we look to work with in the near future. ES website provides direct retail sales. Email marketing will be used to deepen the wholesale/consumer relationship and promote sales. Management: Lisa Murphy is the founder, designer, sales coordinator and has been the manufacturing and product manager for 3 yrs. She has been the only full-time person working for Emilie Sloan since she founded the company in 2008. Securing capital will enable Lisa to hire several key people to grow the company. Sonia Feinroth has extensive retail experience including executive experience at Nordstrom; purchasing, product design and strategy. Carol Hoffman, CMA, has broad supply chain, financial, and operations experience. Cora Martin's email marketing and website expertise is complemented by retail experience. Joe Boldan is our primary advisor, he is the founder and former president of ExOfficio, a men's clothing company. Customer Problem: Innovative, functional, well-made, designer handbags and accessories are not available at an accessible price. There is a gap in the market for cleverly designed, stylish handbags to help women stay organized. In addition to superior functionality of our products, our products are offered in distinct, custom prints that are not available anywhere else. Our custom-designed prints and products are not easy to reproduce; fabric matte-lamination process difficult to achieve soft, durable finish. Securing a capital investment will enable us to increase our sales and marketing effort. Product/Services: Each season, ES ushers in a fun mix of instant classics. Clean lines, vibrant color, quality and, of course, rainproof fabric are the calling cards of Emilie Sloan. The bags are designed with a customer centric strategy. Target Market: Based on an ES market research report, "average" customer is awoman, age 30-35, married with children, lives in urban/suburban areas, welleducatedwith moderate to high income. Products appeal to women from the teens to seniors. ES operates in the $16 billion (Packaged Facts) accessories industry. The company also competes in the $4 billion US handbag market (Mintel), which has grown at a 4.2% CAGR since 2004, despite the economic downturn. Customers: Current: 1,000 independent gift and lifestyle shops, e-commerce; ebags/endless/(URL removed), Nordstrom, AAFES, online direct consumers. New: Travel Smith, AAA. Potential: White Pebbles (UK sales/distribution). Sales/Marketing Strategy: ES has an established network of sales reps and house accounts that cover nearly every state. We will screen and selectively grow reps and wholesale accts to increase avg "per door" sales. ES collections are displayed in five upscale showrooms in key cities to attract new accounts throughoutthe year. Competitors: Our closest competitors are Vera Bradley and GigiHill. Emilie Sloan's waterproof fabric and vibrant floral designs are distinctly different from Vera Bradley's quilted fabric and mosaic designs. Gigi Hill prints are not custom and can be seen on other company's products. Each company focuses ondifferent sales channels as their primary revenue source, i.e., Vera Bradley is shifting from indirect to direct retail stores, Gigi Hill uses home parties, and our primary focus is indirect retail (lifestyle stores). Competitive Advantage: In addition to superior functionality of our products, our products are offered in distinct, custom prints that are not available anywhere else. Our custom-designed prints and products are not easy to reproduce; fabric matte-lamination process difficult to achieve soft, durable finish. Securing a capital investment will enable us to increase our sales and marketing effort.