"Once an avid tennis player, Sherri Wolf admitted that she has "not picked up a racquet in two and a half years." Her lunches with friends and shopping trips have ended. They're all casualties of Wolf's very demanding -and successful -business, Henry Brown Bags, named for her late grandfather, architect Charles Brown Henry.
Ironically, tennis is responsible for Wolf's business. Another player suggested that she create some tote bags designed specifically for tennis players and more attractive than what was available. Wolf sewed some bags, which friends quickly bought. She realized that what was a hobby could become a real business, but she wasn't sure how.
Although Wolf comes from a creative family with several business owners, she had no art or business education. She loved designing and textiles, though, and had enjoyed decorating the family homes she shared with her husband, Rick, and their three sons.
Her next step became clear when First Presbyterian Church sponsored a refugee family from Kosovo. When a fellow church member told Wolf that the father of the family had owned a factory that produced women's handbags, she realized that this man could be of real help to her fledgling business. "I remember the church member telling me that, I remember where we were standing," she said. "It seemed a sign" to move ahead and try to build the business.
Wolf bought an industrial sewing machine and hired the man to work nights and weekends. Orders increased from local stores. Sherri and Rick Wolf decided to go to their first national trade show in Atlanta: not to exhibit, but just to learn more about the business. There they met a woman who was so impressed with the tote bags Wolf carried that she became Henry Brown's first trade sales representative.
Soon Henry Brown Bags were selling faster than Wolf and her helper could produce them. "I was still playing tennis, still going to lunch with friends, but I could tell the business would become a much larger operation," Wolf explained.
Wolf contracted with two American factories, but both required such large production orders that she could not afford to offer many designs. In 2004, she switched to a Hong Kong manufacturer who was willing to do smaller production runs.
In May 2005, the first issue of Business Lexington mentioned that Henry Brown Bags was featured in the "O List" of Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine. Making the "O List" brought national recognition and instant credibility with buyers.
In only three years, Sherri Wolf has expanded her company to five lines (baby, canine, tennis, cottage, and weekend) plus a line for corporate sales. Henry Brown Bags are in more than 300 shops nationwide, including those at The Broadmoor, La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club and Blackberry Farm. Lexington sellers include the Cotton Patch, Peggy's, the Paperweight, Something Special, Rodes Campbell, and My Favorite Things.
Henry Brown Bags has also expanded to national coverage with manufacturer's representatives and permanent displays in wholesale/trade showrooms in Dallas and Atlanta. Wolf and her employees exhibit at the six major accessories trade shows each year. There are more employees, too: three full-time and three part-time. That's not counting Reagan, Wolf's handsome gray standard poodle who goes to work every day.
The rapid success of Henry Brown Bags shows that customers will pay more for a well-made bag of classical/traditional design. Wolf explained that while most handbooks and accessories are extremely trendy, "trendy is not what you think of when you see our product. Ours you can keep forever."
Another reason, Wolf added, is that "it's all in the details. That's kind of our motto at Henry Brown." She described herself as "a detail person" who will "put in the time to make (a design) perfect."
Executing those details of design, packaging, processing orders, shipping, setting up and taking down exhibits at national shows takes an incredible amount of hard work and long hours. Mastering the details of so many noncreative aspects of the business was more difficult that Wolf expected. But, Wolf noted, "Even the times I've been exhausted, dripping in sweat from hauling cartons, I've never hated or dreaded any part of what I was doing."
She added that creative people who want to develop businesses should "expect to give up a lot. It will take ten times as much time and ten times as much money as you think. But don't ever give up. It will all be worth it if you love what you're doing."
Ahead for Henry Brown Bags is a mention in the September issue of Cottage Living and the company is "in negotiations with a high-end major department store." How does Wolf see her company on its fifth anniversary, in 2008?
"I want Henry Brown Bags to be a recognized brand in every category we're in," she said. "I want customers to say, 'Let's see what Henry Brown has in that category.'"
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