Julie Deane’s Tale from Kitchen Table to British Handbag Empire: The Creation of The Cambridge Satchel Company Part 1

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<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.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Welcome Julie Dean of the Cambridge Statue Company, founder, creator, give birth or tour CBE all the way from Quinn's country in the United Kingdom.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Welcome, julie.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you so much for joining us.

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<v Julie Deane>Thank you so much for inviting me along.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>As I was saying before, you commented on a post mine on LinkedIn, and that's just a welcome, that's an invitation for us to be best friends forever, absolutely so, bye.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you had mentioned that someone is collecting coins from your garden today.

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<v Julie Deane>Absolutely so.

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<v Julie Deane>I live just outside.

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<v Julie Deane>Well, it's Cambridge, it's one of the little villages around Cambridge.

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<v Julie Deane>So you still stayed there.

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<v Julie Deane>Huh, I split my time between here and the west coast of Wales, which is where I'm from originally.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>No accent.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>How'd you lose the accent?

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<v Julie Deane>Oh well, I've been in Cambridge for such a long time, I think, but the minute I go over the bridge it comes back.

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<v Julie Deane>So it's a bit of a funny one.

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<v Julie Deane>But in Cambridge I have a very, very old house and there's a quince tree in the garden.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>What's a quince for people who don't know?

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<v Julie Deane>Quince is.

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<v Julie Deane>These fruit look like a cross between a pear and an apple Got it.

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<v Julie Deane>They are really big and they are rock hard and really heavy and one fell on one of my dog's heads two years ago and completely stunned him for a while.

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<v Julie Deane>But then they've never really caught on as a fruit to eat or do very much with, except there is a small group in my village Facebook gardening group that likes to come and pick the quince every year.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Listen, we have a Facebook group in the building I live, but there's actually two, because the two admins broke up and they blocked each other, so now we have two groups.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's kind of funny but sad at the same time.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You have to double post.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You have to double post.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's very time consuming.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I want to ask you something, because there's so much on earth here.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Do you get bored of telling a story?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Is it old for you at this point?

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<v Julie Deane>No, no, it's not for me, because I don't know.

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<v Julie Deane>It's still so vivid.

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<v Julie Deane>Even the very beginning in many ways feels like just yesterday.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I get that.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I so, so get that.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Like you know, I know your mom, freda Freda.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Freda Freda was an integral part of the beginning and it sounds like she was part of also minding you, helping you with your kids, so had that too.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So when I started my handbag offline, my mom was driving me back and forth to JFK to pick up my shipments and I was opening the boxes with her and only to get her facial expression of do you really want to do this?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Because this is not good.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you know it's the passive aggressive I'm here to support, but are you sure this is what we're doing?

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<v Julie Deane>Yeah, and the things that you know my mom would say sometimes if somebody came for an interview and I'd maybe finishing off some call or something and I'd look at, and if I saw the journalist speaking to my mother, my heart would sink and think, oh my gosh, what is she saying?

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<v Julie Deane>Oh, no, no, this is awful.

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<v Julie Deane>I remember there was a magazine came in and they said and how, what can you tell us about your daughter?

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<v Julie Deane>What can you say about your daughter and my mom?

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<v Julie Deane>Of all the things that I would have loved her to have said, she said she's not stupid.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, yeah, that's it.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah yeah, she was on payroll with you.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You should have like had an HR chat with her about that.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>After, like, here's the do's and don'ts of what we say.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Don't get me, that's her off with the me.

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<v Julie Deane>My gosh.

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<v Julie Deane>What on earth she's not stupid.

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<v Julie Deane>That's it Could be.

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<v Julie Deane>On my gravestone here lies Julie Dean.

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<v Julie Deane>She wasn't stupid, Mama.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, come, yeah, oh, my God.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Well, I think I've read every interview you've ever had and, as I was saying, I believe there are more people like you.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I would throw me into the conversation, but I never reached the level of success.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Because you found a hole in the market and was able to capitalize on it, and I believe you know creating something it also comes down to timing, right timing and hustle.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you found something at the right place at the right time and had the hustle and need and therefore said you know, it's so interesting when we're put into these positions because we really even the most risk averse people.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>When you're in it, you don't even see what the downside is.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>No, like, it's like okay, this is what I'm doing the act.

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<v Julie Deane>Yeah, yeah, that's all right and this is might be quite sad, but I honestly love the satchel.

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<v Julie Deane>It is like my, it's spectacular, it is my favorite bag ever, because I'm not a tremendously fussy person, right, but what a practical person.

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<v Julie Deane>And so I don't want to be messing around looking for goodness there's how many pockets or zips, or you know.

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<v Julie Deane>I just can't be doing with it.

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<v Julie Deane>And I was astounded when I couldn't find a traditional school satchel for my children, because there were all these bags that had zips, that would fall apart or well made or they look really grungy.

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<v Julie Deane>And I had my satchel from the moment I started secondary school, so about you know, 10, 11, right up until the end of university, and it just always was there.

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<v Julie Deane>It would stand up and I could fish things out of it.

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<v Julie Deane>It didn't sort of disgorge its contents all over the floor, you know it was.

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<v Julie Deane>It was just always something I didn't have to think about.

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<v Julie Deane>So with Emily and Max, I just thought of course you're going to want to have a satchel, and it didn't occur to me for a minute that I wouldn't be able to just find one, right, of course Really easily, because it's traditional British school bag and they were and it's traditional British school, yes, very, very traditional and I was really shocked and sort of horrified when, then, I couldn't find one.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you know you said a lot of interesting things.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Number one it stood up.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Now we know from the do's and don'ts of handbags and merchandising that unless the bag stands it will not be successful.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Number one.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Number two if you had the same bag the standing, the test of time, it was a good solid cow leather, yeah, and it was a stodgy color and it had the flap with the little really buckled doodas and it could stand the test of time, much like the origin of what coach was that?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>They use baseball mitt leather back then, yeah, and not so much now because everything has to move a lot quicker.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>But the fact is I know that this was born out of necessity, for twofold One, you couldn't find it and two, you wanted to put your kids into public school, which we call private school here.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, that's right.

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<v Julie Deane>That's right.

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<v Julie Deane>I hadn't had this need of oh my gosh, how am I going to make school fees, how am I going to pay for my children's education?

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<v Julie Deane>If I didn't have that pressing, pressing need, then maybe I would never have done this, you know.

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<v Julie Deane>But it was literally a list of what can I do to make enough money to make sure my children get a good education, because education is just so important.

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<v Julie Deane>You know, it's freedom.

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<v Julie Deane>It's been so important for me and that is the gift that I wanted most of all to give to them.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>My grandmother, who was a Holocaust survivor, always used to say education is the lightest package you'll ever have to carry, because you know she was forced to work at 15.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So it was.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You know obviously different times and you know you don't appreciate that obviously when you're a child.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>But having a couple degrees here and there, you're like, oh yeah, everybody needs to keep learning.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So I understand.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, I'm trying to make strong for your comments.

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<v Julie Deane>There are different ways of learning too, because when I think of all the things I learned during the whole process of founding and growing and running Cambridge Satchel, you know I had to teach myself so many things.

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<v Julie Deane>Yeah, Goodness for YouTube.

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<v Julie Deane>And goodness, thank goodness you know even things like how to use these machines.

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<v Julie Deane>When you put the nylon strapping around boxes, you know, with a little metal clamp on them I could buy the machine, the gizmo, that sort of doesn't put the staples on them, but how do you use the blinking thing?

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<v Julie Deane>Right, Right, you know, but thank goodness you know there's a how to video for just about everything.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>There is now.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>When I started, there wasn't any videos, so it was like you'd get a box and you'd be like, well, what the hell am I supposed to do now?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, so now you were married at the time, I was, yeah, so I find this interesting and if you don't want to speak about that, you know, I totally understand.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>But was it a pushback?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And what was the response internally Because I know a lot of people when they start something like this of which they have zero experience and or knowledge an interesting dialogue internally in terms of, okay, why are you doing this?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Okay, I want to do this.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Hey, for school fees, does your child really even need to go to this precious school?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And where are you getting the money from to start this?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Like, so, obviously you have to do everything yourself, even within this partnership.

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<v Julie Deane>And I think that it was made a lot easier for me because I started getting such a with 600 pounds, so about $700.

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<v Julie Deane>Right which I had organized a conference and been paid 600 pounds for it and that was it?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>That was your seed money.

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<v Julie Deane>Seed money is, yeah, bigging it a little bit, but, yes, it was.

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<v Julie Deane>It was a tiny seed, yes, and so that was, you know, the money that I had to gamble on this big dream.

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<v Julie Deane>Because, yes, the outcome was, let's get Emily Maxx into a great school, but then it sort of becomes this huge challenge Just golly, I can do something that is going to be amazing.

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<v Julie Deane>What if this worked?

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<v Julie Deane>What if?

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<v Julie Deane>Because my dad was self-employed, you know, and he had his own business, and I think that after I had stopped full-time work to be at home for a long time with Emily and Maxx, and then it was suddenly this thing of, oh, maybe I don't have to work out how to get back into a traditional workforce.

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<v Julie Deane>Yeah, because if I try to do this, I can make it work better around the children, you know, I can be there for school holidays, I can do school drop-offs and pickups and I can be trying out something amazing, which means that I get to feel like I'm evolving as well, because they were six and eight when I started Cambridge Satchel and I would see, with every day, they would be learning things.

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<v Julie Deane>You know, they'd be learning very early on.

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<v Julie Deane>You've got the books, you're trying to teach them and help them learn to read.

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<v Julie Deane>And then they're going to school and they're learning how to do lots of different things and it's just wonderful watching them learn and grow and become their little people.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Well, you were an early adopter from a work-from-home mom.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, exactly yes, because you were always working.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, but you were with them.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, so exactly.

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<v Julie Deane>And then it suddenly starts as they become that bit more independent and start enjoying spending time with people their own age and doing their own sort of things.

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<v Julie Deane>Then suddenly there's this horror of, you know, being at home with the children was fun when it was being at home with the children, but if the children are actually doing these other things now, I'm still at home.

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<v Julie Deane>What am I going to do?

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<v Julie Deane>That's going to keep my mind active.

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<v Julie Deane>That makes me feel that I'm not just left standing while.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm, I have a sense of purpose, exactly yeah.

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<v Julie Deane>And so suddenly, the prospect of I'm going to start a business, well, that's exciting, it's really exciting.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Well, again, it's so fascinating.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you came up.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You saw this hole in the market, not even realizing that it was perceived as from even a marketing term, a hole in the market right, like what's missing.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Defining all that?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Because everything you've done from a marketing angle was done right.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You found something that was needed.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It satisfied a need and a want.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You couldn't find it.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You started looking around and then you found this one shop and you stocked them for them to share their manufacturer, and that is actually in my book.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I speak about that that it's almost like babysitters that when you find a good babysitter, you don't share their name or information.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you have to really come up with something clever to get people to share who their source is.

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<v Julie Deane>Yeah.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And then you show up at said source's door saying we have to figure this out right now.

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<v Julie Deane>Yeah, and you know, yes, that shop.

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<v Julie Deane>Let me get rid of all of those that are things appearing on my screen?

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<v Julie Deane>Right, yes, and was this finding somewhere that somehow had managed to find real, authentic school satchels?

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<v Julie Deane>Because when I started looking for manufacturers a difference between handmade and artisan?

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<v Julie Deane>Well, 100%.

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<v Julie Deane>And the minute somebody describes themselves as artisan I soon discovered that market was going to be way too expensive for me.

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<v Julie Deane>Right, for all the new sellers, that are going to happen, yes, and they're never going to be able to make them in bulk.

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<v Julie Deane>No, I'm never going to be able to sell to all of the school children in Britain because there's some man in his artisan shed doing circles on things.

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<v Julie Deane>Yes, and making a bag every two weeks?

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<v Julie Deane>Correct, that would never, and that hadn't occurred to me before I went on the hunt for a manufacturer.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, it's a learning curve, because you find someone who can finally make it, yeah, and then you go and you get orders against it.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And then you realize, oh my God, it will be at least six months before I get my production from said person.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And then you go and bother them and then, because you're pissing them off, they want no part.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Like, I'm going to put you at the bottom of the list because you're really irritating me.

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<v Julie Deane>Yes, Although in my case it worked the other way round.

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<v Julie Deane>I think that I had nagging down to such a fine art, well done, that's what I did.

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<v Julie Deane>But he was willing to just make me a batch of these things because he was sure, so sure, that they're away, that there's no market for it.

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<v Julie Deane>Right?

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<v Julie Deane>And it would literally like if I make you six of these things, will you just leave me alone?

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<v Julie Deane>Yes, yes, I will, yes, I will.

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<v Julie Deane>And it catapulted me to the front of his queue because he was so certain that nobody wanted these things because his factory in the north in the UK, in Hulb, they used to make satchels back in the 1970s, yeah, when you know, everybody had them.

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<v Julie Deane>And if you look at the sort of Narnia films and all of those, they were satchels.

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<v Julie Deane>The company used to make those then and he said, no, nobody wants them now, they're not on trend.

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<v Julie Deane>I think you're wrong.

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<v Julie Deane>I think you're wrong.

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<v Julie Deane>And he said, look, I'll make you these six, but you have to just go away and stop pestering me.

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<v Julie Deane>And it's like, yeah, but if this works and I'm right, then I could be your best customer ever.

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<v Julie Deane>And he was so certain that it wasn't going to work.

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<v Julie Deane>He said yes, yes, well, then you can come back to me, which was great, because then I could Thank God, I could hear him say goodness, but yes, he would literally do anything just to make me stop.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Well, I'm sure we talk about this that when you come in to speak to a manufacturer, the more green you are, the less they want to talk to you and the more they'll charge you.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Right, it's that like you don't know what you're doing, extra cost.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You don't understand construction or how a bag is, the anatomy of a handbag, the silhouettes, all you knew, you know, like it's a satchel.

00:16:58.274 --> 00:17:06.455
<v Emily Blumenthal>And here he saw this mom with a big dream and a bag and it's like, yeah, I don't know you should, just this is cute, good for you.

00:17:07.190 --> 00:17:24.795
<v Julie Deane>I think I was really, really fortunate that my first manufacturer was absolute salt of the earth, one of the most men ever, you know, and I kept in touch right the way along and he came to shop openings and everything and just the most.

00:17:24.795 --> 00:17:26.955
<v Julie Deane>You must have kept him in business.

00:17:26.955 --> 00:17:30.740
<v Julie Deane>Honestly, I put so much his way that he couldn't keep up.

00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:44.183
<v Julie Deane>And then, you know, I had to find a second, and then a third, and it sort of went that way and those first three manufacturers were the most decent, honest men that you could ever come across.

00:17:44.670 --> 00:17:48.240
<v Emily Blumenthal>Was he insulted that you had to go get another or he knew you needed to?

00:17:48.390 --> 00:17:51.175
<v Julie Deane>No, because I said to him look, can you please?

00:17:51.175 --> 00:17:54.983
<v Julie Deane>Just, I need way, way more, way, way more.

00:17:54.983 --> 00:18:04.221
<v Julie Deane>Because he could make up to 250 bags a week and in the beginning I thought that would be more than anybody would ever need.

00:18:04.221 --> 00:18:07.659
<v Julie Deane>I would never need more than 250 a week.

00:18:07.659 --> 00:18:12.340
<v Julie Deane>And then it was growing and I really needed, you know, a lot more than that.

00:18:12.340 --> 00:18:16.038
<v Julie Deane>And so I said look, can you please just take on more people?

00:18:16.038 --> 00:18:32.509
<v Julie Deane>And there was a point at which I think, because of labor laws and the way that the factories are set up in the UK, there's a point at which you decide you're either stepping up it is a big step up, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:18:33.010 --> 00:18:40.281
<v Julie Deane>And for each of the three first manufacturers, it always happened around the 200 to 250 bags a week.

00:18:40.281 --> 00:18:41.364
<v Julie Deane>That was the limit.

00:18:41.364 --> 00:18:47.789
<v Julie Deane>After that, they needed a special first aid person and they needed a special Insurance and overhead.

00:18:47.789 --> 00:18:49.194
<v Julie Deane>And it changed.

00:18:49.194 --> 00:18:50.398
<v Julie Deane>You know, everything changed.

00:18:50.398 --> 00:18:55.260
<v Julie Deane>And so I tried to get him to take on more people and to expand and to grow.

00:18:55.260 --> 00:19:02.963
<v Julie Deane>But he was very, very honest and just said look, at my stage in life, I've seen stressful times.

00:19:02.963 --> 00:19:06.900
<v Julie Deane>I don't want to expand the factory Amazing.

00:19:06.900 --> 00:19:13.126
<v Julie Deane>So it was like well, okay, if I always give you enough to keep you entirely busy.

00:19:13.126 --> 00:19:17.779
<v Julie Deane>Would you mind then, if the excess I take to somebody else?

00:19:17.779 --> 00:19:26.480
<v Julie Deane>And so he said no, no, and he helped me find another person to take the next layer.

00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:28.585
<v Julie Deane>That's amazing, yeah.

00:19:29.269 --> 00:19:46.738
<v Julie Deane>And then they spoke to each other often to make sure that things like the rivets were always the same how lucky Came from the same place, and I think some of that I hope I'm not flattering myself by saying that some of that was just because of the transparency of you.

00:19:46.738 --> 00:19:54.662
<v Julie Deane>I spoke to them with right, and it was always I have to do the right thing by Alec, because he was the first one.

00:19:54.662 --> 00:19:59.557
<v Julie Deane>He great me started, so he gets the first 250 after that.

00:19:59.557 --> 00:20:00.539
<v Julie Deane>This is what I need.

00:20:00.539 --> 00:20:03.034
<v Julie Deane>And then it happened again.

00:20:03.034 --> 00:20:06.080
<v Julie Deane>You know that I was now on 500 bags a week.

00:20:06.080 --> 00:20:07.343
<v Julie Deane>It wasn't enough.

00:20:07.343 --> 00:20:20.616
<v Julie Deane>We needed to find another one, and I found a very, very colorful character based in Norfolk, a fantastic man who sadly passed away about seven or eight years ago, and I said, look, this is the way it works.

00:20:20.990 --> 00:20:22.390
<v Emily Blumenthal>This is how we are doing business.

00:20:22.871 --> 00:20:37.603
<v Julie Deane>This is how it works, you know, and it just means that if one of you then a short of rivets or there's a problem, you haven't got enough thread of a particular color, you can form a sort of like a little alliance going.

00:20:37.603 --> 00:20:48.202
<v Julie Deane>Then you can talk to each other and you can complain about me or whatever, do your own thing, and they got on really well and that was absolutely fantastic with those three.

00:20:48.202 --> 00:20:53.181
<v Julie Deane>That is the dream that you find people like that, amazing.

00:20:53.181 --> 00:20:58.942
<v Julie Deane>But I only now, looking back on it, realize how lucky I was to find that.

00:20:59.672 --> 00:21:02.574
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, that's touched by, it, Touched by something.

00:21:02.574 --> 00:21:04.355
<v Emily Blumenthal>I have a couple of questions.

00:21:04.355 --> 00:21:09.117
<v Emily Blumenthal>So one how did you go about selling?

00:21:09.117 --> 00:21:12.984
<v Emily Blumenthal>Were you selling from your kitchen?

00:21:12.984 --> 00:21:15.017
<v Emily Blumenthal>Were you going to mom's door to door?

00:21:15.017 --> 00:21:19.361
<v Emily Blumenthal>Were you doing school fairs or were you like, okay, I'm going to start going to local boutiques?

00:21:19.361 --> 00:21:26.935
<v Emily Blumenthal>And how, within this journey because we had more to cover did you say the production must stay in England?

00:21:26.935 --> 00:21:27.931
<v Emily Blumenthal>How did you?

00:21:27.931 --> 00:21:29.998
<v Emily Blumenthal>Let's tackle the first one.

00:21:30.630 --> 00:21:35.561
<v Julie Deane>To me, it was always important that production stayed in the UK, in Britain.

00:21:35.561 --> 00:21:47.976
<v Julie Deane>It wasn't in England because I had two manufacturers in England or one in Scotland, but it was all British and that made it easy for me because I could you put a patrol there, turn them up without a time difference.

00:21:47.976 --> 00:21:59.402
<v Julie Deane>We all spoke the same language and if things really came to a crunch point, I could always get in my car and drive and be there, you know that, same day or the next morning.

00:21:59.402 --> 00:22:05.436
<v Julie Deane>It made things very, very simple for me, I think, and also just things like when I was paying them.

00:22:05.436 --> 00:22:07.221
<v Julie Deane>We're all being paid in pounds.

00:22:07.221 --> 00:22:07.589
<v Julie Deane>You know.

00:22:07.589 --> 00:22:12.039
<v Julie Deane>There was no currency issues, there were no customs declarations.

00:22:12.039 --> 00:22:13.082
<v Julie Deane>That was all very easy.

00:22:13.082 --> 00:22:17.421
<v Julie Deane>The selling I had read a book Gorilla Marketing.

00:22:19.155 --> 00:22:19.917
<v Emily Blumenthal>I have it up here.

00:22:22.396 --> 00:22:24.141
<v Julie Deane>So it's great, I liked it.

00:22:24.141 --> 00:22:29.781
<v Julie Deane>And in there it sort of said you have to do your marketing in different ways.

00:22:30.672 --> 00:22:35.019
<v Emily Blumenthal>Can be a media gorilla marketing yeah you really have two different ways.

00:22:35.109 --> 00:22:45.237
<v Julie Deane>And so I thought, oh, I've got to sort of approach that I'd made these funny little flyers out of wood and then, you know, you get the guillotine, and so that I'd like to do all of these flyers myself.

00:22:45.237 --> 00:22:54.914
<v Julie Deane>And then I found loads of free directories, because I needed to be mentioned in lots of places because otherwise, you know, google doesn't see you.

00:22:54.914 --> 00:22:58.845
<v Julie Deane>So this is the vintage SEO Vintage vintage.

00:22:59.045 --> 00:22:59.346
<v Julie Deane>SEO?

00:22:59.346 --> 00:23:03.989
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, absolutely Well, and then you never link outside.

00:23:03.989 --> 00:23:12.028
<v Julie Deane>So it's like a cul-de-sac, you know Right, you just always try to get somebody to mention you or listed on anything, but you never link out.

00:23:12.028 --> 00:23:19.230
<v Julie Deane>Right, because virtually everybody's website was better than mine, so I didn't want anybody legal my website, right?

00:23:19.859 --> 00:23:20.541
<v Emily Blumenthal>I remember.

00:23:20.541 --> 00:23:26.028
<v Emily Blumenthal>I remember the vintage Cambridge Statue company's website because I kept notes.

00:23:26.028 --> 00:23:36.143
<v Emily Blumenthal>My template to my book was, like me, I was teaching a class on how to launch a handbag line when you're not trained in design prior to me even having a real business.

00:23:36.143 --> 00:23:44.686
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because they found me talking about it and some you know one of those organizations that have like learned how to make a handbag line.

00:23:44.686 --> 00:23:46.026
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean I was in the same booklet.

00:23:46.026 --> 00:23:53.326
<v Emily Blumenthal>It was called the Learning Annex, and they'd have those bins on the street that you could get outside, you know your pharmacies and so forth.

00:23:53.326 --> 00:23:59.788
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean I was in one on the same covers, donald Trump, where it was learned how to sell real estate.

00:23:59.788 --> 00:24:04.528
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean that's how old school were going and they would take the handbag designer flavor of the week.

00:24:04.528 --> 00:24:13.147
<v Emily Blumenthal>But because I was keeping notes, I had a syllabus, I had resources, I had recommendations, I had designers to follow and you were one of them.

00:24:13.560 --> 00:24:17.646
<v Julie Deane>So Kelly, my very first website.

00:24:17.646 --> 00:24:28.141
<v Julie Deane>When you have 600 pounds as your seed fund, yes, you don't really have much of that to spend on a web designer, right, you know?

00:24:28.141 --> 00:24:29.806
<v Julie Deane>And this was 2008.

00:24:29.806 --> 00:24:33.729
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, and so I thought I'm just going to have to teach myself.

00:24:33.729 --> 00:24:35.285
<v Julie Deane>How hard can it be?

00:24:35.285 --> 00:24:40.527
<v Julie Deane>You know, this is the same as that Usually comes before some disaster.

00:24:40.527 --> 00:24:43.724
<v Julie Deane>But, right, how hard can it be, you know, like this.

00:24:43.724 --> 00:24:52.026
<v Julie Deane>And so I took a free Microsoft course, free online course, over a couple of nights, and then came up with this website.

00:24:52.026 --> 00:24:54.313
<v Julie Deane>That was the very first one, oh my God.

00:24:54.313 --> 00:25:02.083
<v Julie Deane>And you put this in a PayPal and you'd have to highlight all of the code for a button and then you'd embed the code and each color.

00:25:02.222 --> 00:25:03.688
<v Emily Blumenthal>each color was its own skew.

00:25:03.688 --> 00:25:04.349
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's right.

00:25:05.281 --> 00:25:10.566
<v Julie Deane>And then you've got the button, but the button somehow don't want to align on the website.

00:25:10.566 --> 00:25:12.544
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, so the kind of thing.

00:25:12.544 --> 00:25:14.907
<v Julie Deane>So, yeah, I went through all of that.

00:25:14.907 --> 00:25:22.527
<v Julie Deane>But when you do go through all of that, you have such an understanding of your business, of every part of the business.

00:25:22.586 --> 00:25:32.250
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, it's so interesting because most people now are so quick to outsource I need a salesperson, I need a publicist, I need a designer.

00:25:32.250 --> 00:25:33.625
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's like no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:25:33.625 --> 00:25:37.971
<v Emily Blumenthal>You have to learn how to make everything from start to finish.

00:25:37.971 --> 00:25:40.990
<v Emily Blumenthal>Even if you do it poorly, you need to know.

00:25:40.990 --> 00:25:49.487
<v Emily Blumenthal>So when you hire people, you know what they're doing wrong, even from a salesperson, and you're like oh well, did you hit these stores?

00:25:49.487 --> 00:25:52.269
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, why not I go in them, I'm still doing it.

00:25:52.269 --> 00:25:54.227
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you reach out to these editors?

00:25:54.227 --> 00:26:01.280
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, well, I know they cover stories about female founders, handbag, colored bags, like why aren't you so?

00:26:01.280 --> 00:26:05.205
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then you end up doing all that heavy lifting yourself anyway.

00:26:05.619 --> 00:26:10.830
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, exactly, and when you have people join you it's very different.

00:26:10.830 --> 00:26:22.990
<v Julie Deane>You know they're on their own career path, right, whereas for me this was just something I absolutely lived and breathed and loved and thought about constantly.

00:26:22.990 --> 00:26:29.723
<v Julie Deane>I wasn't thinking how long do I need to stay here before moving to my next bigger job and then moving to?

00:26:29.723 --> 00:26:38.008
<v Julie Deane>So I wasn't out to make a name for myself in web design, I was just telling these bags, you know, and it was like, ok, this seems to be working.

00:26:38.008 --> 00:26:41.309
<v Julie Deane>I'll sort of move on and try to look at something else.

00:26:41.309 --> 00:26:45.811
<v Julie Deane>But that is the thing when you learn to do every aspect of it yourself.

00:26:46.039 --> 00:26:55.471
<v Julie Deane>I remember, you know, because the bags, I wanted people's initials on the bags, because there's small little card holder at the front Right when you can find.

00:26:55.471 --> 00:27:06.269
<v Julie Deane>Children sometimes used to put their names in the card holder at the front Right and then I think, as a mom, I don't want my children's names to be on the bag.

00:27:06.269 --> 00:27:07.540
<v Julie Deane>That's visible from.

00:27:07.540 --> 00:27:13.228
<v Julie Deane>You know what if some creepy person says, oh, hello, emily, because they can read it on the front of their bag Exactly?

00:27:13.228 --> 00:27:16.448
<v Julie Deane>Don't need that, but I want a way to tell the bags apart.

00:27:16.448 --> 00:27:18.948
<v Julie Deane>Let's have initials embossed on them.

00:27:18.948 --> 00:27:20.263
<v Julie Deane>That would be nice.

00:27:20.263 --> 00:27:26.265
<v Julie Deane>And the first embossing machine, oh God, with a grant.

00:27:26.265 --> 00:27:30.064
<v Julie Deane>And the person came over from Germany as a German machine.

00:27:30.064 --> 00:27:38.306
<v Julie Deane>He didn't speak very good English, which is very unusual because, you know, for Germans forget it, they also, people can speak English.

00:27:38.326 --> 00:27:41.324
<v Emily Blumenthal>They're very organized, you know, just by anybody they're fantastic.

00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:53.873
<v Julie Deane>He does English, I speak no German, and so it was all done through sort of like here you do this, do that, you do this, you do this, and then you go no, no, no, it's all 999 or something like that.

00:27:53.873 --> 00:27:56.285
<v Julie Deane>No, no, no, let's try something else.

00:27:56.285 --> 00:27:58.446
<v Julie Deane>And then we'd all sit and have a biscuit and try again.

00:27:58.446 --> 00:28:07.221
<v Julie Deane>You know, that's how I learned to do embossing from him, and I embossed all of the bags Personally.

00:28:07.221 --> 00:28:28.631
<v Julie Deane>Yes, yeah, it was a really long time, and even after the New York Fashion Week times and the Google times, when we would have a flood in at Christmas time, I never felt able to ask anybody to work between sort of 10 PM and 3 AM embossing bags.

00:28:28.631 --> 00:28:33.906
<v Julie Deane>Right, so that was my slot, I would do that, and I would emboss between 10 and 3.

00:28:33.906 --> 00:28:38.863
<v Julie Deane>So when people came into pack, they'd have a load ready to go Were you out of your home.

00:28:38.883 --> 00:28:40.910
<v Emily Blumenthal>by this point, that was yes.

00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:53.488
<v Julie Deane>That was when we were in the first premises, and to anybody starting out I would say the less you tie yourself into long-term things, the better.

00:28:53.488 --> 00:28:59.791
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, so my first premises was like I had to give a month's notice.

00:28:59.791 --> 00:29:14.352
<v Julie Deane>If things went badly, I would give a month's notice, and so I knew, oh, that's the worst that can happen Is what it would cost me if I had to suddenly lose one month's rent Right Exactly.

00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:22.768
<v Julie Deane>Whereas often it can be a six month or a year's sort of yeah, you'll eat that money and lose it Exactly.

00:29:22.768 --> 00:29:36.391
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, and the more you can avoid those kinds of things, I think, the more creative you're still allowing yourself to be, because the less scared you are of what you have to meet.

00:29:36.619 --> 00:29:38.066
<v Emily Blumenthal>How did you handle sales?

00:29:38.066 --> 00:29:54.730
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, the fascinating thing about your brand is that all the silhouettes they were not cousins, they were siblings of the same parents and typically when people develop it's like you could tell they're all related because there's a story.

00:29:54.730 --> 00:29:57.689
<v Emily Blumenthal>But yours were like straight up, same DNA.

00:29:57.689 --> 00:30:04.023
<v Emily Blumenthal>The brothers and the sisters were mating and giving birth to the same child, so, I know, in a different color.

00:30:04.023 --> 00:30:06.647
<v Emily Blumenthal>So how did you handle sales?

00:30:06.647 --> 00:30:13.907
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because I'm sure there were plenty of people in your ear saying you should do this and you should do that, and you're like, no, no, we're keeping the same bag, that's it.

00:30:13.907 --> 00:30:17.988
<v Emily Blumenthal>We can make it bigger, we can make it smaller, we could change the strap shorter, we can make it longer.

00:30:17.988 --> 00:30:23.251
<v Emily Blumenthal>So how did you handle door to door and D to C, as it's called now?

00:30:23.251 --> 00:30:34.944
<v Emily Blumenthal>But you were selling online, because back then retailers were a little offended if you sold more on your website, whereas now they want to make sure you can sell on your website before they even pick you up.

00:30:35.066 --> 00:30:43.290
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, and I think that, well, first of all, because the bags the only thing defining the different bags was the size of the bag.

00:30:43.290 --> 00:30:45.807
<v Julie Deane>That was a real issue.

00:30:45.807 --> 00:30:49.630
<v Julie Deane>And it came to taking the photographs for the website.

00:30:49.630 --> 00:30:51.523
<v Julie Deane>Oh my God, yeah, of course.

00:30:51.523 --> 00:30:58.856
<v Julie Deane>I mean, I'm sure that we've all bought something online and then, when it comes, you think what is?

00:30:59.138 --> 00:31:01.888
<v Emily Blumenthal>that, oh small yeah, what's that?

00:31:02.059 --> 00:31:03.924
<v Julie Deane>You bought something of like.

00:31:03.924 --> 00:31:08.744
<v Julie Deane>I bought this thing of this weird it's a bit like a meat flavored yeast paste.

00:31:08.744 --> 00:31:11.151
<v Julie Deane>Bovril that British people either.

00:31:11.711 --> 00:31:12.032
<v Emily Blumenthal>It wasn't.

00:31:12.032 --> 00:31:13.263
<v Emily Blumenthal>Was it like a sack?

00:31:13.605 --> 00:31:17.871
<v Julie Deane>No man, it was just sort of like the size of a motorbike helmet.

00:31:17.871 --> 00:31:22.865
<v Julie Deane>I was expecting it to be something different on the south, but it would be small.

00:31:22.865 --> 00:31:24.948
<v Julie Deane>I hadn't like a year's supply.

00:31:24.948 --> 00:31:31.974
<v Julie Deane>I had the industrial size, because I can't tell on the screen and that was an issue that I really faced.

00:31:31.974 --> 00:31:35.458
<v Julie Deane>With the satchels, they all look exactly the same, right.

00:31:35.458 --> 00:31:45.647
<v Julie Deane>So in a way that at the time seemed perfectly like the common sensical approach, I thought the answer to this is obvious.

00:31:45.647 --> 00:31:57.960
<v Julie Deane>With every bag I'm going to take it photograph next to a banana, because everybody knows like the size of a banana and they can see how much bigger these bags are compared to this banana.

00:31:58.181 --> 00:32:00.469
<v Emily Blumenthal>I did not know you had a banana measurement.

00:32:00.469 --> 00:32:01.925
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's amazing.

00:32:01.925 --> 00:32:04.086
<v Emily Blumenthal>Well, I thought it was.

00:32:04.086 --> 00:32:06.127
<v Emily Blumenthal>I never saw that in any of your interviews.

00:32:06.127 --> 00:32:07.144
<v Emily Blumenthal>This is amazing.

00:32:07.144 --> 00:32:09.327
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm glad I got a nugget that no one else did.

00:32:09.327 --> 00:32:09.621
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah.

00:32:10.700 --> 00:32:13.950
<v Julie Deane>And it seemed like such an obvious workaround.

00:32:13.950 --> 00:32:18.288
<v Julie Deane>I look back on it now and I think actually it's probably a bit insane, you know.

00:32:18.327 --> 00:32:29.002
<v Julie Deane>but it was a very good boy, I am going to have a banana, because that's how people can tell the difference in sizes, my God.

00:32:29.002 --> 00:32:33.769
<v Julie Deane>And the things then like the strap sizes.

00:32:33.769 --> 00:32:50.744
<v Julie Deane>I know now you're supposed to be so careful about how you refer to people, you know, and body size and so forth, all this kind of thing but it was sort of like there are two strap sizes there's one if you're five foot six or less.

00:32:50.744 --> 00:32:54.553
<v Julie Deane>There's one if you're five foot six and a bit and more.

00:32:54.553 --> 00:32:55.544
<v Julie Deane>That's it.

00:32:55.544 --> 00:32:56.221
<v Julie Deane>You know.

00:32:56.221 --> 00:32:58.207
<v Julie Deane>It's long and short, that's it.

00:32:58.207 --> 00:32:59.009
<v Julie Deane>That's all it is.

00:32:59.349 --> 00:33:08.404
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, it just seemed a lot easier than when Cambridge such a grew and we had all the things that a proper handbag brand has.

00:33:08.404 --> 00:33:16.490
<v Julie Deane>You know, you've got the merchandisers and the e-com team and all this kind of thing, and then suddenly it's like things become so much more complicated.

00:33:16.490 --> 00:33:21.523
<v Julie Deane>We're frustrating for you to see, yes, massively frustrating.

00:33:21.523 --> 00:33:25.752
<v Julie Deane>You know to have skew coats that I couldn't understand.

00:33:25.752 --> 00:33:32.202
<v Julie Deane>I couldn't look at and understand because for the first five years it was all you.

00:33:32.202 --> 00:33:33.724
<v Julie Deane>I just had a code.

00:33:33.724 --> 00:33:36.689
<v Julie Deane>It was one, two, three like 11.

00:33:37.660 --> 00:33:49.117
<v Julie Deane>If it was an 11 inch bag and it was red and it had a shoulder strap, not backpack straps, it would be 11 RS Right, that's it Right.

00:33:49.117 --> 00:33:49.759
<v Julie Deane>You'd leave the code.

00:33:49.759 --> 00:33:53.951
<v Julie Deane>You'd think, yes, 11 inch red and a shoulder strap.

00:33:53.951 --> 00:33:54.983
<v Julie Deane>And it was so easy.

00:33:54.983 --> 00:34:03.409
<v Julie Deane>And then in later years there'd be things like oh no, well, we can't sell this straightaway because we haven't generated a skew code.

00:34:03.409 --> 00:34:05.365
<v Julie Deane>And you think how can this be?

00:34:05.365 --> 00:34:07.505
<v Julie Deane>You know right, what color is it?

00:34:07.505 --> 00:34:08.704
<v Julie Deane>What size is it?

00:34:08.704 --> 00:34:10.505
<v Julie Deane>Backpack straps or shoulder straps?

00:34:10.505 --> 00:34:19.764
<v Julie Deane>And it is frustrating when a company scales and complexity just really really takes over.

00:34:20.251 --> 00:34:22.135
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, you had the gift in the curse of.

00:34:22.135 --> 00:34:23.298
<v Emily Blumenthal>You came up with something.

00:34:23.298 --> 00:34:33.329
<v Emily Blumenthal>People wanted it, lots and lots of people wanted it, and then, before you knew it you were dealing with, one of your factories started selling knockoffs, right, if I'm not mistaken.

00:34:33.329 --> 00:34:33.769
<v Emily Blumenthal>Well, you're correct.

00:34:33.769 --> 00:34:39.181
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you had to chase after them, which is every brand's fear.

00:34:39.181 --> 00:34:44.282
<v Emily Blumenthal>But I always pad that with no one's knocking you off unless you're successful.

00:34:44.282 --> 00:34:53.356
<v Emily Blumenthal>So don't lose any sleep on trying to tell a factory not to knock you off, because you need their help at the same time, whereas I had a very different.

00:34:53.617 --> 00:35:00.639
<v Julie Deane>The one that was doing the knockoffs was the one that was doing the volume production, and you needed that.

00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:18.221
<v Julie Deane>I really needed that, because it was the New York Times had called us the street style bag, the gift bag, the gift bag, and instantly I had 16,000 bags on back order.

00:35:18.221 --> 00:35:18.942
<v Julie Deane>From what?

00:35:19.262 --> 00:35:20.385
<v Emily Blumenthal>From the website?

00:35:20.385 --> 00:35:23.378
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, but like how many were you producing before?

00:35:23.378 --> 00:35:24.601
<v Emily Blumenthal>At a comfortable level?

00:35:24.601 --> 00:35:28.719
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like, how did that moment give you you could manage production prior to that?

00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:41.858
<v Julie Deane>Yes, I could manage it because I had my three manufacturers Right and I was making between 200 and 250 bags a week, so you had about 2000 bags coming out.

00:35:42.050 --> 00:35:46.077
<v Emily Blumenthal>This New York Times things hits and all of a sudden you have your tipping point moment.

00:35:46.077 --> 00:35:49.137
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you had to run and find a new factory quickly, exactly.

00:35:49.197 --> 00:36:33.072
<v Julie Deane>Yes, a big factory that could really cope with volume While still keeping my three original manufacturers happy and busy and completely a capacity, and so even doing that was quite a bit more juggling than I ever anticipated, right, but then finding out that the new ones, the ones at scale within three months, were taking, I mean, a lot of the leather that I was buying I was buying the raw materials and knocking off the bags because they knew that there was this huge delay in backlog and people wanted them and whatever and I was making at the time.

00:36:33.072 --> 00:36:48.641
<v Julie Deane>The hardest thing really at that time was I was also in my third Paris Fashion Week for Comde Garson, so I was making bags for Com and they were being made at this new place.

00:36:49.449 --> 00:36:50.675
<v Emily Blumenthal>Were you designing them as well?

00:36:50.675 --> 00:36:54.159
<v Emily Blumenthal>You were private labeling handbags for them, or it was a collaboration?

00:36:54.730 --> 00:36:55.934
<v Julie Deane>No, it's a collaboration.

00:36:55.934 --> 00:37:08.940
<v Julie Deane>I know that I can never work with somebody I don't trust, and this is the definition of Did you know, going in, that you didn't get the good feeling, but you had no choice.

00:37:09.320 --> 00:37:12.938
<v Julie Deane>No, I had the good feeling, and that's what's so awful.

00:37:12.938 --> 00:37:14.615
<v Julie Deane>That is what is so awful.

00:37:14.615 --> 00:37:22.884
<v Julie Deane>I had no clue of what they were planning or plotting or doing.

00:37:22.884 --> 00:37:33.420
<v Julie Deane>It was one of their employees that phoned me and told you yes, and told me they said oh, are you the lady with the boxer dog that comes to the factory?

00:37:33.420 --> 00:37:34.161
<v Julie Deane>Yes, I am.

00:37:34.161 --> 00:37:37.739
<v Julie Deane>Oh, I can't sleep at night because this is what's happening.

00:37:37.739 --> 00:37:41.786
<v Julie Deane>You know, when making copies of the bags, they've got a different name on them.

00:37:41.786 --> 00:37:43.876
<v Julie Deane>They're being hidden a lock up across the road.

00:37:43.876 --> 00:37:45.431
<v Julie Deane>I had no idea.

00:37:45.431 --> 00:37:53.516
<v Julie Deane>And the other one, who was very, very canny she's so sharp was Sasha Wilkins Fantastic, she was blogging at that time.

00:37:53.516 --> 00:38:03.101
<v Julie Deane>Liberty, london girl, I remember that, yes, and she had sent me a note and said oh, you sent me bags in the past that I've really loved.

00:38:03.101 --> 00:38:04.563
<v Julie Deane>You changed your name.

00:38:04.563 --> 00:38:06.755
<v Julie Deane>I said, no, I haven't changed my name.

00:38:06.755 --> 00:38:09.094
<v Julie Deane>Wow, and they had sent her a bag.

00:38:09.094 --> 00:38:12.376
<v Julie Deane>And so it was between Wow they were moving fast.

00:38:12.730 --> 00:38:15.036
<v Emily Blumenthal>If they were moving to influencers, they came to play.

00:38:15.036 --> 00:38:18.637
<v Emily Blumenthal>That wasn't like let's just make some money on the side.

00:38:19.090 --> 00:38:19.610
<v Julie Deane>No, no, no.

00:38:19.610 --> 00:38:25.050
<v Julie Deane>This was ring from, I think, day one, you know.

00:38:25.050 --> 00:38:34.121
<v Julie Deane>Then, when I had the phone call from someone that actually worked at that factory, I thought it's not someone copying my designs of my bags, it's actually my manufacturer.

00:38:35.170 --> 00:38:41.393
<v Emily Blumenthal>Just out of curiosity, because I mean one of my licensing deals went, as your people call, titsa.

00:38:41.393 --> 00:38:48.898
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean it was just horrendous that I got locked out of my own brand while I was still working with them for them.

00:38:48.898 --> 00:38:52.293
<v Emily Blumenthal>They still legally had the rights and I had to fight for the rights to get back.

00:38:52.293 --> 00:39:00.594
<v Emily Blumenthal>And I was newly married and I knew the toll that it took on my relationship.

00:39:00.594 --> 00:39:06.996
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because here I am, I define myself as this brand, this is my livelihood, this is all I know at this point.

00:39:06.996 --> 00:39:08.925
<v Emily Blumenthal>Whatever I knew is out the window.

00:39:08.925 --> 00:39:13.356
<v Emily Blumenthal>Now I have a partner, slash roommate who's seeing me lose my mind.

00:39:13.356 --> 00:39:19.322
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean it takes its toll, like all of this, because I'm sure at this point you were making considerable money.

00:39:19.322 --> 00:39:26.855
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's hard for people to see you go through all this, like how can someone support you while you're like I don't even know how to navigate this?

00:39:27.969 --> 00:39:29.416
<v Julie Deane>I think I kept them.

00:39:29.416 --> 00:39:37.643
<v Julie Deane>I was trying to manage all the emails coming in from the customers who were waiting for their bags you know 16,000 of them yourself.

00:39:38.125 --> 00:39:38.766
<v Emily Blumenthal>I understand.

00:39:38.766 --> 00:39:40.331
<v Emily Blumenthal>I, totally, totally, totally.

00:39:40.331 --> 00:39:47.512
<v Emily Blumenthal>I didn't get it for years, years and it was, I remember, using and discovering tech expander.

00:39:47.733 --> 00:40:05.472
<v Julie Deane>You know where, if you put in, drag it down, they're all sudden, you know, it'll insert a paragraph, and yeah, and I still have that on my phone sometimes if I put something in and I've mistyped, and so there's this weird combination of characters, it'll suddenly expand it to.

00:40:05.472 --> 00:40:08.440
<v Julie Deane>Thank you so much for placing your order with the camera.

00:40:09.472 --> 00:40:12.525
<v Julie Deane>This whole paragraph and I'll think, oh my gosh, that takes me back.

00:40:12.525 --> 00:40:26.119
<v Julie Deane>Because when you're so deep in the trenches, you think that you should be able to keep up with answering all these emails and you're failing, that you're not somehow able to.

00:40:26.119 --> 00:40:39.253
<v Julie Deane>You know, I had this program then because I can speak a lot faster and I can type, and so I had this one where I could text to talk and just, you know, here you get these things done and I was thinking this is wrong.

00:40:39.253 --> 00:40:41.141
<v Julie Deane>I should be able to get back to all these people.

00:40:41.141 --> 00:40:43.291
<v Julie Deane>I was getting like 2000 emails a day.

00:40:43.291 --> 00:41:04.135
<v Julie Deane>Of course I wouldn't be able to get back and set up a factory, you know, and do my least, because I decided I knew that I could not the minute I found out what he was doing, I would not work with him anymore and I pulled all the leather out of there, even though I still had this enormous backlog.

00:41:05.170 --> 00:41:10.932
<v Emily Blumenthal>As a result, were you able to kill his knock off business or he would continue because he didn't want to use any of his own supplies.

00:41:11.534 --> 00:41:26.132
<v Julie Deane>I'm sure yeah, and he continued and I thought I think it's really important, when things are going very badly, to identify what's going to get you out of the hole, what is going to get you out of that.

00:41:26.132 --> 00:41:40.257
<v Julie Deane>And so at that point it's not about worrying what he's doing or anger towards him or getting even with him or suing him, or that's not actually going to help, it's not going to fix your situation.

00:41:40.257 --> 00:41:52.300
<v Julie Deane>No, the only thing that will fix it is either getting another manufacturer up and running really quickly, right, which would be very difficult or starting a factory yourself.

00:41:52.300 --> 00:42:02.755
<v Julie Deane>I just remember that moment when I went down to face him to tell him I knew what he was doing and it was scary.

00:42:02.755 --> 00:42:04.199
<v Julie Deane>It was a really scary moment.

00:42:04.199 --> 00:42:05.514
<v Julie Deane>You remember the drive up?

00:42:05.514 --> 00:42:07.896
<v Julie Deane>Oh, I remember it so well.

00:42:07.896 --> 00:42:08.297
<v Julie Deane>I felt.

00:42:09.713 --> 00:42:10.876
<v Emily Blumenthal>The pain in your stomach.

00:42:10.876 --> 00:42:11.880
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, so sick.

00:42:12.250 --> 00:42:25.938
<v Julie Deane>I had one of the leather tanneries giant lorries following because I would collect everything, collect the leather right but I didn't know where it was going to go.

00:42:27.641 --> 00:42:42.059
<v Julie Deane>And I was going there and there was someone I didn't have that many employees at the time and there was this really young girl that was working for me and she was great and she was sitting at the side and she was saying oh, I'm looking at Twitter because it was all about Twitter back then.

00:42:42.059 --> 00:42:48.311
<v Julie Deane>Right, right, right, right, I'm looking at Twitter and they're saying oh, we're so busy with this brand, this knockoff brand.

00:42:48.311 --> 00:42:53.050
<v Julie Deane>He was doing oh, we're so happy, we're so busy, keep your orders coming in, all this kind of thing.

00:42:53.050 --> 00:42:56.260
<v Julie Deane>And I pulled up outside the factory when I went in.

00:42:56.820 --> 00:42:59.157
<v Emily Blumenthal>I just Did he not know you were coming.

00:42:59.550 --> 00:43:02.195
<v Julie Deane>No, he didn't know I was coming.

00:43:02.195 --> 00:43:08.297
<v Julie Deane>And I talked to him and I said I know what you're doing, you know, I know what's happening here.

00:43:08.297 --> 00:43:16.402
<v Julie Deane>And he just said yes, but you need manufacturing and you're a stupid woman, know nothing about manufacturing.

00:43:16.402 --> 00:43:17.907
<v Julie Deane>So you've got to suck it up.

00:43:17.907 --> 00:43:26.829
<v Julie Deane>And I just thought I snapped and so I just thought well, at that point I said no, I am pulling out the leather, I'm not going to give you another order.

00:43:26.829 --> 00:43:31.041
<v Julie Deane>And he said well, you'll be back, you've got no choice and stormed out.

00:43:31.422 --> 00:43:42.882
<v Julie Deane>And I looked around and I thought you know, if you can do that to your best customer, because I was easily his biggest customer, easily easily his biggest and best customer what kind of person does that?

00:43:42.882 --> 00:43:46.313
<v Julie Deane>And what they like to work for?

00:43:46.313 --> 00:44:00.974
<v Julie Deane>And so in a real sort of out of body moment, I remember I almost feel like I could see myself just suddenly announcing very calmly well, I'm really sorry, but there are no more saturals for you to make.

00:44:00.974 --> 00:44:03.882
<v Julie Deane>I have thousands and thousands.

00:44:03.882 --> 00:44:08.797
<v Julie Deane>At this point it was closer to 20,000 on back of water.

00:44:08.797 --> 00:44:13.530
<v Julie Deane>But if you want to work for me at my factory, I would love to have you.

00:44:13.530 --> 00:44:16.135
<v Julie Deane>And I thought who is this person?

00:44:16.135 --> 00:44:17.920
<v Julie Deane>What factory would that be?

00:44:17.920 --> 00:44:21.431
<v Julie Deane>Which one are you speaking to?

00:44:21.431 --> 00:44:32.592
<v Julie Deane>And I ended up taking all but two of his employees, but I really vividly remember driving back to Cambridge after that.

00:44:32.960 --> 00:44:34.085
<v Emily Blumenthal>Who was driving the truck?

00:44:34.085 --> 00:44:34.766
<v Emily Blumenthal>You?

00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:37.385
<v Julie Deane>No, the man with the leather.

00:44:37.385 --> 00:44:40.592
<v Julie Deane>I said take it back to the tannery.

00:44:40.592 --> 00:44:43.208
<v Julie Deane>I'll phone you with a location in the morgue.

00:44:45.460 --> 00:44:47.005
<v Emily Blumenthal>Just keep driving aimlessly.

00:44:47.005 --> 00:44:48.422
<v Emily Blumenthal>Go to a tassel Right.

00:44:48.422 --> 00:44:49.731
<v Emily Blumenthal>Just take it back to the tannery.

00:44:49.731 --> 00:44:51.405
<v Emily Blumenthal>Take it back to the tannery store.

00:44:51.405 --> 00:44:51.902
<v Emily Blumenthal>Who went?

00:44:51.902 --> 00:44:54.009
<v Emily Blumenthal>Who went in the back to collect everything?

00:44:54.009 --> 00:44:56.849
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you like physically remove everything?

00:44:56.849 --> 00:44:58.726
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, the guys from the tannery.

00:44:59.101 --> 00:45:05.460
<v Julie Deane>They knew because I said to them we're going down, you supply me with all this leather and you unload it there.

00:45:05.460 --> 00:45:09.914
<v Julie Deane>So I need you to load it Because I pay for it.

00:45:09.994 --> 00:45:13.985
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's my leather I need Right Right, was your tannery in the UK?

00:45:13.985 --> 00:45:15.809
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, is that?

00:45:17.340 --> 00:45:26.829
<v Julie Deane>Some of it was in the UK and some of it then was from a guy who had some from Italy and from Spain, but he had a sort of like that.

00:45:26.829 --> 00:45:30.599
<v Julie Deane>You know, there was a place where it all came in and it was stored Right.

00:45:30.599 --> 00:45:31.795
<v Julie Deane>I drew from that.

00:45:31.795 --> 00:45:33.920
<v Julie Deane>So you know, thank goodness.

00:45:33.920 --> 00:45:44.119
<v Julie Deane>But I remember driving back to Cambridge and thinking I think it was shock really because it was very, very calm of thinking what have I just done?

00:45:44.119 --> 00:45:47.148
<v Julie Deane>Of being time to pick Emily and Max up from school.

00:45:47.148 --> 00:45:57.820
<v Julie Deane>Perfect, I'll make them their dinner, yeah, I'll make them their tea, and then we can do homework once they've gone to bed.

00:45:57.820 --> 00:45:59.019
<v Julie Deane>I'll figure this out.

00:45:59.019 --> 00:46:05.670
<v Julie Deane>I'll go on right move, because I'm not sure what you need for a factory, but I'm pretty sure the first thing you need is a building.

00:46:08.001 --> 00:46:08.221
<v Emily Blumenthal>Wait.

00:46:08.221 --> 00:46:16.559
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I want to talk a little bit about you sold a percentage or gave up a percentage Was it majority, minority?

00:46:16.559 --> 00:46:20.460
<v Emily Blumenthal>And what happened to your local factory that you then created?

00:46:20.460 --> 00:46:22.438
<v Emily Blumenthal>How did all that evolve from there?

00:46:22.438 --> 00:46:35.760
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because then now you're really back in control, but I'm assuming it became way too much, for you know just Julie, comma, mom, comma, obe, pre-obe, pre-cbe, just still MUM.

00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:43.170
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm sure people by this point you were making so much money or getting enough attention that people were then approaching you and you were like no, no, no, no, no, no, so many, so many.

00:46:44.465 --> 00:46:51.639
<v Julie Deane>And it would always be these approaches like oh, would you like to go for lunch and tell me your plans for the future?

00:46:51.639 --> 00:46:53.797
<v Julie Deane>And I think, no, I don't want to go for lunch.

00:46:53.797 --> 00:46:55.804
<v Julie Deane>I'm trying to set up a factory.

00:46:55.804 --> 00:46:56.827
<v Julie Deane>What are you talking about?

00:46:56.827 --> 00:46:58.650
<v Julie Deane>Right, I'm talking about this.

00:46:59.052 --> 00:46:59.706
<v Emily Blumenthal>Right, go for lunch.

00:46:59.706 --> 00:47:02.099
<v Emily Blumenthal>I don't even know you, right, exactly.

00:47:02.704 --> 00:47:17.239
<v Julie Deane>And so it was very much one step at a time, because I soon realized that I was going to have to use the money that the people had paid for their bags, that I couldn't make, to set up the factory.

00:47:17.239 --> 00:47:19.978
<v Julie Deane>That's terrifying, that's scary.

00:47:19.978 --> 00:47:24.960
<v Julie Deane>If you've never really you know been in manufacturing, you don't.

00:47:24.960 --> 00:47:32.519
<v Julie Deane>This wasn't the time for me to think oh, I know, I'm going to get a property agent to locate a good factory with.

00:47:32.519 --> 00:47:33.992
<v Julie Deane>You were like, screw this.

00:47:34.012 --> 00:47:34.516
<v Emily Blumenthal>I need a building.

00:47:34.516 --> 00:47:38.070
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yesterday Exactly, I thought yeah.

00:47:38.311 --> 00:47:40.980
<v Julie Deane>I need to employ the people that currently work for that horrible.

00:47:40.980 --> 00:47:42.958
<v Julie Deane>How are you able to pull those?

00:47:42.978 --> 00:47:43.099
<v Emily Blumenthal>people.

00:47:43.240 --> 00:47:49.590
<v Julie Deane>I left my phone number and just said I'm going to work with a nice person and then phoned me.

00:47:49.590 --> 00:47:51.835
<v Julie Deane>That's amazing, that's savage.

00:47:52.257 --> 00:47:53.059
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's very savage.

00:47:53.059 --> 00:47:55.269
<v Emily Blumenthal>It didn't feel savage at the time.

00:47:55.269 --> 00:47:57.018
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's amazing, necessary.

00:48:01.164 --> 00:48:02.768
<v Julie Deane>And all of those people you know.

00:48:02.768 --> 00:48:13.289
<v Julie Deane>They knew what machine they because I had always been decent and honest and transparent with my first three manufacturers.

00:48:13.289 --> 00:48:15.092
<v Julie Deane>They were fantastic.

00:48:15.092 --> 00:48:18.789
<v Julie Deane>At that stage they were saying these are the sewing machines that you need.

00:48:18.789 --> 00:48:22.710
<v Julie Deane>You need two types of sewing machines, you need a flatbed, you need a post.

00:48:22.710 --> 00:48:24.365
<v Julie Deane>This is where we get them from.

00:48:24.365 --> 00:48:26.364
<v Julie Deane>And I was thinking I can't buy these machines.

00:48:26.364 --> 00:48:30.293
<v Julie Deane>But it turns out it's just a bit like musical instruments.

00:48:30.293 --> 00:48:37.088
<v Julie Deane>If you're children learning musical instruments, you can hire them and then buy them after a little walk off your.

00:48:37.320 --> 00:48:41.891
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm sure there are plenty of rental places that have like industrial storage machines just larger.

00:48:42.460 --> 00:48:43.782
<v Julie Deane>But in our case I still remember.

00:48:43.782 --> 00:48:48.333
<v Julie Deane>You know the flatbed machine was £23.40 a week.

00:48:48.333 --> 00:48:52.144
<v Julie Deane>You know all of these sort of things Like the devil's in the detail.

00:48:52.144 --> 00:48:53.364
<v Julie Deane>Yes, there's no detail.

00:48:53.364 --> 00:48:55.106
<v Julie Deane>I don't know about this business.

00:48:55.106 --> 00:49:07.170
<v Julie Deane>So you know it was an incredible time, but from having no factory and no premises to the first bag being produced was just over four weeks.

00:49:07.599 --> 00:49:09.925
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you move your office to that factory?

00:49:09.925 --> 00:49:11.028
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, that now.

00:49:12.161 --> 00:49:13.405
<v Julie Deane>No, because I live near the children's school.

00:49:13.405 --> 00:49:27.804
<v Julie Deane>I live in Cambridge, and the horrible manufacturer was down near Leicester, and so I had to search for premises within a sort of like three mile radius of his factory, because I needed people.

00:49:27.804 --> 00:49:31.152
<v Julie Deane>If they could get to him to work, they could get to me to work.

00:49:31.594 --> 00:49:37.931
<v Emily Blumenthal>So wow, wow, that's like okay, I guess we're doing this next.

00:49:37.931 --> 00:49:42.367
<v Emily Blumenthal>So at this point, because like, honestly, we could talk all day.

00:49:42.367 --> 00:49:44.351
<v Emily Blumenthal>This is like my can bag crack.

00:49:44.351 --> 00:49:45.333
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm living for this.

00:49:45.333 --> 00:49:46.280
<v Emily Blumenthal>You don't even know.

00:49:46.280 --> 00:49:48.646
<v Emily Blumenthal>These quince ladies who are coming can't hold the candles.

00:49:48.646 --> 00:49:51.532
<v Emily Blumenthal>This chat Forget that, oh my God.

00:49:51.532 --> 00:49:56.170
<v Emily Blumenthal>So people started to approach you to get a piece of this.

00:49:56.170 --> 00:49:58.887
<v Emily Blumenthal>How did you navigate that?

00:49:58.887 --> 00:50:02.748
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because then that got too messy and then you had to drive again.

00:50:02.949 --> 00:50:11.414
<v Julie Deane>Basically, so I had met some people from BDO, one of the sort of big accounting audit tax firms.

00:50:11.414 --> 00:50:21.003
<v Julie Deane>I'd met them at something because I'd by that stage had one entrepreneur of the year for the whole of Europe.

00:50:21.519 --> 00:50:23.065
<v Emily Blumenthal>I remember that, yeah.

00:50:23.719 --> 00:50:28.701
<v Julie Deane>So there was some celebratory thing and I met somebody from BDO that I thought, oh, you seem nice.

00:50:28.701 --> 00:50:33.170
<v Julie Deane>And I called them and said, look, I'm getting all these approaches.

00:50:33.170 --> 00:50:36.945
<v Julie Deane>I don't know these people, I don't know these funds.

00:50:36.945 --> 00:50:41.469
<v Julie Deane>This is the kind of job that I don't want to take on.

00:50:41.469 --> 00:50:43.063
<v Julie Deane>So I want you to help me.

00:50:43.063 --> 00:50:51.619
<v Julie Deane>Just come, bring it down to a short list of, like that that them for me, yeah, the best five, who do you think are the good fit?

00:50:51.619 --> 00:50:54.869
<v Julie Deane>And then I'll meet with those five and then decide.

00:50:54.869 --> 00:50:57.708
<v Julie Deane>It was all done very much from a gut sort of feel.

00:50:57.708 --> 00:51:02.871
<v Julie Deane>It was one very, very good fund that has backed some great places.

00:51:02.871 --> 00:51:08.661
<v Julie Deane>But I remember visiting their offices and it was so messy I couldn't bear it.

00:51:10.327 --> 00:51:25.724
<v Emily Blumenthal>So just, you know, my son, when he was in first grade or second grade, there was a little girl who liked him and he went over to her house for a play date and he came home and he's like I just want you to know, I will never marry her.

00:51:25.724 --> 00:51:28.083
<v Emily Blumenthal>And I said OK, because she didn't form them.

00:51:28.083 --> 00:51:30.342
<v Emily Blumenthal>They were married and you know as little kids do.

00:51:30.342 --> 00:51:33.163
<v Emily Blumenthal>And I said, all right, run me through.

00:51:33.163 --> 00:51:34.481
<v Emily Blumenthal>What's the situation?

00:51:34.481 --> 00:51:36.081
<v Emily Blumenthal>What are the new benchmarks?

00:51:36.081 --> 00:51:38.322
<v Emily Blumenthal>And he said her home was so messy.

00:51:38.322 --> 00:51:40.282
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, she didn't clean her plates.

00:51:40.282 --> 00:51:43.938
<v Emily Blumenthal>Food fell on the floor, no one was golded, no one tidy up.

00:51:43.938 --> 00:51:46.114
<v Emily Blumenthal>And he's like who lives like that?

00:51:46.114 --> 00:51:46.978
<v Emily Blumenthal>And he was seven.

00:51:46.978 --> 00:51:52.661
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you know, you got to go with like this is how I run my home, this is how homes need to be run.

00:51:52.661 --> 00:51:54.976
<v Emily Blumenthal>Anyone that I'm going to be part of you know.

00:51:55.096 --> 00:51:59.027
<v Julie Deane>I just thought this is going to be a true partnership with these people.

00:51:59.027 --> 00:52:03.994
<v Julie Deane>I can't dread going to their house, you know, to their office in London.

00:52:03.994 --> 00:52:05.161
<v Julie Deane>I can't dread it.

00:52:05.161 --> 00:52:08.097
<v Julie Deane>I can't think, oh my gosh, sort yourself out, this isn't good.

00:52:08.097 --> 00:52:17.025
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, it's down to four, you know, and it was an interesting process and again, another incredible learning experience.

00:52:17.025 --> 00:52:34.766
<v Julie Deane>And I look back on it now and I think I did choose the right partner, but I, yes, for that time, I chose index ventures and they are amazing, super smart, very, on it, incredible.

00:52:34.766 --> 00:52:37.684
<v Julie Deane>I really, really like them and I really respect them.

00:52:37.684 --> 00:52:44.135
<v Julie Deane>But I didn't manage the process after the investment in a good way.

00:52:44.135 --> 00:52:46.864
<v Julie Deane>I let you do it, but you didn't know how.

00:52:47.561 --> 00:52:55.094
<v Julie Deane>No, I didn't know how, I didn't know how, and I let it dent my sort of confidence in my own ability.

00:52:55.094 --> 00:52:57.123
<v Julie Deane>I thought I can found something.

00:52:57.123 --> 00:52:59.023
<v Julie Deane>I don't know how to scale.

00:52:59.023 --> 00:53:15.969
<v Julie Deane>These people know how to scale, and so the fact that suddenly there was money in the business whereas before there wasn't, it started off with 600 pounds and then it was like virtually everything going towards the school fees and then it was having to set up a factory.

00:53:15.969 --> 00:53:25.481
<v Julie Deane>You know, without realising or ever thinking, I was going to set up a factory, and so there was never this kind of like feeling of look at us where, well off, suddenly there was.

00:53:25.481 --> 00:53:35.021
<v Julie Deane>And then there was the big hires that come in at that point and I looked at those people and thought they know what they're doing, they've done this before.

00:53:35.021 --> 00:53:38.605
<v Julie Deane>I should defer to that and I shouldn't have it was you know what.

00:53:38.934 --> 00:53:56.664
<v Emily Blumenthal>That is something that has to be learned, that cannot be taught, because I've outsourced enough people whom come in and you just assume they're experts as a result of their work experience, their title, their CD, their resume.

00:53:56.994 --> 00:54:03.019
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then they come in and you're like, oh my God, I still know more than you, I still need to get involved.

00:54:03.019 --> 00:54:14.585
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then by that point you feel like gosh, I've missed my window to start telling you what to do, so now I can't tell you what to do, because now I don't want to ruffle and mess the whole system up that you put in place to theoretically help me.

00:54:14.585 --> 00:54:36.726
<v Emily Blumenthal>It turns into a whole cycle of like you see things crumbling, and I think, also as women I think by nature we are, you know, obviously those who are too difficult, then they're pain in the ass, those who aren't are too meek, but you hired people that you authorised to come in and do this, so you don't want to be the one to break it, because then they'll come back on you.

00:54:36.726 --> 00:54:39.804
<v Emily Blumenthal>So then you're like in this should I, shouldn't I?

00:54:39.804 --> 00:54:50.184
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then, if I do, I'm going to step away and hopefully they'll take my feedback, and then they don't, and then it just turns into this hot mess of handbags, you know, and things used to be so easy.

00:54:50.574 --> 00:54:57.070
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, you know, my mum and I would pick a new colour from a paint chart from a home supplied place.

00:54:57.070 --> 00:54:59.362
<v Julie Deane>Right, we'd look at that beautiful colour.

00:54:59.362 --> 00:54:59.903
<v Julie Deane>We can do that.

00:54:59.903 --> 00:55:01.164
<v Julie Deane>Send it to the tannery.

00:55:01.164 --> 00:55:02.072
<v Julie Deane>They could match it.

00:55:02.072 --> 00:55:04.682
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, these new bags would come in in that colour.

00:55:04.682 --> 00:55:07.925
<v Julie Deane>My mother would stand outside in the garden with a sheet.

00:55:07.925 --> 00:55:09.641
<v Julie Deane>I would take a photo of the bag.

00:55:09.641 --> 00:55:16.179
<v Julie Deane>I would then just use my pixel meter, because it's cheaper than Photoshop, to edit the photo.

00:55:16.179 --> 00:55:17.425
<v Julie Deane>It would be up.

00:55:17.425 --> 00:55:23.407
<v Julie Deane>It would be up and for sale within 10 minutes of that bag arriving.

00:55:23.407 --> 00:55:27.246
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, and suddenly these things were taking months.

00:55:27.246 --> 00:55:31.201
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, and product development what's your inspiration?

00:55:31.201 --> 00:55:33.000
<v Julie Deane>Tell me what's my inspiration.

00:55:33.000 --> 00:55:34.865
<v Julie Deane>It's a nice colour and it just feels right.

00:55:34.865 --> 00:55:36.400
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, you know it's not.

00:55:36.400 --> 00:55:42.007
<v Julie Deane>Oh, did my inspiration this time is walking through the spice market of Marrakesh?

00:55:42.007 --> 00:55:45.344
<v Julie Deane>No, this feels like a really great colour.

00:55:45.344 --> 00:55:47.420
<v Julie Deane>For now, that's my inspiration.

00:55:47.655 --> 00:55:50.530
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, because I know it will sell and I know you will like it.

00:55:50.530 --> 00:55:51.940
<v Emily Blumenthal>That is my inspiration.

00:55:52.235 --> 00:55:55.514
<v Julie Deane>I know my community and these are the colours they love.

00:55:55.514 --> 00:55:59.835
<v Julie Deane>They love bold poster paint colours yeah.

00:55:59.835 --> 00:56:02.702
<v Julie Deane>No, they don't want to see these washed out.

00:56:02.702 --> 00:56:04.878
<v Julie Deane>Drab, yeah.

00:56:04.878 --> 00:56:08.202
<v Julie Deane>Muted shape no, because other people can do that.

00:56:08.202 --> 00:56:15.405
<v Julie Deane>Some people love that and they can buy it from the other place, but we do bold vibrant energy.

00:56:15.836 --> 00:56:18.961
<v Emily Blumenthal>You've got to know your community, you've got to know and you've got to stand by.

00:56:18.961 --> 00:56:32.728
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know, I am so appreciative of this whole learning curve that you're so generously sharing with us, because all of this information you come in assuming you're supposed to do it this way.

00:56:32.728 --> 00:56:39.963
<v Emily Blumenthal>We need the black, we need the brown, we need the ox blood, we need this, but your community really might not want that.

00:56:39.963 --> 00:56:50.108
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, so stand true to that, because you know what they'll buy and I hope by that point that you know one has done enough ethnography and so forth.

00:56:50.108 --> 00:56:54.583
<v Emily Blumenthal>I know what they eat, I know what they sleep, I know where they go out to dinner, I know what goes in their bag.

00:56:54.583 --> 00:57:06.704
<v Emily Blumenthal>As a result of me knowing who they are, I know what car they drive, I know how to design into their lifestyle and the colours they need that will make them happy enough to come back and buy another Vibrant and the shops would look so vibrant.

00:57:07.114 --> 00:57:11.286
<v Julie Deane>And then suddenly there's like what's the neutral in this collection?

00:57:11.286 --> 00:57:14.483
<v Julie Deane>I don't know, because it's not something I would ever wear.

00:57:14.483 --> 00:57:18.215
<v Julie Deane>Right, you've got a dark brown satchel there.

00:57:18.215 --> 00:57:20.190
<v Julie Deane>Isn't that neutral enough for anybody?

00:57:20.190 --> 00:57:24.260
<v Julie Deane>No, we should have like a cream that's not practical.

00:57:24.260 --> 00:57:30.994
<v Julie Deane>A cream, you know, I'd never have a cream because it's going to get dirty, dirty, clean and out of you.

00:57:30.994 --> 00:57:34.625
<v Julie Deane>Nobody's going to want a satchel to wear to a wedding.

00:57:34.625 --> 00:57:37.385
<v Julie Deane>Yeah, you know, so we don't have to worry about that.

00:57:37.385 --> 00:57:38.309
<v Julie Deane>Oh my.

00:57:38.369 --> 00:57:41.414
<v Emily Blumenthal>God, julie, I'm taking so much of your time.

00:57:41.414 --> 00:57:44.548
<v Emily Blumenthal>I would love to you know You're part two.

00:57:44.548 --> 00:57:45.054
<v Emily Blumenthal>Let's do it.

00:57:45.054 --> 00:57:52.730
<v Emily Blumenthal>I think we're going to have to because, honestly, like Because the Quince collectors are going to be baying at the gate.

00:57:53.050 --> 00:58:10.494
<v Emily Blumenthal>I know, okay, julie, this is part one, let's do a part two, because there are very few people I can talk to and have this kind of rapport where, going through all this, who've sold their company, have taken ownership back, have sold it again and then can enjoy meeting with the local Quince ladies.

00:58:10.494 --> 00:58:19.342
<v Emily Blumenthal>So this is part one, julie, talk to me, how can people find follow you or at least learn more in the short term, because we're absolutely doing a part two.

00:58:20.246 --> 00:58:22.402
<v Julie Deane>Oh yes, we must do a part two.

00:58:22.402 --> 00:58:43.215
<v Julie Deane>So I am at the moment on a bit of a break, a bit of a break where I am doing up an old house, but I'm thinking that maybe that process is something people would like to follow along with, because I sort of found process, I think so.

00:58:43.215 --> 00:58:58.474
<v Julie Deane>So maybe I should just get active again on Instagram and start sharing this never dull journey that I have embarked on and sort of continue to embark on.

00:58:58.474 --> 00:59:04.494
<v Julie Deane>So I think that that's probably the best way is just through my Instagram.

00:59:05.579 --> 00:59:06.945
<v Emily Blumenthal>And what is your Instagram?

00:59:08.077 --> 00:59:09.742
<v Julie Deane>It's just Julie Dean CBE.

00:59:11.657 --> 00:59:17.329
<v Emily Blumenthal>And it's Julie J-U-L-I-E-D-E-A-N-E, cbe, correct?

00:59:17.329 --> 00:59:23.646
<v Emily Blumenthal>Let me have a look on this and just quietly, what does CBE stand for and who gave it to?

00:59:23.646 --> 00:59:25.014
<v Emily Blumenthal>You Just want to throw that in.

00:59:26.001 --> 00:59:28.514
<v Julie Deane>So a CBE is a great honour.

00:59:28.514 --> 00:59:29.735
<v Julie Deane>It's actually a medal.

00:59:29.735 --> 00:59:31.507
<v Julie Deane>I have a medal.

00:59:31.507 --> 00:59:51.215
<v Julie Deane>Well done, yes, and he was then Prince Charles, who is now the king gave me my OBE, which is officer of the Order of the British Empire, and I got bumped up to CBE a couple of years ago and that is commander of the order.

00:59:51.923 --> 00:59:52.815
<v Emily Blumenthal>And the Queen gave that to you.

00:59:53.679 --> 00:59:56.394
<v Julie Deane>Queen gave that to me just before she passed away, correct?

00:59:57.222 --> 00:59:58.355
<v Emily Blumenthal>Look at you with getting all this stuff.

00:59:58.355 --> 01:00:00.295
<v Emily Blumenthal>I would keep that stuff in the background.

01:00:00.295 --> 01:00:02.447
<v Emily Blumenthal>Hang a medal, julie.

01:00:02.447 --> 01:00:05.255
<v Emily Blumenthal>Hang a medal, come on, it's in the drawer upstairs.

01:00:05.255 --> 01:00:10.260
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, I knew you're British and nobody likes to show off and it's very antithetical culturally.

01:00:10.260 --> 01:00:12.614
<v Emily Blumenthal>But you know, not everybody here is.

01:00:12.614 --> 01:00:14.054
<v Emily Blumenthal>Let the Queen's lady see it.

01:00:14.054 --> 01:00:15.250
<v Emily Blumenthal>I would wear it on a Tuesday.

01:00:15.250 --> 01:00:18.454
<v Emily Blumenthal>Maybe I'll wear it when we do part two.

01:00:18.454 --> 01:00:19.775
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm here for that.

01:00:19.775 --> 01:00:25.614
<v Emily Blumenthal>Listen, this is part one, julie Dean of the Cambridge Statue Company.

01:00:25.614 --> 01:00:33.447
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you so much for today and maybe by part two I'll even have worked out exactly what my Instagram.

01:00:34.818 --> 01:00:37.494
<v Emily Blumenthal>But you are, you are available on LinkedIn, correct, I am.

01:00:38.519 --> 01:00:53.025
<v Julie Deane>I am on LinkedIn and that is Julie Dean CBE, and Instagram is the fun one, and that's the one that I want to start sharing all my crazy adventures while I find my next project, next chapter Fabulous.

01:00:53.516 --> 01:00:56.375
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you so much for being part of Handbag Designer 101.

01:00:56.375 --> 01:00:57.818
<v Emily Blumenthal>We will be here for part two.

01:00:57.818 --> 01:01:00.123
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you, thanks, bye.

01:01:00.123 --> 01:01:02.148
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks for listening.

01:01:02.148 --> 01:01:07.525
<v Emily Blumenthal>Don't forget to rate and review and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer.

01:01:07.525 --> 01:01:08.387
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks so much.

01:01:08.387 --> 01:01:09.416
<v Emily Blumenthal>See you next time.