A Handbag History: Monica Botkier’s Tale of Transition and Triumph | Emily Blumenthal & Monica Botkier

Transcript

Handbag Designer Journey and Stories Pursuing Fashion Photography and Discovering Accessories From Accidental Designer to Business Growth Branding Challenges and Customer Demographics Building a Business Founder's Journey Monica Bakir

WEBVTT 00:00:00.861 --> 00:00:18.147 <v Emily Blumenthal>Hi and welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast with your host, Emily Boomenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, where we cover everything about handbags, from making, marketing, designing and talking to handbag designers and industry experts about what it takes to make a successful handbag. 00:00:25.347 --> 00:00:29.855 <v Emily Blumenthal>Monica, I'm so excited to have you to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast. 00:00:29.855 --> 00:00:32.387 <v Emily Blumenthal>If there's anyone who should be on this, it's you. 00:00:32.808 --> 00:00:33.350 <v Monica Botkier>Thank you. 00:00:33.350 --> 00:00:36.249 <v Monica Botkier>I'm excited to be here and I love that your book is in the background there. 00:00:37.021 --> 00:00:38.707 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, if you wrote a book, you might as well have it. 00:00:38.707 --> 00:00:39.979 <v Emily Blumenthal>Where's your book, my book? 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:43.109 <v Monica Botkier>is actually at my apartment and not on display here. 00:00:43.109 --> 00:00:46.469 <v Monica Botkier>You should bring it with you wherever you go, right? 00:00:47.100 --> 00:00:50.286 <v Emily Blumenthal>I only have a few copies left, I think, oh my God, I still buy my own. 00:00:51.362 --> 00:00:59.027 <v Monica Botkier>I don't understand how it all works, you know, because I see some like resale quite hot for my book but then it's like, isn't it still available? 00:00:59.027 --> 00:00:59.448 <v Monica Botkier>I don't know. 00:00:59.448 --> 00:01:02.008 <v Monica Botkier>It's one of those things that I did as a labor of love. 00:01:02.008 --> 00:01:07.251 <v Monica Botkier>It was kind of a bookend for that whole handbag, literal bookend 20 years in handbags. 00:01:07.251 --> 00:01:13.079 <v Monica Botkier>I think at that point it was 15 years in handbags and I just wanted to commemorate it by doing something like that. 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:14.224 <v Monica Botkier>And what's the name of your book? 00:01:14.224 --> 00:01:17.501 <v Monica Botkier>It's called Handbags a Love Story, a-d-c. 00:01:17.501 --> 00:01:24.072 <v Monica Botkier>Basically it tells you all the I guess collectibles, the little secrets behind a lot of the designer brands. 00:01:24.072 --> 00:01:27.751 <v Monica Botkier>It really is a nice memory lane thing too. 00:01:27.751 --> 00:01:32.206 <v Monica Botkier>I think that it's a moment in time because handbags become classics. 00:01:32.206 --> 00:01:38.564 <v Monica Botkier>But they also commemorate certain trends and fads and like it's funny now to see like what was in the book. 00:01:38.965 --> 00:01:40.870 <v Monica Botkier>20 years later it's there. 00:01:41.070 --> 00:01:43.644 <v Emily Blumenthal>You know you know what's wild is that. 00:01:43.644 --> 00:01:52.272 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, I've known you for a long time but you know, I was teaching, I was at FIT when Kate Spade herself passed away. 00:01:52.272 --> 00:02:00.649 <v Emily Blumenthal>And I mean, I think you and me, people like us, we remember that because we know her story, we know the origin story, how she got started, the whole thing. 00:02:00.649 --> 00:02:10.165 <v Emily Blumenthal>But when I was talking to my students and I said, yeah, she was actually the first one we were supposed to honor for the Handbag Awards, so many of them didn't even know that Kate Spade was a person. 00:02:10.165 --> 00:02:15.691 <v Emily Blumenthal>And I know but your brand and how do you officially pronounce your last name? 00:02:15.691 --> 00:02:17.566 <v Emily Blumenthal>Because I've heard it in multiple ways. 00:02:17.566 --> 00:02:19.002 <v Emily Blumenthal>I love that people want to make it. 00:02:19.063 --> 00:02:19.806 <v Monica Botkier>French and call it by. 00:02:19.806 --> 00:02:23.604 <v Monica Botkier>I know, it is not Bat-Kie, it is Bat-Kie. 00:02:23.604 --> 00:02:26.860 <v Monica Botkier>We must preface this by saying it is my former brand. 00:02:26.860 --> 00:02:28.645 <v Monica Botkier>It is not my brand. 00:02:28.806 --> 00:02:31.222 <v Emily Blumenthal>Correct, correct, but you spawned it. 00:02:31.222 --> 00:02:34.465 <v Emily Blumenthal>But the brand is still very much around, it's still very much sold. 00:02:34.465 --> 00:02:44.550 <v Emily Blumenthal>And to bookend that about Kate Spade, when I was talking to my students about your brand, how I said actually I know the creator and they said, oh, there was a creator. 00:02:44.550 --> 00:02:49.806 <v Emily Blumenthal>I thought it was just a brand name and I was like, oh God, years that's what 20 years get you right. 00:02:50.209 --> 00:02:53.828 <v Monica Botkier>I know and I remember when I started the brand I was toying with. 00:02:53.828 --> 00:02:56.361 <v Monica Botkier>Do I call it Monica Bat-Kie or just Bat-Kie? 00:02:56.361 --> 00:03:00.312 <v Monica Botkier>But I thought Bat-Kie was very much like Gucci or something. 00:03:00.312 --> 00:03:01.764 <v Monica Botkier>Right, like it just read. 00:03:01.764 --> 00:03:06.991 <v Monica Botkier>Well, and I did not opt for putting my full name on it, which I'm still glad to this day. 00:03:06.991 --> 00:03:11.550 <v Monica Botkier>I think aesthetically and just as far as creative direction goes, I think that was the right move. 00:03:11.550 --> 00:03:14.305 <v Monica Botkier>I looked good in a logo and it does. 00:03:14.305 --> 00:03:14.945 <v Monica Botkier>It did. 00:03:15.206 --> 00:03:19.223 <v Emily Blumenthal>It does Past and present, president and past, however you want to say it. 00:03:19.223 --> 00:03:26.395 <v Emily Blumenthal>Wow, no, it's like of that time when you started, it was you. 00:03:26.395 --> 00:03:31.653 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's like going back to talking about, I mean, people like you and me like talking about that era. 00:03:31.653 --> 00:03:34.022 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's like, wow, who are the big brands? 00:03:34.022 --> 00:03:41.991 <v Emily Blumenthal>It was you, it was Minkoff, and then who are the other brands that popped up at, these solopreneur, female founded handbag brands? 00:03:41.991 --> 00:03:45.168 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, I don't think there's any of them left at this point. 00:03:45.187 --> 00:03:45.949 <v Monica Botkier>No, I mean Cuba. 00:03:45.949 --> 00:03:47.383 <v Monica Botkier>Remember how big Cuba was? 00:03:47.383 --> 00:03:48.806 <v Monica Botkier>For a minute, I do, I do. 00:03:48.806 --> 00:03:51.508 <v Monica Botkier>I think that was when Simpson was the. 00:03:51.508 --> 00:03:57.789 <v Monica Botkier>I feel like she put them on the map, but I could be wrong, but that was like when reality TV just really started to hit. 00:03:57.789 --> 00:04:01.784 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, yeah, really interesting right, cuba was sold. 00:04:02.126 --> 00:04:07.526 <v Emily Blumenthal>I think Manhattan Portage was sold, like all of those brands at that point, manhattan Portage. 00:04:07.526 --> 00:04:14.292 <v Emily Blumenthal>But when the thefts were going on in LA, you know where the celebrity LA thefts were at the bling ring. 00:04:14.292 --> 00:04:14.752 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah. 00:04:14.752 --> 00:04:24.608 <v Emily Blumenthal>I know one of your bags was stolen in one of them because I saw her on the documentary and my bot gear bag was stolen and I'm like what a moment in time to catch her. 00:04:25.060 --> 00:04:26.045 <v Monica Botkier>You want to know something. 00:04:26.045 --> 00:04:29.529 <v Monica Botkier>I have a crazy clip from the New York Post. 00:04:29.529 --> 00:04:31.346 <v Monica Botkier>I think it was like 2004. 00:04:31.346 --> 00:04:39.728 <v Monica Botkier>Somebody was mugged and the guy and his girlfriend and I just remember there was a snippet in there that she didn't want to give up her bot gear bag. 00:04:39.728 --> 00:04:41.665 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like, oh my God, have I arrived? 00:04:41.665 --> 00:04:42.961 <v Monica Botkier>How crazy that was. 00:04:42.961 --> 00:04:47.244 <v Monica Botkier>On the time of like Sex in the City, that kind of thing, they were pulling bags from us. 00:04:47.244 --> 00:04:50.846 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, there's a wild ride, you know, a literal wild ride. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:05:01.310 <v Emily Blumenthal>So because I know your story so well and really what this podcast is about is highlighting the journeys of what it takes to create a brand, a successful brand. 00:05:01.310 --> 00:05:02.232 <v Emily Blumenthal>Look at Bad and the Ugly. 00:05:02.232 --> 00:05:05.226 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean you had a lawsuit tied into the Kardashians. 00:05:05.226 --> 00:05:06.230 <v Emily Blumenthal>I remember that. 00:05:06.230 --> 00:05:10.730 <v Emily Blumenthal>I kept that, I kept the articles and I was texting you like, wow, how are you doing? 00:05:10.730 --> 00:05:11.845 <v Emily Blumenthal>Because that was a thing. 00:05:11.845 --> 00:05:17.151 <v Emily Blumenthal>So I remember going way, way, way back, you know, to our toddlerhood in Handbagland. 00:05:17.151 --> 00:05:18.803 <v Emily Blumenthal>You were a photographer. 00:05:18.803 --> 00:05:20.790 <v Emily Blumenthal>You stumbled upon letters. 00:05:20.790 --> 00:05:23.026 <v Emily Blumenthal>What was the origin story of all? 00:05:23.065 --> 00:05:23.827 <v Monica Botkier>that, yeah. 00:05:23.827 --> 00:05:33.706 <v Monica Botkier>So my dream, since I was probably like 12, was to be a fashion photographer, and I think I was very influenced by magazines at the time, so I did pursue that path. 00:05:33.706 --> 00:05:34.663 <v Monica Botkier>I was able to. 00:05:34.663 --> 00:05:40.466 <v Monica Botkier>Being a New York City kid, I went to the specialized junior high school where I majored in media and photography. 00:05:40.507 --> 00:05:41.108 <v Emily Blumenthal>Which one. 00:05:41.127 --> 00:05:43.531 <v Monica Botkier>Mark Twain, oh, my God, you made that commute. 00:05:43.531 --> 00:05:50.646 <v Monica Botkier>Well, I grew up in Manhattan Beach, so it was not a commute, it was 15 minutes oh my God, you were one of the lucky ones I was. 00:05:50.766 --> 00:05:52.360 <v Monica Botkier>I was exactly and then. 00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:58.810 <v Monica Botkier>But then I went to LaGuardia music and art and I did make that commute to the Upper West Side from Manhattan Beach. 00:05:58.810 --> 00:06:05.144 <v Monica Botkier>That was unfortunate, but hey, I didn't know any better back then and certainly had all the energy, but I was an art major there. 00:06:05.144 --> 00:06:25.350 <v Monica Botkier>I didn't know that I was able to minor in photography and I did all these incredible things, like when I was 16, I used to go to the Suzanne Barsh Drag Balls that she would have at the Copacabana once a month and I have the most incredible photos of all the drag queens and I mean these costumes were just so creative. 00:06:25.350 --> 00:06:26.745 <v Monica Botkier>It was mind blowing and inspirational. 00:06:26.745 --> 00:06:29.824 <v Monica Botkier>So, new York City at that time, did you imagine your? 00:06:29.903 --> 00:06:31.067 <v Emily Blumenthal>daughter doing that now. 00:06:31.427 --> 00:06:31.629 <v Monica Botkier>No. 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:36.050 <v Emily Blumenthal>You know like, hey, mom, I'm going to go to this behind the scenes of a drag show. 00:06:36.050 --> 00:06:39.646 <v Emily Blumenthal>Let me get back to you because I'm taking pictures, so don't worry, it's all good. 00:06:39.826 --> 00:06:40.908 <v Monica Botkier>I mean it is weird. 00:06:40.908 --> 00:06:41.589 <v Monica Botkier>You know it is weird. 00:06:41.589 --> 00:06:43.093 <v Monica Botkier>I mean my oldest is 18 now. 00:06:43.093 --> 00:06:44.305 <v Monica Botkier>I guess I could see her doing it. 00:06:44.346 --> 00:06:52.240 <v Monica Botkier>But I was a junior in high school at the time and like me and my best friends would go and I would take a camera in there and like develop the film and yeah. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:56.865 <v Monica Botkier>But I was like getting home at 5am and then like getting ready for school, you know, right after no sleep. 00:06:56.865 --> 00:06:58.305 <v Monica Botkier>But we did that once a month. 00:06:58.305 --> 00:07:03.646 <v Monica Botkier>So it wasn't like like at the time we can handle it, but it was incredible A lot of inspiration everywhere. 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:14.290 <v Monica Botkier>Couple years after that I was like sneaking into the fashion shows in Bryan Park, like we were able to do that and like QR coded and over managed, I guess. 00:07:14.290 --> 00:07:18.088 <v Monica Botkier>So there's ways to get through and see things for yourself. 00:07:18.088 --> 00:07:18.670 <v Monica Botkier>So put it that way. 00:07:18.670 --> 00:07:20.244 <v Monica Botkier>But I was pursuing. 00:07:20.244 --> 00:07:23.567 <v Monica Botkier>So I went to NYU, I pursued a career in photography. 00:07:23.567 --> 00:07:39.262 <v Monica Botkier>It was a very fine art based program but there was one commercial photographer on staff their faculty and I was able to go on a couple of shoots with him and you know, did the whole thing cold called the magazines, got internships, really looked at all the aspects of fashion, did you? 00:07:39.302 --> 00:07:40.367 <v Emily Blumenthal>have a problem at the time. 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:45.173 <v Monica Botkier>No, I had an apartment, because at that point New York wasn't expensive like it is now. 00:07:45.173 --> 00:07:46.297 <v Monica Botkier>So I even lived in Manhattan. 00:07:46.297 --> 00:07:47.220 <v Monica Botkier>So that was amazing. 00:07:47.220 --> 00:07:48.725 <v Monica Botkier>So I moved out in high school. 00:07:48.725 --> 00:07:55.048 <v Monica Botkier>My last semester of high school I got out of school at noon, so I got a job and I made really good money. 00:07:55.048 --> 00:07:56.170 <v Monica Botkier>It was funny enough. 00:07:56.170 --> 00:07:57.564 <v Monica Botkier>It was like this Wall Street job. 00:07:57.564 --> 00:08:02.567 <v Monica Botkier>It was like typing up confirmations for trades and stuff, and I didn't know anything about what I was doing. 00:08:02.567 --> 00:08:05.846 <v Monica Botkier>I was just following along, but it was paid really well and my friend had moved out. 00:08:05.846 --> 00:08:10.529 <v Monica Botkier>She was 18 already, but I was still 17 and I convinced my parents I'm going to NYU. 00:08:10.569 --> 00:08:11.252 <v Monica Botkier>What's the big deal? 00:08:11.252 --> 00:08:17.009 <v Monica Botkier>I'll just live, you know, the last four months of high school and I was such a pretty two shoes, no drugs, no drinking. 00:08:17.009 --> 00:08:24.141 <v Monica Botkier>I did smoke cigarettes, though, but you know, I went to school, finished like, did the whole thing, and it was great, like all around. 00:08:24.141 --> 00:08:52.471 <v Monica Botkier>I got a big independent experience and New York was so inspiring and, yeah, I just kept pursuing fashion photography, and so what really led me to accessories was more being on set with these amazing accessories, because as an assistant, I got on some high level shoots, and so my best designer stuff was there and I was for some reason really interested in leather work, very inspired by that stuff, so even uniform and gear and things like that. 00:08:52.471 --> 00:08:58.809 <v Monica Botkier>I just I liked the way that was designed with function, but then to elevate it was very inspiring. 00:08:59.320 --> 00:09:09.192 <v Emily Blumenthal>At this point, though, as a result of probably you being so immersed in New York and knowing all these people, you were able at a young age, to get yourself into places where most people couldn't. 00:09:09.192 --> 00:09:12.229 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's not like you had nepotism or anything else. 00:09:12.229 --> 00:09:16.886 <v Emily Blumenthal>You were a city kid and that was it, so your hustle was there just purely by default. 00:09:17.087 --> 00:09:19.846 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, I think so, and I mean, I was definitely a shy person. 00:09:19.846 --> 00:09:26.785 <v Monica Botkier>So, to this day, blame me not being famous fashion photographer on the fact that I was just not the right personality for it. 00:09:26.785 --> 00:09:38.210 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, I think I had the talent and I definitely had the interest and passion, but I didn't have the skill set in terms of like networking and becoming important to certain editors. 00:09:38.210 --> 00:09:41.179 <v Monica Botkier>And, yeah, it was too much of a nice girl Like it. 00:09:41.179 --> 00:09:42.561 <v Monica Botkier>Just I wasn't that interesting. 00:09:42.561 --> 00:09:44.823 <v Monica Botkier>I guess I don't know, you're the oldest right. 00:09:45.063 --> 00:09:48.010 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, thank you, and your parents were immigrants, right. 00:09:48.392 --> 00:09:50.692 <v Monica Botkier>Yes, they were very funny immigrants. 00:09:50.692 --> 00:09:51.046 <v Monica Botkier>I mean. 00:09:51.046 --> 00:09:55.769 <v Monica Botkier>I keep hearing immigrant stories where the parents were like you have to be an accountant, you have to be a doctor. 00:09:55.769 --> 00:09:57.211 <v Monica Botkier>They were definitely not like that. 00:09:57.211 --> 00:10:03.219 <v Monica Botkier>They were like just do whatever, follow your passion, Think about the fact that you have to pay your rent. 00:10:03.219 --> 00:10:04.144 <v Monica Botkier>But I don't know. 00:10:04.144 --> 00:10:15.784 <v Monica Botkier>I would say my mom, in particular, was very supportive of the creative process and being creative, and she's creative herself not in terms of any kind of career, but she takes great photographs. 00:10:15.784 --> 00:10:17.331 <v Monica Botkier>She's got great personal style. 00:10:17.331 --> 00:10:19.793 <v Monica Botkier>She's somebody that appreciates beauty. 00:10:20.024 --> 00:10:21.089 <v Monica Botkier>You were born here, though. 00:10:21.089 --> 00:10:22.131 <v Monica Botkier>Right, I was born here. 00:10:22.131 --> 00:10:25.373 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, ok, it's not typical, because my mom's Polish and my dad's Russian. 00:10:25.373 --> 00:10:34.832 <v Monica Botkier>So there are different immigration groups and worlds here, and I wasn't really part of any of that, even though they have friends in both, really. 00:10:34.832 --> 00:10:43.553 <v Monica Botkier>But yeah, so I don't know, I just I guess I kept working towards the goal of being a fashion photographer, but I also got to see how stylists work. 00:10:43.553 --> 00:10:48.831 <v Monica Botkier>My first jobs actually were stylist assistant with a guy that's now a pretty successful photographer. 00:10:48.831 --> 00:10:58.575 <v Monica Botkier>He switched gears and, yeah, I just saw all aspects of that business and, long story short, I was trudging along and suddenly got really inspired by handbags. 00:10:58.575 --> 00:11:03.950 <v Monica Botkier>I personally think it was because of Tom Ford and his Mombasa bag that he did for YSL. 00:11:03.950 --> 00:11:05.394 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, it kicked off. 00:11:05.394 --> 00:11:11.389 <v Monica Botkier>It ignited a passion for me that I never knew I had to that extent, and I used to go look at them. 00:11:11.389 --> 00:11:12.352 <v Monica Botkier>It's Bergdorf Goodman. 00:11:12.352 --> 00:11:14.251 <v Monica Botkier>They used to have him in these glasses. 00:11:14.251 --> 00:11:15.246 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, it's just like. 00:11:15.246 --> 00:11:17.479 <v Monica Botkier>That is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. 00:11:17.485 --> 00:11:21.331 <v Emily Blumenthal>Snap back with the horn handle and you know I kept the story. 00:11:21.331 --> 00:11:22.566 <v Emily Blumenthal>I don't even know Jesus. 00:11:22.566 --> 00:11:24.513 <v Emily Blumenthal>I don't even know if I was teaching already. 00:11:24.513 --> 00:11:28.892 <v Emily Blumenthal>I feel like I may have been, because I started teaching while I was still getting my MBA. 00:11:28.892 --> 00:11:31.533 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's like a weird story how all that kind of went down. 00:11:31.533 --> 00:11:43.870 <v Emily Blumenthal>But the Mombasa bag is actually a cautionary tale of editorial in that they over gifted to too many editors and this obviously predated the interwebs and social media and all that good stuff. 00:11:43.870 --> 00:12:05.974 <v Emily Blumenthal>But what they had done because the gifting to influential editors which is who what influencers were at that time right, because you would gift the editors and then the editors would hopefully wear it and then that's where your testimonials would come from but what had happened is they were part of that whole cycle of gifting which happens now to this day. 00:12:05.974 --> 00:12:12.191 <v Emily Blumenthal>But they over gifted to too many fashion editors, so it had a massive spike and the decline was just as fast. 00:12:12.191 --> 00:12:12.913 <v Emily Blumenthal>Oh, wow. 00:12:13.065 --> 00:12:22.870 <v Emily Blumenthal>Because so many editors were insulted that they saw that other lower level editors that actually received it and Bloomingdale's had knocked off that bag faster than any other bag. 00:12:22.870 --> 00:12:25.133 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's a quote, unquote affordable price point. 00:12:25.133 --> 00:12:30.452 <v Emily Blumenthal>But that bag to me was mind blowing, like oh my god, it's a hobo. 00:12:30.452 --> 00:12:32.629 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's structured, but there's a horn as a handle. 00:12:32.629 --> 00:12:34.909 <v Emily Blumenthal>Like who does that and how can you get away with that? 00:12:35.091 --> 00:12:40.428 <v Monica Botkier>Incredible, and also even just the type of leather that they used and it was raw on the inside. 00:12:40.428 --> 00:12:41.250 <v Monica Botkier>I bought one. 00:12:41.250 --> 00:12:42.092 <v Monica Botkier>I actually bought one. 00:12:42.092 --> 00:12:43.375 <v Monica Botkier>I love to tell you you still have it. 00:12:43.375 --> 00:12:44.618 <v Monica Botkier>I don't, I sold it. 00:12:44.618 --> 00:12:47.392 <v Monica Botkier>I sold it to fund the sample making for BODCARE. 00:12:47.392 --> 00:12:57.625 <v Monica Botkier>Actually, that's awesome A couple of designer bags that I somehow scraped together and then I will tell you, just as a side note, I'm missing a bunch of great bags from my archive. 00:12:57.625 --> 00:13:03.909 <v Monica Botkier>Like I don't know where they are and I know I didn't sell those, so that's a side note, but you know and your daughters don't have some. 00:13:04.191 --> 00:13:11.292 <v Monica Botkier>No, but the other bag that was really inspiring was the Balenciaga, the Modo right, the city, that whole story. 00:13:11.292 --> 00:13:21.571 <v Monica Botkier>And I remember seeing editors with that one, the first one that came out, which was a smaller size, and I'm so flawless With the oversized hardware and everything that came out, even a little later. 00:13:21.571 --> 00:13:27.471 <v Monica Botkier>The first ones were really small, were smaller, they didn't have small and that was like a $1,500 bag back then. 00:13:27.471 --> 00:13:28.014 <v Monica Botkier>I remember. 00:13:28.014 --> 00:13:43.330 <v Monica Botkier>Any case, I just started to really feel for those designs and I had a best friend who was a successful model and she bought the Fendi spy bag and I was like this thing is incredible, or maybe somebody bought it for her, I don't remember, but I don't know. 00:13:43.544 --> 00:13:57.875 <v Monica Botkier>I started to feel for these designs and then I thought to myself well, obviously I can't afford it on a photo assistant, and I also then transferred into being a photography producer when I made the decision to stop assisting and start shooting. 00:13:57.875 --> 00:14:09.337 <v Monica Botkier>I was lucky enough to work with this incredible group that produced all these amazing shoots, so I had even more leeway to talk to other people on set besides the photography. 00:14:09.337 --> 00:14:10.024 <v Monica Botkier>Right, right, right. 00:14:10.024 --> 00:14:11.462 <v Monica Botkier>Who yelled at you all the time? 00:14:11.462 --> 00:14:12.561 <v Monica Botkier>Oh, my god, did they ever? 00:14:12.561 --> 00:14:14.004 <v Monica Botkier>Oh, my god, they threw cameras. 00:14:14.004 --> 00:14:16.703 <v Monica Botkier>It was a really wild time, isn't that amazing? 00:14:17.573 --> 00:14:18.605 <v Emily Blumenthal>There was like no respect for stuff. 00:14:18.605 --> 00:14:20.985 <v Emily Blumenthal>Like I've seen so many things thrown. 00:14:20.985 --> 00:14:23.184 <v Emily Blumenthal>I was working at a handbag manufacturer. 00:14:23.184 --> 00:14:24.644 <v Emily Blumenthal>I saw stapler thrown. 00:14:24.644 --> 00:14:26.004 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean it's nuts. 00:14:26.004 --> 00:14:28.404 <v Emily Blumenthal>Like none of that stuff you could get away with now. 00:14:29.370 --> 00:14:32.964 <v Monica Botkier>No, I mean you'd be totally ostracized and filmed and I got it on it. 00:14:32.964 --> 00:14:37.503 <v Monica Botkier>Plus, I was like one of five working female photographer assistant. 00:14:37.503 --> 00:14:39.630 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, exactly it was wild, it was wild. 00:14:40.044 --> 00:14:43.909 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's just like I'm keeping my mouth shut and saying please and thank you, like wow, what a film. 00:14:44.385 --> 00:14:46.451 <v Monica Botkier>Now it's supposed to be upset about some of this. 00:14:46.451 --> 00:14:52.270 <v Monica Botkier>You know like I had one guy who's a pretty big photographer and I wouldn't out him. 00:14:52.270 --> 00:14:54.250 <v Monica Botkier>But he was kind of like let's date. 00:14:54.250 --> 00:14:56.991 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like no, and he's like, ok, I'm not going to hire you anymore. 00:14:56.991 --> 00:14:59.091 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like, oh, all right then. 00:14:59.091 --> 00:15:00.707 <v Monica Botkier>Well, I don't like you, so I'm not going to date you. 00:15:00.727 --> 00:15:07.730 <v Monica Botkier>I was like, all right, I didn't realize like what a massive offense I was, but obviously with all my friends that were models, like they took a lot of shit. 00:15:07.730 --> 00:15:13.692 <v Monica Botkier>Thank goodness the industry has changed, I think, a large amount, but anyways, back to handbags. 00:15:13.692 --> 00:15:23.734 <v Monica Botkier>So yeah, I got inspired and one day I'm walking down Bleecker Street and there was one of these places we make bags and I was like, oh, so I go in there. 00:15:23.734 --> 00:15:24.970 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like I have an idea. 00:15:24.970 --> 00:15:31.773 <v Monica Botkier>And she's like well, she was a Turkish woman and I had just come back from Turkey and Greece and I was like feeling I bought a Turkish carpet bag. 00:15:31.773 --> 00:15:36.552 <v Monica Botkier>I like haggled for, I was like feeling myself and like really sitting everything. 00:15:36.552 --> 00:15:38.230 <v Monica Botkier>Actually I was sitting everything. 00:15:38.230 --> 00:15:45.049 <v Monica Botkier>And she was like, no, no, you can pick from these bag designs and we have all these different leathers and we make you a kutsum. 00:15:45.049 --> 00:15:46.551 <v Monica Botkier>And I said, how about making my design? 00:15:46.551 --> 00:15:47.408 <v Monica Botkier>Would you do that for me? 00:15:47.408 --> 00:15:48.528 <v Monica Botkier>And she said yes. 00:15:48.528 --> 00:15:52.330 <v Monica Botkier>So I went and got a bag made and then I happened? 00:15:52.350 --> 00:15:52.912 <v Emily Blumenthal>How much was it? 00:15:52.912 --> 00:15:55.171 <v Emily Blumenthal>It was expensive $300. 00:15:55.171 --> 00:15:56.655 <v Emily Blumenthal>Oh my god, that's nothing. 00:15:56.655 --> 00:15:59.549 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean then it would, then it was a lot. 00:15:59.764 --> 00:16:03.075 <v Monica Botkier>In 2002, I think it was a lot, yeah, but I don't know. 00:16:03.075 --> 00:16:04.892 <v Monica Botkier>Like I said, I wasn't really great with money. 00:16:04.892 --> 00:16:08.235 <v Monica Botkier>I was spending it on things that I felt were necessary. 00:16:08.235 --> 00:16:11.193 <v Monica Botkier>I don't know, I don't know what I was eating back then, but maybe handbag. 00:16:11.193 --> 00:16:12.690 <v Monica Botkier>So yeah, I don't know. 00:16:12.710 --> 00:16:19.150 <v Monica Botkier>I got the bag made and I had lunch or dinner maybe, with a friend who was a menswear designer and she was like what is that bag? 00:16:19.150 --> 00:16:21.393 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like, oh, I designed it myself, I had it made. 00:16:21.393 --> 00:16:25.330 <v Monica Botkier>And she was like, listen, I'm doing the premier class trade show in Paris. 00:16:25.330 --> 00:16:26.710 <v Monica Botkier>She gave me a few in Paris. 00:16:26.710 --> 00:16:30.052 <v Monica Botkier>Make me a few samples and let's see what happens. 00:16:30.052 --> 00:16:32.931 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like, really, and then I thought it was going to cost me. 00:16:32.931 --> 00:16:35.948 <v Monica Botkier>With these people, it's going to cost me $1,000 to make three bags. 00:16:35.948 --> 00:16:42.634 <v Monica Botkier>And I didn't know anything about manufacturers and the garment center and all those resources at that time yet. 00:16:42.634 --> 00:16:48.397 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like, oh, it's going to redo my portfolio, for the talk About money, exactly. 00:16:48.397 --> 00:16:50.690 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like, ah, but then I said, ok, let me go for it. 00:16:50.690 --> 00:16:57.052 <v Monica Botkier>So I did it and I literally got her three iterations of the trigger bag, basically like two hours before her flight. 00:16:57.764 --> 00:17:11.334 <v Monica Botkier>Very interestingly, this gave me some confidence because she had a really good response and one of the people that responded wanted my information right away was a woman that wound up working for me as my head of sales because she was actually going to open a store in the meat packing. 00:17:11.334 --> 00:17:13.794 <v Monica Botkier>This is when meat packing hadn't been developed yet right. 00:17:13.794 --> 00:17:25.013 <v Monica Botkier>Our store plans fell through, so she wound up actually coming to work for me, but subsequently that was a bit later, immediately after I'd made these samples and got them back I was kind of like, hey, I've got something here right. 00:17:25.013 --> 00:17:33.311 <v Monica Botkier>My other friend had a friend who was a buyer at Barney's, but she was not the accessories buyer, she was also on maternity leave. 00:17:33.311 --> 00:17:39.452 <v Monica Botkier>So she said well, have your friend send me a package on a bag and if I like it I'll keep the bag and give her the contact info. 00:17:39.452 --> 00:17:42.332 <v Monica Botkier>And that's how it happened. 00:17:42.332 --> 00:17:46.756 <v Monica Botkier>And I still remember the name of the buyer Carrie Chapman. 00:17:47.105 --> 00:17:49.353 <v Emily Blumenthal>OK, so I have a Carrie Chapman story too. 00:17:49.724 --> 00:17:50.971 <v Monica Botkier>I don't know what she is right now. 00:17:51.065 --> 00:18:00.251 <v Emily Blumenthal>I'm sure I can find out on LinkedIn she's upstate or something, but Carrie was the first buyer I ever met with my bags and she always took time. 00:18:00.251 --> 00:18:11.553 <v Emily Blumenthal>She was always polite and she looked at my bags and I remember her saying you should get out of here before anybody else sees these, because they still need a lot of work, so that's funny. 00:18:11.704 --> 00:18:12.669 <v Monica Botkier>So she was very honest. 00:18:13.704 --> 00:18:18.492 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, no, I remember because she took the time and there were very few buyers at that time. 00:18:18.492 --> 00:18:23.614 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, it was like Oz pulling the curtain and she was very like this isn't going to work. 00:18:23.614 --> 00:18:26.253 <v Emily Blumenthal>But here's what you could do and try this, this and that. 00:18:26.253 --> 00:18:27.670 <v Emily Blumenthal>Well, oh yeah. 00:18:28.305 --> 00:18:29.931 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so funny. 00:18:29.931 --> 00:18:35.492 <v Monica Botkier>Well, I, very quick, I sent the email to Carrie and to Julie Gilhart oh my god, I had to. 00:18:35.492 --> 00:18:39.109 <v Monica Botkier>But immediate response, they were like, when can you come up here? 00:18:39.109 --> 00:18:51.028 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like, but at that point, for whatever reason, I had made like 10 bags in some really great leathers, but I was buying like one-off skins, right, right, right, I think, cow hides, so I could make a few. 00:18:51.028 --> 00:18:54.609 <v Monica Botkier>So I don't really know how it happened, where were you buying your leathers? 00:18:54.609 --> 00:18:59.031 <v Monica Botkier>Well, I think one of my earliest was global and then I really worked with Libra. 00:18:59.031 --> 00:19:01.231 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, those were the early days. 00:19:01.231 --> 00:19:05.028 <v Monica Botkier>But funny enough, at the same time I was like, hey, I was feeling kind of bullish. 00:19:05.028 --> 00:19:14.549 <v Monica Botkier>So my friend Jennifer Smith, who I don't also know where she is these days, but she must have been the fashion director of Lucky- I was just going to say it was Lucky Magazine. 00:19:14.770 --> 00:19:15.613 <v Emily Blumenthal>Oh, Lucky Magazine. 00:19:15.613 --> 00:19:16.896 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, yeah, yeah I sent it to her. 00:19:17.164 --> 00:19:20.695 <v Monica Botkier>But I had only met her as an assistant, as a photo assistant. 00:19:20.695 --> 00:19:23.855 <v Monica Botkier>So I said, hey, you know, I did like a four by five shoot Right. 00:19:23.855 --> 00:19:32.292 <v Monica Botkier>So I had these crisp photos of these and I said, emailed them to her, like those old little apples that were just like those rare company computers. 00:19:32.292 --> 00:19:38.894 <v Monica Botkier>I remember sitting down on my glass desk like, ok, I don't even know honestly how I scanned the photo in. 00:19:38.894 --> 00:19:41.752 <v Monica Botkier>I think I had like one of those flat bit scanners growing. 00:19:41.752 --> 00:19:43.217 <v Monica Botkier>Oh my god, it was ridiculous. 00:19:43.217 --> 00:19:45.868 <v Monica Botkier>But anyway, I said, hey, I think I'm going to start a handbag line. 00:19:45.868 --> 00:19:46.945 <v Monica Botkier>What do you think she was like? 00:19:46.945 --> 00:19:48.090 <v Monica Botkier>Come in, like now. 00:19:48.704 --> 00:19:50.532 <v Monica Botkier>I went in to Condé Nast. 00:19:50.532 --> 00:19:55.574 <v Monica Botkier>I actually sold a few handbags Because you had like two samples left to show. 00:19:55.574 --> 00:19:56.970 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, basically. 00:19:56.970 --> 00:20:01.613 <v Monica Botkier>And she put it in the magazine, in the Well Story, and all I had to put there was my phone number. 00:20:01.613 --> 00:20:02.789 <v Monica Botkier>So people were like Amy. 00:20:02.789 --> 00:20:12.369 <v Monica Botkier>And then the next big press I got almost immediately was from InStyle, but that was coordinated with an on-ARTV segment, so forget it. 00:20:12.369 --> 00:20:14.152 <v Monica Botkier>Like I was just inundated. 00:20:14.152 --> 00:20:26.273 <v Monica Botkier>So it was an incredibly meteoric rise which, looking back on it, I didn't know what was happening, I just was really good at keeping up with shit, like I was not going to lose one sale. 00:20:26.273 --> 00:20:28.865 <v Monica Botkier>I was digging I got this color, I've got this side. 00:20:28.865 --> 00:20:31.249 <v Monica Botkier>I'm going to do this Very soon. 00:20:31.249 --> 00:20:35.990 <v Monica Botkier>I realized I needed proper designers on my staff, so I hired this incredible guy. 00:20:36.365 --> 00:20:41.913 <v Emily Blumenthal>This is wild, that you went from an accidental designer to hiring people that's like that. 00:20:41.913 --> 00:20:45.661 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, I mean because I wasn't a designer by trade and by no means to diver. 00:20:45.661 --> 00:20:50.223 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean I had moments of luck and I got into good pubs, but it never spawned too. 00:20:50.223 --> 00:20:51.780 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean you had the product to back it up. 00:20:51.941 --> 00:20:53.297 <v Monica Botkier>You know what I will say. 00:20:53.297 --> 00:21:04.765 <v Monica Botkier>I should kind of go back a tiny bit and say one thing as soon as I got interest from Barney's I went back to that Turkish lady on Bleecker Street and I was like give me back whatever patterns you have. 00:21:04.765 --> 00:21:10.239 <v Monica Botkier>And she was like trying to not do that and I said I know you need to give them back to me because he's on my design. 00:21:10.239 --> 00:21:14.280 <v Monica Botkier>So she did, but it took me a while to get them and you have to pay for the patterns? 00:21:14.694 --> 00:21:15.637 <v Emily Blumenthal>No really. 00:21:15.898 --> 00:21:17.625 <v Monica Botkier>They were cardboard, they were like bullshit patterns. 00:21:17.734 --> 00:21:19.181 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, yeah, yeah, but with tag. 00:21:19.875 --> 00:21:22.423 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, just I knew enough to do that. 00:21:22.423 --> 00:21:28.804 <v Monica Botkier>And then I also have to say that as soon as there was some interest, like Barney's placed 101 piece order. 00:21:28.804 --> 00:21:30.154 <v Monica Botkier>You remember it as 101? 00:21:30.154 --> 00:21:31.540 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, it was 101. 00:21:31.540 --> 00:21:34.124 <v Monica Botkier>And I thought that's so strange but great. 00:21:34.124 --> 00:21:37.923 <v Monica Botkier>Yes, I also know that it was deliverable in August. 00:21:37.923 --> 00:21:44.323 <v Monica Botkier>So just to show you the timeline, the dinner that I had with my friend, the men's wear designer, that was in April. 00:21:44.323 --> 00:21:48.066 <v Monica Botkier>So I had to deliver 101 pieces. 00:21:48.066 --> 00:21:49.662 <v Monica Botkier>So all of this happened. 00:21:49.694 --> 00:21:57.522 <v Monica Botkier>So I went through the yellow pages, which people laugh about, because there was pre-Google, and I found the most amazing manufacturer, john Manilucci. 00:21:57.522 --> 00:22:02.241 <v Monica Botkier>Oh, my God, him Lebanon, and I just love listening to him talk. 00:22:02.241 --> 00:22:06.863 <v Monica Botkier>But he was also Kate Spade's first manufacturer and he helped me perfect the design. 00:22:06.863 --> 00:22:10.180 <v Monica Botkier>I was like, ok, this is what I've got from my Bleecker Street. 00:22:10.180 --> 00:22:11.700 <v Monica Botkier>This is what I want to change. 00:22:11.700 --> 00:22:17.137 <v Monica Botkier>And it was such a small, family-run, tight-knit group, the Manilucci's. 00:22:17.137 --> 00:22:18.262 <v Monica Botkier>They were amazing. 00:22:18.262 --> 00:22:20.361 <v Monica Botkier>His sons were around, I don't know. 00:22:20.361 --> 00:22:21.364 <v Monica Botkier>It was really great. 00:22:21.364 --> 00:22:24.981 <v Monica Botkier>He took me under his wing and I pieced it together. 00:22:24.981 --> 00:22:27.320 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, I bought everything separately. 00:22:27.320 --> 00:22:28.344 <v Monica Botkier>I figured it out. 00:22:28.344 --> 00:22:29.385 <v Monica Botkier>I mean that's what I'm saying. 00:22:29.434 --> 00:22:43.943 <v Monica Botkier>Operationally, I feel like I could pull that off and I loved that, that I got into it's later dealing with salespeople and showroom horrors and scale, and people come after you and they really try to eat you alive for their own gain. 00:22:44.075 --> 00:22:52.461 <v Monica Botkier>And I only know that now, looking back, I would have built out the business a bit differently, certainly, would have sold the business differently, I would have partnered differently. 00:22:52.461 --> 00:23:07.201 <v Monica Botkier>But that first five years was the most magical, incredible time that I feel so grateful for and I learned a ton and it was creative and the best kind of stress you could have, like everybody after it, and it was super fun. 00:23:07.201 --> 00:23:13.182 <v Monica Botkier>And then each design I did did really well, like my first five bags out of the gate. 00:23:13.182 --> 00:23:21.085 <v Monica Botkier>But if you're an analytical person and somebody who understands business which at the time I didn't the space was wide open. 00:23:21.085 --> 00:23:23.919 <v Monica Botkier>I was just about to curse, but I'm not going to do that on your body. 00:23:23.919 --> 00:23:26.619 <v Monica Botkier>It was wide open. 00:23:26.619 --> 00:23:36.342 <v Monica Botkier>So, pre-marked by Mark Jacobs pre-Alexander Wang, pre-c by Chloe, pre-rebecca Minkoff actually, I had a couple of years on her at least. 00:23:36.915 --> 00:23:41.146 <v Emily Blumenthal>And she came out, I think in let's see 2007, 6, 5, 4. 00:23:41.146 --> 00:23:43.000 <v Emily Blumenthal>I think it was 2004, or five. 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:43.864 <v Emily Blumenthal>That's when she came out. 00:23:44.095 --> 00:23:45.153 <v Monica Botkier>I think 2005. 00:23:45.153 --> 00:23:47.343 <v Monica Botkier>Because I worked right in 2003. 00:23:47.343 --> 00:23:48.377 <v Monica Botkier>So I think she was too young. 00:23:48.377 --> 00:23:49.762 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, my god. 00:23:49.762 --> 00:23:54.463 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, it was really funny, like just my shady showroom at the time. 00:23:55.015 --> 00:23:55.798 <v Emily Blumenthal>Oh, what's her name? 00:23:55.798 --> 00:23:56.641 <v Emily Blumenthal>I don't know. 00:23:56.641 --> 00:23:58.194 <v Emily Blumenthal>For a while we don't want to name it. 00:23:58.194 --> 00:23:59.380 <v Emily Blumenthal>No, no, no, no, no, no. 00:23:59.380 --> 00:24:06.604 <v Emily Blumenthal>But I know how she worked and she was sneaky, but a hustler Like you got the placement, but it was at what cost? 00:24:06.974 --> 00:24:09.364 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, and then you got your own back in her showroom. 00:24:09.364 --> 00:24:12.319 <v Monica Botkier>That was the problem and I would caution anybody. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:15.420 <v Monica Botkier>I think showrooms, if they're a good partner, could definitely launch and lift. 00:24:15.420 --> 00:24:15.862 <v Monica Botkier>I don't know. 00:24:15.862 --> 00:24:17.039 <v Monica Botkier>Today they're still around. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:19.884 <v Monica Botkier>Some of those really powerhouse women are still. 00:24:19.884 --> 00:24:20.960 <v Monica Botkier>It's women mainly. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:22.460 <v Monica Botkier>They're all always women. 00:24:22.460 --> 00:24:39.624 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, they're still around, but you need to take sales in-house and you need to build out a really strong sales team and a strong strategy and not pay ridiculous commissions once you're actually built out your own brands although you can continue a really strong partnership, but it has to be on terms that make sense for a growing business. 00:24:39.934 --> 00:24:44.359 <v Emily Blumenthal>Let me ask you, though, while all this was going on, you were pretty young. 00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:52.644 <v Emily Blumenthal>Did you, at that time, have a clear idea of who your customer was, or was it she's me? 00:24:53.015 --> 00:24:57.304 <v Monica Botkier>Well, that's what was clear and I think that 20 years in, here I am. 00:24:57.304 --> 00:25:07.182 <v Monica Botkier>I'm launching a new business and considering all kinds of demographics, because at the time I was only considering my own and, in a way, being a product person. 00:25:07.182 --> 00:25:12.643 <v Monica Botkier>Right now you have all kinds of MBAs that are the people starting businesses. 00:25:12.643 --> 00:25:16.199 <v Monica Botkier>Back then I mean not to sound like a dinosaur they were all creatives. 00:25:16.199 --> 00:25:19.061 <v Monica Botkier>Nobody was putting together business plans. 00:25:19.061 --> 00:25:21.661 <v Monica Botkier>To that extent, nobody was working in the market. 00:25:21.661 --> 00:25:32.481 <v Monica Botkier>Well, you're probably smart than most of us, but all my friends actually some of them became very successful with apparel brands and other things like this jewelry brands. 00:25:32.481 --> 00:25:41.182 <v Monica Botkier>They were really coming from the heart, creating product that was usable, functional, gorgeous, sexy, whatever it is, but also quite swell. 00:25:41.375 --> 00:25:46.703 <v Emily Blumenthal>Do you think now, had you launched that, you would have been able to have such a quick rise? 00:25:46.703 --> 00:25:52.303 <v Emily Blumenthal>Or the market is so saturated in terms of brands that fans and social I mean it is it is. 00:25:52.303 --> 00:25:53.278 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's kind of terrifying. 00:25:53.278 --> 00:26:18.741 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean I just ran an incubator and the brands that were in it, most of whom were fairly successful, like doing pretty well the whole thing, and even then I was thinking like, wow, it is not that it's so tough, but to be successful and truly stand out, you have to narrow cast your demographic and their psychographics and ethnography and all of that to know CEE, like you need to know truly how to. 00:26:18.741 --> 00:26:23.083 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's not even so much designing into a price point, it's designing into a customer, exactly. 00:26:23.335 --> 00:26:38.901 <v Monica Botkier>And that is actually an exercise that I'm doing now with chosen, woven and so much fun, because we started it out, we realized, like all of our branding and creative does not match actually who our customer is and it's a much more detailed, like you know, she skis and telluride. 00:26:38.901 --> 00:26:43.181 <v Monica Botkier>She's like an eco-luxurist, like who needs a word, you know, but that's what it is right. 00:26:43.181 --> 00:26:54.266 <v Monica Botkier>So she's sophisticated, but she's also granola in the most luxe way you can think, right, no, I didn't do that with BotKir, except the downtown chic thing came from BotKir. 00:26:54.266 --> 00:27:06.025 <v Monica Botkier>That is what I encapsulated and I know it was coined and used by others, but we were the one that actually narrowed down our cool city girl to that and that aesthetic. 00:27:06.025 --> 00:27:29.084 <v Monica Botkier>Now I laugh because when I look back at my archives in 2009, I think I was pregnant, I think the back-to-back pregnancies and the stuff it looks like Valentino, not Valentino rock star stud stuff, but like romantic Valentino, right Moral, you know, like yeah, I was getting really creative, but like really off-brand, you know, but that happens. 00:27:29.214 --> 00:27:30.601 <v Emily Blumenthal>I think that's a great moment. 00:27:30.601 --> 00:27:32.180 <v Emily Blumenthal>That's a rite of passage. 00:27:32.180 --> 00:27:55.144 <v Emily Blumenthal>As a designer I mean Terry Agans who wrote the End of Fashion, she's done a lot of those like in the Facebooks about fashion, about as a designer at least during that time, like Mizrahi and so forth almost created their own demise by getting so enveloped their brand and that the customer needs to follow that as opposed to being cognizant of the evolution of who your customer really is. 00:27:55.144 --> 00:28:07.820 <v Emily Blumenthal>But I think it's a rite of passage, as every designer, to kind of not so much go off the deep end but like hey, this is how it's got to be, because this is how I feel and the evolution it's so beautiful and shop and buy and lot. 00:28:07.820 --> 00:28:08.663 <v Emily Blumenthal>You know all that. 00:28:08.663 --> 00:28:10.300 <v Emily Blumenthal>I think it's really interesting. 00:28:10.521 --> 00:28:18.464 <v Monica Botkier>It is, and now I mean with social media being the foundation for any of it, whereas before you know where and how did brands communicate? 00:28:18.464 --> 00:28:25.000 <v Monica Botkier>They communicated through magazines, pr and physical locations and being in the right stores and being on the right people. 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:27.523 <v Monica Botkier>But still, how would you know that if you didn't open up a magazine? 00:28:27.523 --> 00:28:39.623 <v Monica Botkier>So now you know the inundation is very heavy and also very narrow, because you could omit a lot of things from your life and not even know about them because you're so busy kind of consuming the same content. 00:28:39.894 --> 00:28:41.201 <v Emily Blumenthal>So I don't know. 00:28:41.201 --> 00:28:45.703 <v Emily Blumenthal>You had a lot of situations so I know you had a few partnerships. 00:28:45.703 --> 00:28:48.682 <v Emily Blumenthal>You grew, you eventually sold your brand. 00:28:48.682 --> 00:28:50.121 <v Emily Blumenthal>Like we can get to that. 00:28:50.121 --> 00:28:53.821 <v Emily Blumenthal>We've got some time before we hit that point, but you were knocked off. 00:28:53.821 --> 00:28:57.719 <v Emily Blumenthal>Let me ask you did you ever think of putting a design patent on your silhouettes? 00:28:57.859 --> 00:29:01.084 <v Monica Botkier>I did that, yeah, I tried to, but I didn't have any luck with it. 00:29:01.084 --> 00:29:02.580 <v Monica Botkier>Steve Madden knocked it off. 00:29:02.580 --> 00:29:08.065 <v Monica Botkier>You know, the best part was going to Chinatown and seeing my designs with the Prada triangle on them. 00:29:08.065 --> 00:29:11.480 <v Monica Botkier>That was ridiculous, but there was a lot of that. 00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:19.538 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, wasted a lot of time, money and energy trying to protect the designs and one little thing is off and it's no longer under protection. 00:29:19.538 --> 00:29:21.361 <v Monica Botkier>Steve Madden was known for that. 00:29:21.361 --> 00:29:23.479 <v Monica Botkier>He didn't just do it to me, he did it to everyone. 00:29:23.479 --> 00:29:25.682 <v Monica Botkier>Shoes, bags, like the whole thing. 00:29:25.682 --> 00:29:28.943 <v Monica Botkier>Anybody doing something interesting was now protected. 00:29:28.943 --> 00:29:32.401 <v Monica Botkier>But you know, it was a different customer at the same time too, interestingly. 00:29:32.401 --> 00:29:37.301 <v Monica Botkier>So the ships passed in the night to some extent, but it was still dollars out of the young designers. 00:29:37.301 --> 00:29:38.819 <v Monica Botkier>You know, coffers, I would say. 00:29:39.335 --> 00:29:42.784 <v Emily Blumenthal>How long did you go before you said, oh my god, I need a partner. 00:29:42.784 --> 00:29:43.547 <v Emily Blumenthal>What was that? 00:29:43.547 --> 00:29:46.577 <v Emily Blumenthal>Because I know you had, and then you didn't, and then you did. 00:29:46.577 --> 00:29:47.919 <v Emily Blumenthal>What happened there? 00:29:48.234 --> 00:29:50.522 <v Monica Botkier>Well, I had bought gear independently for 10 years. 00:29:50.522 --> 00:29:55.586 <v Monica Botkier>The real sweet ride was six years where it was just amazing. 00:29:55.586 --> 00:29:59.630 <v Monica Botkier>In 2007, I really was courted heavily. 00:29:59.630 --> 00:30:00.693 <v Monica Botkier>I had a different beating over sacrifices. 00:30:00.693 --> 00:30:05.045 <v Monica Botkier>I had Delphine Arnaud in my offices on Cross-Broadway twice. 00:30:05.045 --> 00:30:07.400 <v Monica Botkier>That was amazing and I was so naive. 00:30:07.400 --> 00:30:09.381 <v Monica Botkier>I actually thought that deal was gonna go through. 00:30:09.381 --> 00:30:12.603 <v Monica Botkier>I thought my entire life would be very different. 00:30:12.603 --> 00:30:21.662 <v Monica Botkier>But what I didn't realize is that for them kudos to me and, I guess, my team at the time we were really able to create a brand, cause I you know my photography background. 00:30:21.714 --> 00:30:31.862 <v Monica Botkier>I was shooting the campaigns, I was buying remnant pages and magazines, so I was advertising and I looked the part and they were shocked to find that we were like a $10 million company. 00:30:31.862 --> 00:30:35.339 <v Monica Botkier>They thought we were like a $30 million company oh my God, 50. 00:30:35.339 --> 00:30:35.981 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like no. 00:30:35.981 --> 00:30:37.800 <v Monica Botkier>And the thing is how to get there? 00:30:37.800 --> 00:30:41.923 <v Monica Botkier>Like I never had the resources to really understand that scale. 00:30:41.923 --> 00:30:48.484 <v Monica Botkier>Well, more like keeping up with business and then chasing this bigger dream which was sort of unfolding without that much effort. 00:30:48.484 --> 00:30:49.780 <v Monica Botkier>But that's not really the case. 00:30:49.780 --> 00:30:57.943 <v Monica Botkier>There was built up saturation, there was also huge competition and, you know, just losing ground after a while. 00:30:57.943 --> 00:31:03.923 <v Monica Botkier>I spent a lot of time and money on a shoe development which broke even, but I really should have licensed that. 00:31:04.174 --> 00:31:09.444 <v Monica Botkier>Licensing felt like a dirty word back then to a true native but the reality is that's how you do it. 00:31:09.444 --> 00:31:11.260 <v Monica Botkier>That's how Tori built her business. 00:31:11.260 --> 00:31:18.311 <v Monica Botkier>You know, the shoes built that business and the shoes were not profitable Right or the right thing because they that with the market research. 00:31:18.311 --> 00:31:19.339 <v Monica Botkier>That's what the market wanted. 00:31:19.339 --> 00:31:23.582 <v Monica Botkier>Anyway, you know, like I have cool stuff happen, like I think it was seven for all mankind. 00:31:23.582 --> 00:31:27.440 <v Monica Botkier>They came to me they wanted us to license their name to do handbags. 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:34.242 <v Monica Botkier>Now, if I wasn't so stretched thin, like that could have been a cool business for a couple of years which just multiplied the revenues. 00:31:34.242 --> 00:31:37.124 <v Monica Botkier>You know I didn't have the CEO partner. 00:31:37.124 --> 00:31:47.000 <v Monica Botkier>The CEO that I was was operational Right and as a creative I think that, looking back, I missed that critical piece and then it came to a point where I couldn't afford that person. 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:49.042 <v Monica Botkier>So I was hoping the partnership would bring that. 00:31:49.134 --> 00:31:50.160 <v Monica Botkier>So it was at LVMH. 00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:52.423 <v Monica Botkier>It was also Stuart Weitzman. 00:31:52.423 --> 00:31:58.583 <v Monica Botkier>The last really sexy deal I had on the table was Stuart Weitzman and I remember meeting him at the Peninsula Hotel. 00:31:58.583 --> 00:32:08.223 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, I've got stories, like I've got stories, but let's just say that he built an incredible business I think has since really exited completely. 00:32:08.223 --> 00:32:10.883 <v Monica Botkier>He spent 40 years as a shoe dog much respect. 00:32:10.883 --> 00:32:15.599 <v Monica Botkier>But he's kind of looking at me with a big pregnant belly like why don't you do it yourself? 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:19.481 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like listen, your people want you to do great handbags. 00:32:19.481 --> 00:32:27.882 <v Monica Botkier>I've got that and I've got the people, and I'd love to do great shoes, so we could do it together, you know, and I don't have 40 years, because that's not the case of the business today. 00:32:27.882 --> 00:32:36.145 <v Monica Botkier>So, needless to say, I didn't close that deal and that was the last deal on the table before the world fell off a cliff October 2008. 00:32:36.145 --> 00:32:36.655 <v Monica Botkier>Were you? 00:32:36.816 --> 00:32:38.519 <v Emily Blumenthal>gutted when it didn't happen. 00:32:38.519 --> 00:32:40.223 <v Emily Blumenthal>No, really. 00:32:40.724 --> 00:32:41.226 <v Monica Botkier>Really? 00:32:41.226 --> 00:32:42.367 <v Monica Botkier>No, I wasn't. 00:32:42.367 --> 00:32:47.780 <v Monica Botkier>I didn't understand the loss of opportunity at that song, because I can have a crystal ball. 00:32:47.780 --> 00:32:54.962 <v Monica Botkier>The thing is also, if I hadn't gotten it done by fall of 2008, nothing was gonna happen for another two, three years. 00:32:54.962 --> 00:32:55.865 <v Monica Botkier>Right, right, right. 00:32:56.115 --> 00:33:03.064 <v Monica Botkier>And so I think our multiples just coming back to what they were I mean in some sectors, probably beauty I don't think it's in handbag. 00:33:03.064 --> 00:33:04.059 <v Monica Botkier>What's a multiple? 00:33:04.059 --> 00:33:05.540 <v Monica Botkier>Let's just mark our path. 00:33:05.540 --> 00:33:10.303 <v Monica Botkier>You know what you can sell your company for multiples of revenue or your profit. 00:33:10.303 --> 00:33:12.862 <v Monica Botkier>To keep it simple, I look at the business a little bit different. 00:33:12.934 --> 00:33:16.546 <v Monica Botkier>The evolution of that moment was like a good five years and that was it. 00:33:16.546 --> 00:33:27.484 <v Monica Botkier>And so the idea of even selling a company in year four that I was absolutely loving did not compute, even though I was not gonna turn down any of these super sexy blue chip Right, right, right. 00:33:27.484 --> 00:33:33.682 <v Monica Botkier>But once they were gone and the business really took a hit, 2011 was my first tough year. 00:33:33.682 --> 00:33:35.200 <v Monica Botkier>So that was seven years in. 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:40.723 <v Monica Botkier>And then, you know, I still was able to pivot because I went from a $5.95 price point. 00:33:40.795 --> 00:33:46.584 <v Monica Botkier>The aspirational customer that is again apparently disappearing right now disappeared, cold. 00:33:46.584 --> 00:33:49.441 <v Monica Botkier>Then, yep, and you know, you had the Alex Wings. 00:33:49.441 --> 00:33:55.183 <v Monica Botkier>You had my girl also, if she was 25, when we started together she was then 32. 00:33:55.183 --> 00:33:56.759 <v Monica Botkier>And now she won Chanel bag. 00:33:56.759 --> 00:34:02.281 <v Monica Botkier>And now Chanel was like, hey, look at all these girls buying these contemporary, upper contemporary, young designer price points. 00:34:02.281 --> 00:34:04.655 <v Monica Botkier>Let's make it possible for them, of course. 00:34:04.655 --> 00:34:06.682 <v Monica Botkier>Now again, absolutely impossible. 00:34:06.682 --> 00:34:12.958 <v Monica Botkier>Right Entry price point 6,500, okay, but not insane, ridiculous. 00:34:12.958 --> 00:34:16.123 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, I still, to this day, have never, never done it. 00:34:16.123 --> 00:34:19.865 <v Monica Botkier>Like just cannot pull the trigger on a Chanel bag, can't either Trigger on them. 00:34:19.865 --> 00:34:29.965 <v Monica Botkier>But that's the whole reason I started BODCARE, because I was never going to be that person that was going to pull the trigger on an Hermes and spend multiple payments on a bag. 00:34:29.965 --> 00:34:33.021 <v Monica Botkier>I just wasn't going to do it, you know two things on that. 00:34:33.376 --> 00:34:35.615 <v Emily Blumenthal>One same Two. 00:34:35.615 --> 00:34:48.581 <v Emily Blumenthal>The buyer from Blue Meas had told me years ago that the first bag that the girls would buy would be a BODCARE or a MINCOF, and then the second bag she would get would be the Chanel flap because she'd have the bump and salary. 00:34:48.581 --> 00:34:53.161 <v Emily Blumenthal>So it was like the training bra of handbags, like this is my cool bag, this is it. 00:34:53.161 --> 00:35:05.099 <v Emily Blumenthal>And you know a lot of the designers with whom I've consulted wildly still carry around labels and I always say I love that you're paying me and I'm grateful, keep taking your money. 00:35:05.099 --> 00:35:11.621 <v Emily Blumenthal>But you're missing out on an opportunity other than writing off the taxis because clearly you're not taking a subway. 00:35:11.621 --> 00:35:14.920 <v Emily Blumenthal>But you're missing a street opportunity because the whole where can I find? 00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:17.402 <v Emily Blumenthal>Element comes from you wearing your own damn product. 00:35:17.402 --> 00:35:18.898 <v Emily Blumenthal>So that's, you know. 00:35:18.898 --> 00:35:21.025 <v Emily Blumenthal>Like, oh, but I love my Louis, I love my Louis. 00:35:21.025 --> 00:35:23.282 <v Emily Blumenthal>I was like well then, you shouldn't be designing bags. 00:35:23.414 --> 00:35:28.358 <v Emily Blumenthal>And PS, the buyers who are going to buy your bags off the gate are all boutiques. 00:35:28.358 --> 00:35:38.659 <v Emily Blumenthal>So those buyers at all the established retailers want to know what your traction and sales are before they even pick you up, especially now, like what are your D2C sales? 00:35:38.659 --> 00:35:39.161 <v Emily Blumenthal>Right? 00:35:39.161 --> 00:35:40.525 <v Emily Blumenthal>So it's the narrative. 00:35:40.525 --> 00:35:42.802 <v Emily Blumenthal>So I don't want to say I applaud that you haven't. 00:35:42.802 --> 00:35:45.965 <v Emily Blumenthal>I just can't either, purely for that same aspect. 00:35:45.965 --> 00:35:51.601 <v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, I'm Garmento offspring and we were raised like how much, how much are the Gregorites, how much is the cost for foot? 00:35:51.601 --> 00:35:56.682 <v Emily Blumenthal>And then you realize what the markup is and you're like hey, it's the exact same markup as it is for anything else. 00:35:56.682 --> 00:35:57.224 <v Emily Blumenthal>I'm at as well. 00:35:57.224 --> 00:36:00.101 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's cheaper to make your own bag, truly Absolutely. 00:36:00.202 --> 00:36:01.425 <v Monica Botkier>Absolutely when it all started. 00:36:01.425 --> 00:36:05.260 <v Monica Botkier>But also, too, like we were designing so many bags at that point you had to wear, test them. 00:36:05.260 --> 00:36:07.101 <v Monica Botkier>I had no time to wear other people's bags. 00:36:07.101 --> 00:36:09.722 <v Monica Botkier>Plus, I was really excited about what I was doing. 00:36:09.722 --> 00:36:17.561 <v Monica Botkier>I did buy designer bags, but for an archive, you know, I would buy things that I thought were great design, but I didn't wear them. 00:36:17.561 --> 00:36:24.942 <v Monica Botkier>I just basically wear them here and there a little bit, but mainly to touch, like artistic pieces, yeah, and then I would keep them or I'd sell them. 00:36:24.942 --> 00:36:30.931 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, I didn't get that deep into it, but I had a small, you know, very unique collection, not like your typical stuff. 00:36:31.255 --> 00:36:33.481 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, Alexander Wang bag with the studs at the bottom. 00:36:33.682 --> 00:36:37.264 <v Monica Botkier>Never bought that, you know at that point that was like sort of a newer generation. 00:36:37.264 --> 00:36:40.503 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, and I had done that like no Lita girl. 00:36:40.503 --> 00:36:42.739 <v Monica Botkier>It was just heavy, it was impractical. 00:36:42.739 --> 00:36:48.601 <v Monica Botkier>Yes, that's why I didn't love it, although I think some of the leather choices were great and I loved all the iterations. 00:36:48.601 --> 00:36:50.481 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, didn't want to wear it, you know. 00:36:51.336 --> 00:36:55.882 <v Emily Blumenthal>I had a student of mine at Parsons who had saved her money to get that and I told her. 00:36:55.882 --> 00:36:56.690 <v Emily Blumenthal>I said you know I'm not going to buy it. 00:36:56.690 --> 00:37:07.940 <v Emily Blumenthal>Before you make these investments, go in there with something of value wearing it to know how badly the bag is going to destroy it, because I don't think a bag designed by a man would take into consideration. 00:37:07.940 --> 00:37:11.264 <v Emily Blumenthal>You know tights and all these other things and the studs and sticking. 00:37:11.264 --> 00:37:20.864 <v Emily Blumenthal>You know no disrespect in saying that a man couldn't design, but you know, like the wear, with all of like what I'm wearing, I know that bag will stick to everything Exactly. 00:37:21.130 --> 00:37:38.360 <v Monica Botkier>Well, but I remember sometimes it is that way though, even as a female designer, I remember some of our boutiques were occasionally older women they're probably my age now, but back then I was like these people are old, Old, and we were always concerned like, oh, the weight, you know, and I was like the weight. 00:37:38.360 --> 00:37:42.500 <v Monica Botkier>I always made sure to keep it in mind because I understand like nobody wants to carry a heavy bag. 00:37:42.500 --> 00:37:45.458 <v Monica Botkier>But now, at this age, I'm like, oh, I get that. 00:37:45.650 --> 00:38:01.498 <v Emily Blumenthal>Like it needs to be weight distributed properly, not to mess with your bag you know, listen, those Mark Jacobs bags of those days should have come with an orthopedist number, because those bags were heavy while they were empty and they just kept getting heavier and heavier and I thought, god, I would love to buy one, purely out of principle. 00:38:01.498 --> 00:38:03.413 <v Emily Blumenthal>But it was like what the hell am I going to put in there? 00:38:03.413 --> 00:38:05.077 <v Emily Blumenthal>Nothing, nothing. 00:38:05.077 --> 00:38:08.972 <v Emily Blumenthal>So you got to this point, right, and I know you had a. 00:38:08.972 --> 00:38:11.920 <v Emily Blumenthal>Was it JC Penney with the Kardashians when they had it? 00:38:11.920 --> 00:38:12.862 <v Emily Blumenthal>Was it JC Penney? 00:38:13.130 --> 00:38:15.838 <v Monica Botkier>I don't remember if they did it for JC Penney, but it sounds about right. 00:38:15.838 --> 00:38:20.456 <v Monica Botkier>The funny thing is that TMZ had done a poll on their website Like do you think it's a knock off? 00:38:20.456 --> 00:38:28.657 <v Monica Botkier>And it was like the 8% were like, yeah, we just sent them a cease and desist and they stopped, and I don't remember who the partner in that was. 00:38:28.657 --> 00:38:33.449 <v Monica Botkier>This was before I think the Kardashians got as elevated with their oh yeah, 100%. 00:38:33.449 --> 00:38:35.394 <v Monica Botkier>They weren't real schlocky back then. 00:38:35.394 --> 00:38:37.280 <v Monica Botkier>I remember you know, taking every cent. 00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:42.001 <v Monica Botkier>But obviously now they have like really beautifully built out businesses, if you look at it. 00:38:42.550 --> 00:38:45.262 <v Emily Blumenthal>It was an LA manufacturer and I can't remember which one. 00:38:45.262 --> 00:38:50.320 <v Emily Blumenthal>If I remember correctly that they were just being courted with like let's do this, let's do that. 00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:53.438 <v Emily Blumenthal>So I mean, your bag was a low hanging to knock off per se. 00:38:53.889 --> 00:38:54.855 <v Monica Botkier>I have a funny story. 00:38:54.855 --> 00:39:03.054 <v Monica Botkier>There was a manufacturer in the garment center not our beloved Maniluchi, but I had to at some point have three factories, because when I Wow, it was a lot. 00:39:03.074 --> 00:39:05.057 <v Emily Blumenthal>Were all your bags being made domestically. 00:39:05.057 --> 00:39:06.079 <v Emily Blumenthal>When did you start For a while? 00:39:06.260 --> 00:39:10.818 <v Monica Botkier>For a while, for three years, and then I found the most amazing manufacturer overseas. 00:39:10.818 --> 00:39:18.976 <v Monica Botkier>That was like Jam, somebody who really believed in big business I mean hundreds of millions of dollars he was doing and he took me under his wing as well. 00:39:18.976 --> 00:39:24.235 <v Monica Botkier>I feel like he was incredible, like just such a passionate, like he loved bags. 00:39:24.235 --> 00:39:29.481 <v Monica Botkier>He was like basically so far up the food chain but he still loved to nurture talent. 00:39:29.481 --> 00:39:30.021 <v Monica Botkier>It was amazing. 00:39:30.021 --> 00:39:32.317 <v Monica Botkier>Anyway, side note on that. 00:39:32.317 --> 00:39:35.378 <v Monica Botkier>So I had to break up with by three New York manufacturers. 00:39:35.378 --> 00:39:39.601 <v Monica Botkier>The third one didn't care too much because he got the scraps, but the Maniluchi was amazing. 00:39:39.601 --> 00:39:48.418 <v Monica Botkier>He was very upset with the situation but he understood and I tried to keep some stuff local and I will tell you, hands down, the local stuff was always the best stuff. 00:39:48.498 --> 00:39:50.853 <v Emily Blumenthal>Right, you didn't keep them to. 00:39:50.853 --> 00:39:54.262 <v Emily Blumenthal>If you needed reorders quickly at least, or sample making. 00:39:54.489 --> 00:39:56.777 <v Monica Botkier>I couldn't do it in the grand scheme of things. 00:39:56.777 --> 00:39:59.476 <v Monica Botkier>But I did a little bit and Maniluchi was my choice for that. 00:39:59.476 --> 00:40:03.221 <v Monica Botkier>So manufacturer number two was pretty big, Pretty successful. 00:40:03.221 --> 00:40:06.657 <v Monica Botkier>It was very pissed and I was like come on, what do you expect me to do? 00:40:06.657 --> 00:40:09.855 <v Monica Botkier>You're not buying the components for me, it's extra production work. 00:40:09.855 --> 00:40:15.277 <v Monica Botkier>I had to like count out the I can't do that Right the time value of money alone. 00:40:15.277 --> 00:40:16.574 <v Monica Botkier>It didn't make any sense. 00:40:16.574 --> 00:40:23.556 <v Monica Botkier>So I remember that he took on Rebecca Minkoff right after that I know who you're talking about, I know who I'm talking about. 00:40:23.556 --> 00:40:29.753 <v Monica Botkier>And he sent me an email after I had my son was my second kid, right Two out of three. 00:40:29.753 --> 00:40:36.556 <v Monica Botkier>And he sends me an email like I just want you to know that we have another baby and her name is Rebecca Minkoff. 00:40:36.556 --> 00:40:38.976 <v Monica Botkier>And I was just like obvious. 00:40:38.976 --> 00:40:47.260 <v Monica Botkier>But I wrote back to him I was like, well, that's great, Congratulations, and I'd like you to know that I actually had a real baby and his name is Sage. 00:40:49.797 --> 00:40:51.255 <v Emily Blumenthal>Oh, my God, sage is 15 now. 00:40:51.255 --> 00:40:53.235 <v Emily Blumenthal>He's going to be 15 in November. 00:40:53.235 --> 00:40:56.356 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, I remember all these things, that's nuts. 00:40:56.677 --> 00:40:59.485 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, I was so, like what are you trying to say to me? 00:40:59.485 --> 00:40:59.869 <v Monica Botkier>Like ha ha. 00:40:59.869 --> 00:41:04.800 <v Monica Botkier>You know, meanwhile it's like it's a small world, but it was unnecessary to send me that email. 00:41:04.800 --> 00:41:11.032 <v Monica Botkier>But you know, obviously he was spiteful and feeling like, well, you left me high and dry and I found somebody else amazing, and that's. 00:41:11.032 --> 00:41:12.056 <v Monica Botkier>You know whatever. 00:41:12.056 --> 00:41:12.820 <v Monica Botkier>Okay, good for you. 00:41:13.351 --> 00:41:22.860 <v Monica Botkier>You know, we're all in it together and in a way I mean, we're all part of the same pie, but at the same time I really don't think, you know, we had the same customer base actually. 00:41:23.250 --> 00:41:27.420 <v Emily Blumenthal>You had commented about the $5.95 point going down to $4.95. 00:41:27.420 --> 00:41:32.110 <v Emily Blumenthal>She gets credit for that for making Manpe jump, but I know you were also part of that movement. 00:41:32.490 --> 00:41:35.840 <v Monica Botkier>Well, no, I'll give her credit for that, because I think that she was ahead of it. 00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:39.519 <v Monica Botkier>I was so expanded that I had to contract in order to reconfigure. 00:41:39.519 --> 00:41:43.059 <v Monica Botkier>She was just on the come up, so she was able to catch it ahead. 00:41:43.059 --> 00:41:45.536 <v Monica Botkier>Right, and he said it for everyone, but it was right. 00:41:45.536 --> 00:41:48.539 <v Monica Botkier>I don't know what kind of market research they did, but it was correct. 00:41:48.539 --> 00:41:55.096 <v Monica Botkier>The new price point was actually $3.95 and $4.95 max for the big anything, so that made a lot of sense. 00:41:55.250 --> 00:42:08.873 <v Monica Botkier>Now, where I saved my business was in 2011, when shit was hitting the fan and everything sort of caught up to us, and also, I was actually working with equity investors for the first time and they pulled out the base drum. 00:42:08.873 --> 00:42:13.563 <v Monica Botkier>For nine months, I dumped tens of thousands into legal and then they decided to pull out. 00:42:13.563 --> 00:42:14.873 <v Monica Botkier>So that was a whole other nightmare. 00:42:14.873 --> 00:42:26.434 <v Monica Botkier>But I remember that what I did do well was come up with another design that was able to be very healthy margins and the right price point. 00:42:26.434 --> 00:42:30.280 <v Monica Botkier>So the Valentina group was born then and that changed everything. 00:42:30.280 --> 00:42:34.266 <v Monica Botkier>That Is that your mom's name, no, just made it up. 00:42:37.257 --> 00:42:45.255 <v Emily Blumenthal>Oh my God, wait, in hindsight you must be pretty impressed with yourself to pull like another kicker bag out because you give birth to three kids. 00:42:45.255 --> 00:42:47.802 <v Emily Blumenthal>But how many iconic bags can you really birth? 00:42:47.989 --> 00:42:50.157 <v Monica Botkier>I don't know if that one is iconic so much. 00:42:50.157 --> 00:42:53.199 <v Monica Botkier>It was just really the right bag at the right time. 00:42:53.199 --> 00:42:58.340 <v Monica Botkier>It was clever, it was well priced, it was chic, it did all the things you know. 00:42:58.340 --> 00:42:58.820 <v Monica Botkier>I don't know. 00:42:58.820 --> 00:43:02.860 <v Monica Botkier>But again, I think this is something that I have some odd talent with. 00:43:02.860 --> 00:43:03.400 <v Monica Botkier>I don't know. 00:43:03.400 --> 00:43:05.335 <v Monica Botkier>I mean I didn't study it. 00:43:05.335 --> 00:43:07.257 <v Monica Botkier>I mean I do look at some designer bags. 00:43:07.257 --> 00:43:14.076 <v Monica Botkier>Like I was just at an Etro event yesterday at Insag Harbor and they have this bag and I was like this is brilliant hardware. 00:43:14.076 --> 00:43:19.659 <v Monica Botkier>Like I love jewelry, I love hardware design, I love clever solutions to problems. 00:43:19.659 --> 00:43:25.650 <v Monica Botkier>So I'm always going to be excited by stuff like that and I think that's where you're always playing. 00:43:25.650 --> 00:43:27.858 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, I think apparel design is much harder. 00:43:28.110 --> 00:43:41.557 <v Emily Blumenthal>I think the fact that you moved into that I mean it's not apparel per se, but anything with sizing to me is terrifying, like when I get a partner who's brilliant and has a background in that, so certainly I wouldn't be trying to figure that out on my own. 00:43:43.010 --> 00:43:47.192 <v Emily Blumenthal>So you get to the point when did you decide like I'm done, I'm out? 00:43:47.192 --> 00:43:48.677 <v Emily Blumenthal>Because I remembered the drama. 00:43:48.677 --> 00:43:56.742 <v Emily Blumenthal>I think you had actually spoken to my class I'm trying to think what year 2011, 2012, if I was at FIT or if I was still at Parsons. 00:43:56.742 --> 00:44:01.911 <v Emily Blumenthal>But I know we were in communication and you're like, yeah, I have this big company and it's really exciting. 00:44:01.911 --> 00:44:03.697 <v Emily Blumenthal>And then I spoke to you after. 00:44:03.697 --> 00:44:05.800 <v Emily Blumenthal>You're like, yeah, that's done, that's done. 00:44:05.800 --> 00:44:07.534 <v Emily Blumenthal>And you had three kids by this point. 00:44:07.695 --> 00:44:12.039 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, I had three kids 2005, 2008 and 2009. 00:44:12.039 --> 00:44:14.076 <v Monica Botkier>I sold the company in 2013. 00:44:14.076 --> 00:44:17.478 <v Monica Botkier>So I think in 2011 was the rough year. 00:44:17.478 --> 00:44:21.900 <v Monica Botkier>2012 was when the Valentina came out and kind of righted the ship. 00:44:21.900 --> 00:44:26.780 <v Monica Botkier>But that's when I also realized that I needed funding because the game had changed. 00:44:26.780 --> 00:44:31.641 <v Monica Botkier>Game was a massive expense digital marketing, influencer marketing, all of it. 00:44:31.641 --> 00:44:39.599 <v Monica Botkier>We didn't have to do that before and it was tapped costs with PR and that was also kind of the age of the D2C brands. 00:44:39.599 --> 00:44:43.177 <v Monica Botkier>There was a lot, I guess Kuyanna, oh my God. 00:44:43.177 --> 00:44:57.235 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, you know Everlane models I don't know when the dad, the Dover thing came, but there was suddenly this sort of millennial customer that when I started, I guess Gen X sounds old now, but back then we were 20, we were 20. 00:44:57.809 --> 00:45:08.960 <v Monica Botkier>But very quickly we were married with kids, moving on you were, you were before I was Well moving into different lifestyle and different demographic. 00:45:08.960 --> 00:45:10.362 <v Monica Botkier>It's always moving, it's always shifting. 00:45:10.362 --> 00:45:15.554 <v Monica Botkier>But I realized that I needed funding, I needed support, I really needed the back end support. 00:45:15.554 --> 00:45:37.458 <v Monica Botkier>I wanted more of logistics and that, and I thought it would be a great partnership, a strategic partnership, where they would carry the back and even, like you know, the in-house sales team and really strengthen those operational foundations and provide money for some really high level advertising and some of that stuff. 00:45:37.458 --> 00:45:38.467 <v Monica Botkier>Just expansion. 00:45:38.467 --> 00:45:44.597 <v Monica Botkier>Basically that was expansion, sort of protection against market conditions, and it turned out to be a bad partnership for me. 00:45:44.597 --> 00:45:46.335 <v Monica Botkier>You know you hear that so much. 00:45:46.715 --> 00:45:58.927 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's like a man, but in terms of the final hurrah, the final chapter of the partner that ended up taking over back here, because you were there for a minute and then you just what's your five years? 00:45:58.927 --> 00:46:00.695 <v Emily Blumenthal>Actually, you were there for that long. 00:46:00.775 --> 00:46:05.012 <v Monica Botkier>I didn't think it was that long, and then I got bought out for the final amount. 00:46:05.313 --> 00:46:08.666 <v Emily Blumenthal>Was it part of your contract to stay there for five years, because that's a long time. 00:46:09.047 --> 00:46:17.300 <v Monica Botkier>No, I had a three-year contract and then I had a two-year consulting gig and at which point I was working with other brands and actually really enjoying that. 00:46:17.300 --> 00:46:27.092 <v Monica Botkier>But I found it a little bit difficult to be the brand ambassador for bought care without being really appreciated or respected much, to be honest. 00:46:27.092 --> 00:46:30.463 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, I feel like enough time's path that I could be honest about that. 00:46:30.463 --> 00:46:42.177 <v Monica Botkier>It was definitely not a feel-good situation and I had so much to give to the company and it was unwanted basically, or it was deflected or sort of shut down. 00:46:42.177 --> 00:46:42.960 <v Monica Botkier>So I realized-. 00:46:42.981 --> 00:46:43.784 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's close to my mind. 00:46:43.784 --> 00:46:49.847 <v Emily Blumenthal>When those situations happen, it's like you have this person who's a wealth of history, knowledge, branding, talent. 00:46:49.847 --> 00:46:56.507 <v Emily Blumenthal>Why aren't you using this person, who you are paying, to take full advantage to continue the legacy of the brand? 00:46:56.507 --> 00:47:04.931 <v Emily Blumenthal>But that's where who you are as a visionary will always conflict with someone who is looking at it from a factory angle. 00:47:05.139 --> 00:47:08.849 <v Monica Botkier>Well, I'm going to give you one example, and I think that they should tell you everything. 00:47:08.990 --> 00:47:43.664 <v Monica Botkier>I had very few allies in that institution, but one of them, somebody who I could go to when things were getting tricky and sticky, and this one said to me high level male in the organization said to me well, think of it this way Imagine you purchase a painting and it's expensive and it's beautiful and you put it up on your wall and your friends come over to see it, but there in the corner is a little chair with the artist sitting there and you have to constantly talk about the artist and he's like just imagine that. 00:47:43.664 --> 00:47:50.266 <v Monica Botkier>And I was like, literally that's what any successful investor would want, actually, To a point. 00:47:50.266 --> 00:47:52.512 <v Monica Botkier>Obviously there comes a point where a brand can live. 00:47:52.512 --> 00:47:56.891 <v Monica Botkier>Possibly, you know it's up to debate, but I think brands can live on without their founders. 00:47:56.891 --> 00:48:01.110 <v Monica Botkier>If they can turn a page, they can always create a new vision. 00:48:01.110 --> 00:48:04.822 <v Monica Botkier>As you said, it does move on from that moment. 00:48:04.822 --> 00:48:10.641 <v Monica Botkier>But just that thought and that mentality is not positive, let's put it that way, and kind of crazy. 00:48:11.043 --> 00:48:13.387 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, when did you decide like that said, I'm out. 00:48:13.628 --> 00:48:21.664 <v Monica Botkier>So when I was consulting I was feeling kind of funny because obviously consulting in the world of accessories it's a very small world. 00:48:21.664 --> 00:48:25.221 <v Monica Botkier>So I would get this adulation like, oh, can you help us do this, can you help us do that? 00:48:25.221 --> 00:48:26.023 <v Monica Botkier>Great. 00:48:26.023 --> 00:48:37.436 <v Monica Botkier>But then, like I'm still repping for bot care and I'm not really like being told about everything and being left out, the marketing team was an absolute disaster. 00:48:37.436 --> 00:48:39.826 <v Monica Botkier>All kinds of tricky, mean girl stuff was going on. 00:48:39.826 --> 00:48:43.239 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, I hate to say that, so boring, but it was dumb. 00:48:43.239 --> 00:48:45.306 <v Monica Botkier>And then, you know, I just kind of was like, why am I doing this? 00:48:45.306 --> 00:48:50.606 <v Monica Botkier>So I went back to the main team and I said, hey, find me out officially. 00:48:50.606 --> 00:48:53.836 <v Monica Botkier>No, no, I said I want to be full throttle. 00:48:53.836 --> 00:48:57.768 <v Monica Botkier>I had a few years working with some really wonderful people and creating some great things. 00:48:57.829 --> 00:49:03.440 <v Monica Botkier>But you know, you're like making sure not to conflict with your yeah and you're just kind of like okay, what am I doing? 00:49:03.440 --> 00:49:05.646 <v Monica Botkier>My name's still there, let's just get back in. 00:49:05.646 --> 00:49:07.090 <v Monica Botkier>It's like when your marriage goes bad. 00:49:07.090 --> 00:49:10.876 <v Monica Botkier>And then you're like let's give it another shot, let's go to therapy, let's make this work. 00:49:10.876 --> 00:49:20.887 <v Monica Botkier>And they were like no, they were like well, if you have all these expectations and asks we can't accommodate, and I said, well then, I can't stay. 00:49:20.887 --> 00:49:22.233 <v Monica Botkier>And so you know. 00:49:22.233 --> 00:49:23.880 <v Monica Botkier>But listen, this is a typical story. 00:49:24.059 --> 00:49:38.608 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, but I guess I'm seeing it through the lens of a mom who is still going to work every day for a brand that she created, to work in an office that's not yours, to be run by a company that's not yours. 00:49:38.608 --> 00:49:40.596 <v Emily Blumenthal>So it's kind of like outer body. 00:49:40.596 --> 00:49:50.318 <v Emily Blumenthal>You know, like okay, I guess I'm out, like one day you just leave an office that still has your name on it, right, and like not coming back here, that's it, yeah it took me a while to disconnect. 00:49:50.378 --> 00:49:51.943 <v Monica Botkier>I was definitely hurt. 00:49:51.943 --> 00:50:00.065 <v Monica Botkier>I think over it like not hurt by them specifically, just like hurt by the whole story in the end was disappointing. 00:50:00.065 --> 00:50:04.322 <v Monica Botkier>You know, I didn't really know how to process and how to define myself. 00:50:04.322 --> 00:50:16.032 <v Monica Botkier>I mean now I'm like come through and very excited about where my life is headed next and doing some really mission based brands work and like really thinking about doing product. 00:50:16.032 --> 00:50:22.702 <v Monica Botkier>That means something to me in a deeper way than just like a great design, which I is this starting point for anything. 00:50:22.702 --> 00:50:23.483 <v Monica Botkier>But I don't know. 00:50:23.483 --> 00:50:25.869 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, listen that you live, you learn. 00:50:25.869 --> 00:50:29.105 <v Monica Botkier>It's definitely not a typical story. 00:50:29.105 --> 00:50:34.862 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, I think that some partnerships are incredible and very fruitful and others aren't. 00:50:34.862 --> 00:50:35.724 <v Monica Botkier>It is what it is like. 00:50:35.724 --> 00:50:37.449 <v Monica Botkier>I don't follow bot care on Instagram. 00:50:37.449 --> 00:50:39.844 <v Monica Botkier>I don't pay attention to what goes on there. 00:50:39.844 --> 00:50:41.829 <v Monica Botkier>I've disconnected even though it's my name. 00:50:41.829 --> 00:50:42.840 <v Monica Botkier>It's not my name, right? 00:50:42.914 --> 00:50:47.610 <v Monica Botkier>it's not yeah yeah, and it's funny because a lot of people still identify me this way. 00:50:47.610 --> 00:50:52.302 <v Monica Botkier>So when I meet people, everybody has these great stories and they're like, oh my god, I still love your bags. 00:50:52.302 --> 00:50:54.293 <v Monica Botkier>And they're like, oh, you know what happens. 00:50:54.293 --> 00:50:59.351 <v Monica Botkier>And I'm like, well, you know, I'm not there anymore and it's the force, it's just moved on. 00:50:59.351 --> 00:51:03.746 <v Monica Botkier>And you do move on, though, you do Right, everybody moves on. 00:51:03.746 --> 00:51:08.059 <v Monica Botkier>In some cases, I mean, I don't know, it's a worthy experience. 00:51:08.059 --> 00:51:17.423 <v Monica Botkier>I think today's entrepreneurs, this generation, have so much more of a network to rely on I mean every entrepreneur. 00:51:17.423 --> 00:51:29.003 <v Monica Botkier>There are resources for entrepreneurs, there are resources for founders, for female founders, for everything you can think of to support yourself, to educate yourself, to understand. 00:51:29.003 --> 00:51:30.909 <v Monica Botkier>I mean, it's just, it's wide open. 00:51:30.909 --> 00:51:33.900 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, yeah, it felt kind of like I was in a vacuum. 00:51:33.900 --> 00:51:35.322 <v Monica Botkier>I didn't know. 00:51:35.322 --> 00:51:37.809 <v Monica Botkier>I probably should have called up Rebecca and been like okay, what? 00:51:37.829 --> 00:51:52.525 <v Emily Blumenthal>I ran into her not too long ago and we had a funny little conversation about our worlds, our ex world, in a sense, it's kind of like finding out you both did the same person for the same amount of time, like what that happened to you, what did they do to you? 00:51:52.525 --> 00:51:53.971 <v Emily Blumenthal>Oh well, this is what they did to me. 00:51:53.971 --> 00:52:07.965 <v Emily Blumenthal>It's so funny because I think it might age me, age us, but it was like the golden age of being this creator of something that people genuinely consumed, and it was consumed in a way that's very different than it is now. 00:52:07.965 --> 00:52:09.690 <v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, absolutely. 00:52:10.052 --> 00:52:12.079 <v Monica Botkier>I love to see what's happening now. 00:52:12.079 --> 00:52:23.532 <v Monica Botkier>Like I was talking to somebody who's been in the industry for a really long time and they were like hey, there's a whole resurgence on handbags in that price point that you did Like you should think about coming back and doing that. 00:52:23.532 --> 00:52:25.434 <v Monica Botkier>I was just like no, but I don't see it. 00:52:25.434 --> 00:52:30.090 <v Monica Botkier>But that's because I guess certain things are still happening. 00:52:30.090 --> 00:52:35.606 <v Monica Botkier>Chanel bags are getting more expensive and that whole feeder system and bags still exist. 00:52:35.606 --> 00:52:49.365 <v Monica Botkier>You just have newer, cooler ones coming up that take the place and I don't know, my BODCure customers from back then are middle age now, but they got the cash and they've got the style. 00:52:49.365 --> 00:52:52.353 <v Monica Botkier>I mean it's not over, it's just different. 00:52:52.561 --> 00:52:54.306 <v Monica Botkier>But like, are you buying that now? 00:52:54.306 --> 00:52:55.952 <v Monica Botkier>Are you buying Louis Vuitton or? 00:52:56.193 --> 00:52:58.784 <v Emily Blumenthal>whatever, not buying anything, I still can't do it. 00:52:58.784 --> 00:53:00.028 <v Emily Blumenthal>What bag do you carry? 00:53:00.429 --> 00:53:01.614 <v Monica Botkier>Oh, I'm going to show it to you. 00:53:01.614 --> 00:53:06.228 <v Monica Botkier>It's so wrecked right now, but I love this bag so much and it's not about your bag at all. 00:53:06.228 --> 00:53:08.251 <v Monica Botkier>It is a Barbara Bowie bag. 00:53:08.251 --> 00:53:10.005 <v Monica Botkier>Oh my gosh, remember her. 00:53:10.005 --> 00:53:12.932 <v Monica Botkier>Yes, so this bag must be 15 years old. 00:53:12.932 --> 00:53:18.472 <v Monica Botkier>Oh, I worked with Salt, the strap company, to do a bag design for them, so I have their strap on here. 00:53:18.472 --> 00:53:21.302 <v Monica Botkier>It's a disastrous mess, but I freaking love it. 00:53:21.302 --> 00:53:24.010 <v Monica Botkier>It's perfect size and it's got all the hardware that I like. 00:53:24.360 --> 00:53:30.940 <v Emily Blumenthal>So do you have an original BODCure bag in your rotation of handbags or you can't you? 00:53:30.960 --> 00:53:32.204 <v Monica Botkier>know what they're precious to me. 00:53:32.204 --> 00:53:38.800 <v Monica Botkier>Now I don't want to use them, I don't want to get them messed up, but I have the original original right nearby If you want me to grab it. 00:53:38.800 --> 00:53:41.606 <v Monica Botkier>It looks like a homemade mess, yeah yeah, go grab it. 00:53:41.626 --> 00:53:44.273 <v Emily Blumenthal>Go grab it for sure, it's literally right here. 00:53:44.273 --> 00:53:45.382 <v Emily Blumenthal>Oh my goodness. 00:53:45.681 --> 00:53:46.744 <v Monica Botkier>Check it out. 00:53:47.224 --> 00:53:49.409 <v Emily Blumenthal>Wow, look at her. 00:53:49.409 --> 00:53:53.460 <v Emily Blumenthal>Oh my God, this is the original trigger Yep. 00:53:53.521 --> 00:53:58.172 <v Monica Botkier>This is where I got from Ohio Fasteners yeah, oh, they're still around. 00:53:58.172 --> 00:54:01.885 <v Monica Botkier>Yep, what logo that my sister made. 00:54:01.885 --> 00:54:03.889 <v Monica Botkier>This was like back then. 00:54:03.889 --> 00:54:05.853 <v Monica Botkier>We did not them, we just glued them. 00:54:05.853 --> 00:54:07.824 <v Monica Botkier>I'm pretty sure this is a Maniluchi. 00:54:07.824 --> 00:54:13.483 <v Monica Botkier>I went and bought a fabric in the Garment Center but look at this sexy little thing. 00:54:13.483 --> 00:54:16.652 <v Monica Botkier>Wow, I love it. 00:54:16.652 --> 00:54:17.755 <v Monica Botkier>I still love it. 00:54:17.755 --> 00:54:18.737 <v Monica Botkier>You should. 00:54:18.737 --> 00:54:23.489 <v Monica Botkier>I would actually love to remake these the right way for me, but that's it. 00:54:23.489 --> 00:54:24.090 <v Monica Botkier>That's it. 00:54:24.371 --> 00:54:31.503 <v Emily Blumenthal>So, just to wrap up, we can't have a podcast without someone showing one of their backs, so I'm glad we were able to see her and all her glory. 00:54:31.503 --> 00:54:33.206 <v Emily Blumenthal>What are you doing now? 00:54:33.206 --> 00:54:34.811 <v Emily Blumenthal>How can we find you? 00:54:34.811 --> 00:54:38.128 <v Emily Blumenthal>How can we follow you all over the world of Monica Bakir? 00:54:38.389 --> 00:54:40.318 <v Monica Botkier>Oh, my goodness, this is a shameless plug. 00:54:40.318 --> 00:54:44.713 <v Monica Botkier>Well, monica Bakir, that should be her Exactly Instagram, monica Bakir. 00:54:44.713 --> 00:54:51.092 <v Monica Botkier>My new company is called Chosen Woven and this is a really exciting new project for me. 00:54:51.092 --> 00:54:52.034 <v Monica Botkier>It's Intimates. 00:54:52.034 --> 00:54:56.971 <v Monica Botkier>I have a fantastic partner, olga Kapusina, who comes from Apparel. 00:54:56.971 --> 00:55:06.514 <v Monica Botkier>She had an incredible dress line back in the Barney's days as well and got her biochemical engineering degree and decided all about sustainable fabric use. 00:55:06.514 --> 00:55:08.784 <v Monica Botkier>So we make gorgeous knits. 00:55:08.784 --> 00:55:10.447 <v Monica Botkier>Oh, I can show you one of those too. 00:55:10.447 --> 00:55:16.271 <v Monica Botkier>Bring it on Beautiful knits that are made without the use of plastic. 00:55:16.371 --> 00:55:18.960 <v Monica Botkier>It's all merino base, so it's starting to get in. 00:55:18.960 --> 00:55:20.666 <v Monica Botkier>You could wear it in the cold weather. 00:55:20.666 --> 00:55:21.849 <v Monica Botkier>It keeps you warm. 00:55:21.849 --> 00:55:23.878 <v Monica Botkier>Hot weather keeps you cool. 00:55:23.878 --> 00:55:26.626 <v Monica Botkier>It's like literal miracle material. 00:55:26.626 --> 00:55:32.550 <v Monica Botkier>And with the innovations and knitting, we are able to create a support and stretch without spandex. 00:55:32.550 --> 00:55:36.333 <v Monica Botkier>No petroleum based, fossil fuel based plastic. 00:55:36.333 --> 00:55:38.385 <v Monica Botkier>Wow, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. 00:55:38.385 --> 00:55:39.728 <v Monica Botkier>Oh, I have it right here. 00:55:39.728 --> 00:55:46.731 <v Monica Botkier>These panties are going to look huge because these are high waisted, but against me they're going to look very big. 00:55:46.731 --> 00:55:52.730 <v Monica Botkier>These are high waisted and they're just like super pretty, wow, and they feel like a dream. 00:55:52.730 --> 00:55:56.721 <v Monica Botkier>And here we have a print that is clashing against my pants. 00:55:56.760 --> 00:56:01.130 <v Emily Blumenthal>I was just going to say you should wear them with that on top, then tuck it in. 00:56:01.130 --> 00:56:04.362 <v Emily Blumenthal>Oh wow, that's lovely. 00:56:06.786 --> 00:56:08.050 <v Monica Botkier>So you know, we're on a mission. 00:56:08.050 --> 00:56:08.570 <v Monica Botkier>We love it. 00:56:08.570 --> 00:56:10.762 <v Monica Botkier>We're going to make a lot more product. 00:56:10.762 --> 00:56:14.557 <v Monica Botkier>Right now, we've got all kinds of tops, so I got a bra right here, right here. 00:56:14.557 --> 00:56:16.983 <v Monica Botkier>Show you guys the bra. 00:56:16.983 --> 00:56:22.673 <v Monica Botkier>Oh, wow, this is mine, though, so it's not in condition, but just freshly washed. 00:56:22.673 --> 00:56:24.786 <v Monica Botkier>So cold water, butt dry. 00:56:24.786 --> 00:56:27.998 <v Monica Botkier>Yeah, that's amazing, but it looks good and feels good. 00:56:27.998 --> 00:56:29.304 <v Monica Botkier>So, yeah, that's what I'm doing now. 00:56:29.304 --> 00:56:32.800 <v Monica Botkier>I feel like it took me a while to find a passion, but I always love handbags. 00:56:32.800 --> 00:56:39.846 <v Monica Botkier>I think they're amazing, and there's some really great young designers coming out doing their thing and I'm super impressed. 00:56:39.846 --> 00:56:44.259 <v Monica Botkier>So I think it's always an evolving category. 00:56:44.259 --> 00:56:46.965 <v Monica Botkier>It doesn't get boring no, not for us. 00:56:46.965 --> 00:56:54.730 <v Monica Botkier>Gorgeous, gorgeous designs, and women and men use bags all day, every day, and you know, I think it's fun. 00:56:54.730 --> 00:57:01.672 <v Monica Botkier>So I love that you're keeping it alive for all the young hopefuls out there, or old hopefuls, everyone who wants to do it. 00:57:01.833 --> 00:57:08.094 <v Emily Blumenthal>Listen, my hook is everybody loves an underdog, but everybody loves a handbag more, so I love it. 00:57:08.094 --> 00:57:11.023 <v Emily Blumenthal>That said, monica, you've been amazing. 00:57:11.023 --> 00:57:13.914 <v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you for joining us on Handbag Designer 101. 00:57:13.914 --> 00:57:16.521 <v Emily Blumenthal>And we will be watching you to see what comes next. 00:57:16.521 --> 00:57:17.505 <v Emily Blumenthal>So thank you so much. 00:57:17.905 --> 00:57:18.648 <v Monica Botkier>Thank you so much. 00:57:18.648 --> 00:57:22.385 <v Monica Botkier>Thank you for all the support and your undying love and passion for handbags. 00:57:23.606 --> 00:57:26.233 <v Emily Blumenthal>All right, we'll see you soon, okay, thank you. 00:57:26.739 --> 00:57:27.561 <v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks for listening. 00:57:27.561 --> 00:57:32.942 <v Emily Blumenthal>Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer. 00:57:32.942 --> 00:57:33.822 <v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks so much. 00:57:33.822 --> 00:57:34.824 <v Emily Blumenthal>See you next time.

A Handbag History: Monica Botkier’s Tale of Transition and Triumph | Emily Blumenthal & Monica Botkier

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