Past Winner Stories
Vera Bradley
www.verabradley.com
The company Vera Bradley has its roots in a vision shared by two friends who were able to look beyond mistakes and obstacles on their way to creating a multi-million-dollar business that shows no signs of slowing down.
Vera Bradley, which offers a large selection of cotton quilted handbags, travel bags and accessories and licensed products, made news recently by announcing the opening of three retail stores bearing the Vera Bradley name—a significant accomplishment for a brand. The stores open this fall in Phoenix, Ariz., Fort Wayne, IND., and Dayton, Ohio. The company already sells its items at more than 3,500 retailers and at two other stores under its name in Carmel and Plainfield, IND.
While the company’s recent developments testify to the strong name recognition that Vera Bradley has gained among savvy shoppers, the beginnings of the Fort Wayne-based company were quite humble, according to its co-founders, Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Patricia Miller.
“When we were just starting, we made many mistakes,” Miller says. “Looking back, we could perhaps attribute our success to the fact that we never took time to worry about these mistakes. Instead, we looked for solutions—sometimes coming out better because of those mistakes. We believe that utilizing this theory is one of the keys to our success.”
The two friends, motivated to create feminine-looking luggage, launched their company more than 20 years ago in Bradley Baekgaard’s basement. One of their immediate needs was to purchase large quantities of fabric wholesale. However, the pair soon realized that most fabric companies set minimum purchase amounts that were much higher than what Bradley Baekgaard and Miller needed.
The founders refused to back down. They wrote letters to many wholesale fabric companies inquiring about purchasing yardage. There were no responses. Instead of being discouraged, they decided to make personal visits to the companies.
That perseverance paid off when Bradley Baekgaard traveled to New York to visit a well-known fabric wholesaler. It was a gamble because she didn’t have an appointment. When she arrived, Bradley Baekgaard announced that she was with Vera Bradley. She was asked to wait in the lobby and moments later, she was ushered into the vice president’s office.
After the executive began asking Bradley Baekgaard about her specific needs, he started to realize that he had mistakenly assumed that she was a buyer for a large well-known company, she recalls. “Baffled, he asked, ‘How did you get in here?’” Bradley Baekgaard recalled. The two laughed about the case of mistaken identity and the executive decided to waive the minimum purchase for the upstart company.
Today, Vera Bradley is one of the fabric wholesaler’s largest volume customers.
In another case, Vera Bradley faced a dilemma when an employee ordered 25,000 zippers that turned out to be the wrong size. The company couldn’t exchange them because it was a non-returnable order. Instead of panicking over the expenditure, the owners quickly decided to make a new bag that would use this type of zipper. That bag is now one of the company’s best sellers.
The company also continues to be challenged by the need to keep up with demand. “Throughout our explosive growth, we had to be inventive about manufacturing and shipping in order to meet our consumer demand,” Bradley Baekgaard says.
In spite of what lies ahead, Vera Bradley plans to forge onward—regardless of any mistakes or obstacles they may face.
“At Vera Bradley, we don’t look at mistakes as negative,” Miller says. “We look at them as ways to be inventive, learn and develop new ideas. As a company, we take lemons and make lemonade.”
Vera Bradley, which offers a large selection of cotton quilted handbags, travel bags and accessories and licensed products, made news recently by announcing the opening of three retail stores bearing the Vera Bradley name—a significant accomplishment for a brand. The stores open this fall in Phoenix, Ariz., Fort Wayne, IND., and Dayton, Ohio. The company already sells its items at more than 3,500 retailers and at two other stores under its name in Carmel and Plainfield, IND.
While the company’s recent developments testify to the strong name recognition that Vera Bradley has gained among savvy shoppers, the beginnings of the Fort Wayne-based company were quite humble, according to its co-founders, Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Patricia Miller.
“When we were just starting, we made many mistakes,” Miller says. “Looking back, we could perhaps attribute our success to the fact that we never took time to worry about these mistakes. Instead, we looked for solutions—sometimes coming out better because of those mistakes. We believe that utilizing this theory is one of the keys to our success.”
The two friends, motivated to create feminine-looking luggage, launched their company more than 20 years ago in Bradley Baekgaard’s basement. One of their immediate needs was to purchase large quantities of fabric wholesale. However, the pair soon realized that most fabric companies set minimum purchase amounts that were much higher than what Bradley Baekgaard and Miller needed.
The founders refused to back down. They wrote letters to many wholesale fabric companies inquiring about purchasing yardage. There were no responses. Instead of being discouraged, they decided to make personal visits to the companies.
That perseverance paid off when Bradley Baekgaard traveled to New York to visit a well-known fabric wholesaler. It was a gamble because she didn’t have an appointment. When she arrived, Bradley Baekgaard announced that she was with Vera Bradley. She was asked to wait in the lobby and moments later, she was ushered into the vice president’s office.
After the executive began asking Bradley Baekgaard about her specific needs, he started to realize that he had mistakenly assumed that she was a buyer for a large well-known company, she recalls. “Baffled, he asked, ‘How did you get in here?’” Bradley Baekgaard recalled. The two laughed about the case of mistaken identity and the executive decided to waive the minimum purchase for the upstart company.
Today, Vera Bradley is one of the fabric wholesaler’s largest volume customers.
In another case, Vera Bradley faced a dilemma when an employee ordered 25,000 zippers that turned out to be the wrong size. The company couldn’t exchange them because it was a non-returnable order. Instead of panicking over the expenditure, the owners quickly decided to make a new bag that would use this type of zipper. That bag is now one of the company’s best sellers.
The company also continues to be challenged by the need to keep up with demand. “Throughout our explosive growth, we had to be inventive about manufacturing and shipping in order to meet our consumer demand,” Bradley Baekgaard says.
In spite of what lies ahead, Vera Bradley plans to forge onward—regardless of any mistakes or obstacles they may face.
“At Vera Bradley, we don’t look at mistakes as negative,” Miller says. “We look at them as ways to be inventive, learn and develop new ideas. As a company, we take lemons and make lemonade.”