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FEATURE
50 Mad by Design
products from Vietnam, our silks and eco-friendly bamboo, and natural mother of pearl shell bags. We do an animal- friendly leather line, an eco-friendly canvas bag, which is a post industrial recycled canvas made from scraps in textile mills. We repurpose the scraps and make laptop bags, mes- senger bags and lunch boxes.” In the fi rst couple of years, the MAD By Design website
was responsible for only a small fraction of the business. It is now responsible for about 35 percent and growing. “We do not sell retail on our website because we avoid competing against our retailers. Buyers are moving strongly to the web, but even if this trend continues, there is still a great need for trade shows. At a trade show, the buyer can touch and feel the quality of the product and then place an order when they get back to the offi ce,” says Stein. Stein handles the website himself. “Up until recently, I thought a website was this diffi cult, technical thing that you had to hire someone to do. I am currently work- ing to put more descriptive content into the website, and words which will be more searchable.” T e Steins go out of their way
to be fair to their reps around the country. T ey treat the workers in Vietnam with decency as well. “We spent a lot of time fi guring out how to make these bags in Vietnam. At the beginning, we had four people working for us there. Now we have over 400 people working fulltime. We are the world’s largest importer of mother of pearl and shell and horn handbags. For those 400 people, we pay above living wage, and we have no child labor. We have been there many times to check on these standards. T ere are a lot of bad things going on with labor in Asia, but we are not a part of that. It is very important to us.” MAD By Design sells about 20,000 of
these handbags a month. T e crossover handbags are typi- cal, and sell wholesale for $9.50 a unit and have a suggested retail of $21 to $23. MAD By Design has a minimum order of $200. “We try to have a retail friendly plan,” says Stein. “We
try to break down all of the barriers of resistance, so we have a very low opening price. At a trade show, we have no mini- mum order. We want new accounts and we pride ourselves on shipping our orders within 72 hours.” No customer will ever get stuck with a bag they cannot sell from MAD By Design, because the fi rm will take back a handbag within 60 days on an exchange program, as long as the bag is in resale condi- tion. “What sells in New York may not be the same thing that sells in Boise, Idaho. Tastes are diff erent. Since the catalog is so big, you can make some mistakes in your market. T erfore, if you buy ten to 15 pieces from us and don’t sell them, we have the 60 day exchange policy.” MAD By Design has a free dis-
At a trade show, the buyer can touch
and feel the quality of the product and then place an order.
Doug Stein, owner of MAD by Design
play program, with clutch displays, earring displays and ring displays. If a retailer places an order of a cer- tain size, they receive the display for free. MAD inventories 30,000 bags in its Chicago warehouse, and back orders only rarely occur. “Retailers who order on the web are sensi- tive about the time it takes to get an order. T ey seem to go to their computers, place an order, push the
send but on, and then wonder why the doorbell hasn’t rung.”
For more information:
MAD BY DESIGN LLC
1900 N Austin Avenue, Suite 57, Chicago, IL 60639
Toll Free: 877-MAD-2247 Email:
sales@mad-bags.com Website:
www.mad-bags.com
Find this story and more news and information at:
www.wholesalecentral.com/wholesale–news
60
April 2010
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