Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

The Crochet Hobby Turned Handbag Brand with Treniece Green of Covered by T | Emily Blumenthal & Treniece Green

Emily Blumenthal Season 1

Discover the world of handbag innovation with Treniece Green, the visionary behind Covered by T, who started her journey with a crochet hook and t-shirt yarn during college. This episode uncovers how Treniece transformed a stress-relieving hobby into an eco-friendly fashion statement, crafting handbags from sustainable materials that are sturdy and stylish. Through her story, we learn the art of merging creativity with functionality, creating unique pieces that reflect personal passion and a commitment to sustainability.

Pricing handcrafted goods is an art, and Treniece shares the complexities of navigating this intricate landscape. Listen as we discuss the balancing act of setting prices that reflect the value of handmade items in a market dominated by mass-produced products. From understanding customer demographics to choosing the right marketplace—whether it's a local fair or a global online platform—Treinece offers insights into aligning product value with customer expectations and adapting to different economic environments.

Treniece's journey doesn't stop at craft fairs; her brand is expanding and innovating. Explore how she bridges the gap between local artisanship and high-fashion platforms, making waves at regional trade shows and even New York Fashion Week. Through personal anecdotes and strategic insights, Treinece highlights the importance of choosing the right retail partners and the potential for collaboration in a competitive market. Her story is a testament to resilience, creativity, and the ever-evolving identity of a handbag designer committed to artistic expression and practicality.

Connect with Treinece:

https://coveredbyt.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/covered_by_t 


Youtube: / Handbagdesigner101-ihda | Instagram:/ Handbagdesigner

TikTok: / Handbagdesigner | Twitter: / Handbagdesigner

Speaker 1:

Hi and welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast with your host, emily Blumenthal, 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.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast. Today I have the lovely Trinise Green of Covered by Tea. Hello Trinise, hi, how are you Good? Good, as we were chatting before, I said that you showed up on my feed and I said oh boy, we need to talk. So your bags are special and if anybody is watching this on YouTube, which I recommend they should, what makes your bag so unique? What is it about? Because when we logged in, you had something in your hands. So clearly you're making more.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes. So what makes my handbag special is I crochet them all myself. So between the ones behind me, if you're watching the YouTube video, and any ones you see on my page, I make them. I come up with the designs, I figure out the colors and the stitches I want to use and I just go to town with my hands. So I told myself I was going to make myself a cardigan, because I'm always making bags when I was trying to get myself a rest. So it was my attempt to make a cardigan and give my hands something to do for Thanksgiving, but I clearly am a few days too late.

Speaker 2:

Well, it could be a shrug right, More of a shrug, less a cardigan, you know, on one shoulder. On one shoulder, More like a shoulder pad right. Exactly Over one side of my body. That's all you need. The rest could just be free flowing, right I'm going to be in the living room.

Speaker 3:

anyway, bring it.

Speaker 2:

Let it all out. So how did crochet come to be with you? And if you could talk a little bit, you know, is it something that was taught to you? Have you done it your whole life? Was it something that you just picked up? So?

Speaker 3:

crochet came up as something I just picked up. Even as a child. I've always just been a creative child. You can ask my mom. I was always painting. I was always getting a little DIY friendship bracelet kits from the store, and then, when I hit college, I was really interested in just finding another way for stress relief. My background, my degree, is in health sciences.

Speaker 3:

I was really stressed out with school, so I picked it up as stress relief Ironically Right and it took off to the point that I just had too much in my house and it just became a comfort for me. It became a passion for me because I've always loved creating things. I've always loved being the artsy child and the possibilities and the endless amount of projects you can make with crochet just always inspired me and I just I came into this. I started out making key chains locally for my college, so I used to like customize little boxes for each little key chain to go into like little houses for them, and then I blossomed to like home decor and blankets and then about two years ago I got into like making handbags. When I found that I really was like, okay, I made tote bags before, but seeing t-shirt yarn handbags I had never seen it before and it was like, okay, I want to try that and it just I fell in love with it. I fell in love with it for real.

Speaker 2:

So what is a t-shirt yarn handbag? If you can explain that.

Speaker 3:

Sure, so t-shirt yarn is. It's a textile made from. You can sustainably get it from some brands where they get the scraps from leftover fashion factories and they spin it into spools and it's made from like a t-shirt fabric, so it's a lot sturdier than like your standard. Like yarn is, so it holds shape like they do back here. They have a nice weight to them, so it feels like a very sturdy handbag and if you put your stuff in it it's not going to all your stuff's not going to fall out, and so that was really interesting to find that there's so many different materials you can use, because you can even cut up t-shirts at your house and make t-shirt yarn.

Speaker 3:

Like old t-shirts you want to use anymore. You can cut them up and make into t-shirt yarn. And now you can make bags, or people make mats with them, and it helped just make the bag look more presentable than it would with just acrylic yarn did you do go through trial and error before, or by that point you had become such an expert in determining which yarn is which?

Speaker 3:

I wish I could tell you that my first bag was beautiful. It was a lot of trial and error. It was a lot of missed stitches. It was a lot of. This isn't what I thought it was going to turn out to be. It's a lot of different ways. I got to hold the crochet hook compared to if I would on a thinner yarn and it also, like I said, it is a little weight. It does carry some weight. So making sure that it's also for the customer, something they can carry that is not only sturdy but it's not like this big bulky thing on their arm as well. So there was a lot of trial and error. There's a lot of projects that are in a bin somewhere that I'm like maybe I'll figure out a way to revamp them later, but I mean, it's all part of the process.

Speaker 2:

Isn't it always? It's so interesting because you know what you're doing right now is such a different approach to making handbags, let alone going to retail. But realistically, you're so much more on trend than so many, purely because of the craftsmanship, the handmade, the DIY, especially product being made by something like this. Did you do a lot of research in terms of understanding your customer, understanding price point, recognizing you know the time value of money, of what you were putting in to make sure that you were profitable, or was it? Did you start out saying, okay, this looks like it could be this or I could charge that? Because so many people in your position not saying you, but I have found with the people with whom I've worked, that crafters the DIY, the hand make people aren't really doing so much research on profit. It's more like I'm doing it, I love it, I hope I sell a few if I do, great. If not, not, how did you handle that whole strategic approach if that?

Speaker 3:

The strategic approach for me was I was doing a lot of local markets, so I was doing the craft fairs, I was doing anything around me that I can get my product in front of people, and so through that process I was able to kind of really figure out not only my target audience but also what price points worked for the bag.

Speaker 3:

So I was realizing, like when I was selling my little key change or like pot holders, it did really well at this price.

Speaker 3:

But now I'm bringing in these new bags and they're a lot higher because of you know, cost of materials, time, hardware, you know stuff like that, and I'm like, okay, I need to go back to the drawing board because this is no longer going to fit for this new product. So that was more like my on-hand research because, because of the nature of my bags, being able to really search it online is hard, because these bags are usually made overseas and if you are able to see them, like on Etsy site or things like that, it's a lot cheaper because it's coming from out of the country. So like the cost of goods are cheaper. So I didn't really base it off of a typical market research of what my bag should be. Because I'm living in the United States, making it in the United States and all my stuff that I've asked to come from outside the United States, my price point is not going to be the same. That alone was a big help in me figuring out where I stand, where to go and also just like where these do best.

Speaker 2:

But do you realize I mean, have you seen this whole comparison? I know they've done this like it's a whole know your worth that a bottle of water at Costco would be 50 cents. A bottle of water at a bodega is a dollar, and that same bottle of water going all the way to an airport that same bottle of water going all the way to an airport that same bottle of water is now five dollars. So the markup is like ten thousand percent. We're seeing a concert trained violinist playing in a subway station with a hat out, getting a few coins, and then they're playing in Carnegie Hall and people are paying thousands of dollars. So a product like yours that's so unique.

Speaker 2:

The customer who shops and I've dealt with this a lot and a lot of people who listen this is a lot of the challenges when you're selling at a craft fair. It's not the same audience as someone buying on a Etsy, as someone buying an online store, as someone buying on TikTok or Instagram, let alone a local boutique. So how did you handle that whole filtering process? Because you could probably get away with charging more. Not at a craft fair, because people at craft fairs are only willing to spend X amount of dollars because they're going there with understanding. Like I'll spend a hundred dollars if it's a gigantic hand-made sweater, but if it's a lovely little bag it's. The cost of the product usually ties back to the size.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes, I learned that I had did a local market like a two-day craft market, and the year before I saw a vast difference. I was selling, you know, and it also had to do with the times, because the first time I did it was right after the pandemic, people had a stimulus check, people were more willing to spend money, so my profits were different there. But then when I introduced the bags and the price points are higher and the economy changed, people are like I don't have that kind of money to spend and it's also like you said to like I felt like the bread method or the water method. Like you were saying, you can go here and get it one price, go here and get it somewhere else. And I was really like my biggest challenge was figuring out where this works, because I currently I live in a state that I live in Florida, so a lot of what people do here is retail. So they'll get, you know, a big shipment and they'll sell their T-shirts. They'll sell whatever the case may be and not a lot of people are handcrafted and make so they can get bulk things and sell it at a lower price and it can make your profits bad.

Speaker 3:

So recently I was able to do some fashion shows locally, bend at those and of course that brings a different clientele. It brings a different audience and a different price point. So what I might sit at a craft fair and my bag sit at its price is too much for somebody. You go to a place like a fashion show when you have a multi-billionaire and it's like we don't even have to discuss about price. It's just like, okay, that's what I want, bag it up, let's go.

Speaker 2:

And if you sell it too low in those places, that's the perceived value, that, oh, that's just a cute little handbag, craft bag and that's not special, exactly, and it's really just.

Speaker 3:

You can definitely ask my team and my family and even my fiance. It took me a minute to pivot from being in craft markets where it was just like, okay, I know I can go here and I can make my table back, I can make my profits back, but then I introduced these products that I know are quality. I know I've handmade them all the same, but nobody's touching it and it's like it has nothing to do with my craftsmanship or my work. It's just. This is no longer an audience for me. This place no longer fits me.

Speaker 3:

It was a starting point and it helped me definitely when I made it to these other rooms, be able to have a pitch, to be able to talk to people and for them to understand my brand and who I am, because I had did it Saturdays and Sundays, sitting out there for eight hours. I had perfected it. So it really it helped, but at the same time, there was a definite struggle and to figure out where it is, and now that I figured out where I am, I'm much happier now, but I needed that base of starting there for sure.

Speaker 2:

It's so frustrating now when you think about the evolution that you have to go through to figure this out. It's like nothing prepares you once you start designing and coming up with this. You, once you start designing and coming up with this, and you know, I think it takes a certain kind of person, a certain kind of crazy person, to start a brand, start a business, to do all this, especially something made by hand, and the amount of time, effort and energy for you to pick out the color and the charms and to tie it all together and then to be like, okay, why isn't this selling? I know it could, and what did I do wrong? And how does this tie into the brand?

Speaker 3:

This sounds like my brain. This sounds like my brain right now. This sounds like.

Speaker 3:

I'm being asked to hear it all and I'm just like I don't know. I can see that it's working elsewhere, especially if you're like I'm always on social media trying to keep up with trends, like I also want to set my own style but still be within. You know what's going on right now and you know, like you said, you can build a whole bag and you can market it. But if you're not in the right area and it's just really frustrating because there is until now, of course there's always your handbook, but there's no straight line way that this is going to work. There's no, you know. And then, of course, with mine it's like I can listen to somebody else's story and you know, hear their grit and hear their story and where they came from and their challenges and learn from those. But then my challenge is a little bit different. I production is a little bit different for me. You know materials is going to be different for me. So it is frustrating, but it does take a different type of crazy.

Speaker 3:

But I have it because I just I believe in it. I love what I do. It doesn't feel like work. I love the aha moment when somebody does buy a bag and that you could just see like, oh, I have all these possibilities where I could wear this too. This is beautiful. And you know, they just really take. They understand the mission, they understand the brand and they want to be a part of it and that makes it all worth it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, no, I totally understand.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

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Speaker 2:

Because I feel like and again, this is just the evolution and the growing of your brand, your customer, your target, again, because the people who shop at those crafts fairs are very different. And if it's merchandised, if one of your teal bags, which is behind you, which is very Florida, very colorful, very joyful with such a tactile material, if it's put in the right boutique because people are definitely shopping again in person environmentally, it could probably sell better. How have you handled that?

Speaker 3:

I've handled it in the instance that I am connecting, more so with boutique owners. I was in a large store that offered, you know, shelf space for crafters and vendors and stuff like that to be able to give themselves like a mall setting or a boutique setting. But I realized that that doesn't work for my bags either. So again, it's part of the trial and error. But in this new round of like marketing and putting myself out there, now it's going to boutiques and you know, seeing about shelf space and how my brand can fit into what they have going on here, and it's all aligning curves, all aligning experience. I definitely want to do more of it in my collaborations. And then the new arenas I've entered into.

Speaker 3:

Like I was saying, I just went to a fashion show last night, so I'm connecting with different people in the fashion space that are able to tell me, ok, well, if you go here, they're looking for this to kind of help navigate. Ok, where could I actually go? That you know we'll see a teal bit, that teal bag, and be like, ok, yes, that goes with something here, because I live in Tampa but I'm from St Petersburg, which is about 30 minutes outside of here. So everything there is big retail, and big it's small mom and pop as well, but everybody's not at net price point, and that's fine too.

Speaker 2:

I think, though, to the mom and pop, though I think people still look and and I always say, don't sleep on the local there are so many boutiques that people still want to go in, and you know, there was always the shift 10 years ago where all the little boutiques died and all the big stores came in, and much like it was with bookstores. All the bookstores disappeared. Barnes Noble, all these big chains came in, but bookstores are. All the bookstores disappeared. Barnes Noble, all these big chains came in, but bookstores are making such a comeback and the construct of going into a shop sitting, getting that personalized experience that's returning with boutiques. So I think there's a huge opportunity, not just for people like you, but for people who are making items that understand their customer and have done the research, gone into those local boutiques, seen whatever is there and then made sure that, when they come in, to potentially pitch to say that, okay, my product fits within all the other things that are being sold here.

Speaker 3:

Right, right, and that is my next goal is to definitely go into more local boutiques. Lately it's been a lot of where I'm from and now it's a lot of like big box stores. The local boutiques are not as frequent as they used to be. A lot of people were rude and we had Helen, so a lot of people were just like rebuilding from nothing. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3:

So a lot of things have shifted in that arena and even back home, like a lot of small mom and pop shops have been bought out and they have like bigger brands or people that have come in and changed things around. So it's definitely in collaboration, it's definitely in just knowing who's in the room. I met some people last night and they were like I know a perfect place for your Blue Tweak. So I'm open to all of it. I'm always open. I really think collaboration is important over competition because you know there's always something, there's something out there for everybody. There's never like a closed door. If the company isn't closing it, then I'm going to try it, I'm going to talk to the people. We're going to have a connection at some point.

Speaker 2:

So have you thought about or done the Atlanta gift show or Atlanta Mart or any of those?

Speaker 3:

No, I haven't, I haven't, I haven't heard of those actually.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think you know the beauty of not being, and it's funny, I just spoke to someone who handles a lot of opportunities with micro influencers in the Midwest. There are a lot of trade shows that are coming that are looking for product, that are looking for newness, that are looking for innovation. There's the Atlanta gift show I think that's at Atlanta, mark. I don't want to speak out of turn, but there's a lot of trade shows that are regional that to me, carry a lot more weight than a gigantic trade show, just because people need product, they need newness, they need innovation. And I think your story is interesting because you know you're going through what everybody else goes through, but you're hand making it and you've got your own mark on it to try, and you know, have it, set yourself apart.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes, I learned like this past fall I did New York Fashion Week with my handbag. So being in New York for the first time ever on top of doing New York Fashion Week, was a whirlwind in itself, but it also opened my eyes up to just not. There's a whole bunch of talent everywhere. Up to just not. There's a whole bunch of talent everywhere. But having other people come to me coming from where I am and saying like I've never seen this done before, this is very unique.

Speaker 3:

You are a designer, not just like a retail space. You could really do something with this. And, of course, it's one thing, because in my own crazy brain I'm like oh yeah, I can do this, this, that. But being in the market I currently live in, it gets really hard because it's like I don't feel like I'm going anywhere. I don't feel like I'm making it. Compared to XYZ, which we also know, comparison is a thief of joy. But going into a space where it was fashion centered, it was people starting from grassroots up to make their whole brand. And then they're like I don't even know how you do this and I'm like, well, I don't know how you do that. So I really do see that starting small and then being with people that you know not so much big brands, just the small boutiques it's a lot of a tighter connection and you can really relate to the story and that feels like it's a it's not genuine. I wouldn't say it's not genuine, it just feels the closeness I guess I could say.

Speaker 2:

Right, what did you do at Fashion Week? How were your bags incorporated?

Speaker 3:

So I was with Boutique Fashion Week and I was an accessory designer in the show, so my Stitch Elegance collection was a whole day of the show.

Speaker 3:

So my models we went through like outfit pics for them as well hair, makeup and things like that and my bags actually walk the runway with our Stitch Elegance collection, and so that gave me a taste of like what runway shows really were, because before then I had just like attended as a vendor or just watching from the side, but being able to like I'm creating each bag. The bags I create are going with each model and I'm making sure that it just it fits with their aesthetic. They were great people and, you know, just finding people that were inclusivity. You know there were people of all different sizes and colors, so making sure that everybody felt like, when you've seen this handbag going down the runway, it is, you know, elegance, it is unique, but it is for everyone, it is for you to be able to get as well. So that was an amazing experience and it just really catapulted me even further to being like okay, it just turned my crazy up a little bit more.

Speaker 2:

I want to just talk about how many you know the blessing and the curse of being a younger brand is over-designing, over-creating and then realizing you don't need to and that it creates sometimes more problems and more of a glut for what you have for your own inventory. How have you been able to hone in and saying, okay, I need to do 100 versions of this and 10 different colors to this is my anchor piece, this is my hero bag. I'm going to stick to this in small, medium and large and two other versions. How were you able to deal with, like, what are your best sellers? Or did you just go by what happened at the craft fairs and go from there?

Speaker 3:

For this. It had to completely change. So it wasn't even about craft fairs. It was okay, looking at the areas and the locations that we were going to have the shows in, it was knowing that, okay, I'm going to stick with.

Speaker 3:

I know there's a certain design bag that does really well, but I also know that I want to center around like the inclusivity theme of just like having shapes and colors and including brighter colors. And then it was writing it down because sometimes that's one of my hardest things just writing it down. I could go into like a creative mode and I want to make everything and writing it down and sketching out each bag and knowing, okay, these are the only ones I'm making, it's only going to be this set and this is going to work, and there's no ifs, ands or buts about it. You're going to turn off your creative side of your brain and you're just going to go into maker mode, because that's what you need at this point in time. And it took me a long time to get there because I always just like I get inspiration from things or I see something.

Speaker 2:

I'm like oh, I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to do this.

Speaker 3:

Let me veer off here and try this and it's like, okay, no, we need to, we have a deadline. You know, this is what you have committed to. We're going to stay here. So having to turn down the creative process and putting on that production and okay, straightforward brain like, okay, I'm getting off work, I'm going to come home and I'm going to get X amount of stuff done for the next day.

Speaker 3:

It took a lot of whiteboards, a bunch of sheets of papers, realizing some stuff was going to work or colors didn't come the way I want them, and just reinventing the wheel, but it definitely was a learning curve and it was a learning process. So now, going into the new year and 2025, I'm actually going to write down all the things I want to launch and things like each collection that I want to focus in on for each quarter, so that when it comes comes, it's already done and if I want to experiment, it's just with a different color of the same thing, right, each style. I just keep jumping all over the place because, right, it gets me burnt out and it just defeated, because if it doesn't work, then I'm like, why I like, so I like it. So it's a learning curve. I love the learning curve of it. It taught me a different type of discipline.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, it's kind of like a giant piece of humble pie that you choke down. Every time You're like what did I do? Why did I do? How come I spent so much? What am I going to do with all this inventory? I stayed up so late making this, this and this and it's not sellable and it's too expensive.

Speaker 2:

And you know you're sitting in a sea of stuff, but you know I think all those things. Number one you can always sell them off. You can sell them off at a lesser price just to get rid of it. Number two everything is an opportunity for marketing. So whatever it is, gift it, donate, sell it at a lesser price. There's always a story to tell. And number three you know it's the brand. What you are at the beginning is not what you are next year. So you know that learning curve is painful, but if you persevere and keep it going and, like you said, write it down and not hope for the best fingers and toes, then your chances of success. It's all about strategy, like anything. So I think it's great that you came from the craft fair only to realize that's not where you belong yes, yes, and it was like you said.

Speaker 3:

It's a big use of humble pie to realize you no longer fit there. And now the same places that I used to vend at, where I was the only person doing crochet, now they have so many crocheters in the vendor market they have to cut off crocheters. So it's like seeing the growth and watching just how far I've come like, of course, just in, like memories on Facebook or like my old Instagram posts are just things I have in my phone. I'm like man, like I've come so far, but it's helped build a foundation that I'm able to build on now.

Speaker 3:

The beautiful thing about being in the beginning stages is, just because I don't get it right or I feel like I fail, I'm failing forward and that's the biggest lesson and you know I just I stay great up. I keep God in the middle. It's all about, for me, like finding my way in fashion, because I didn't think it was going to ever be a thing for me. Me and clothes have had like a very weird and strained relationship, so handbags was just something that I just fell in love with. So me being able to bring that to light is just what pushes me to keep going regardless of the adversity.

Speaker 2:

It's just what pushes me to keep going, regardless of the adversity. Well, the least judgmental of any item you can invest in, no matter what size you are, big, small, you know what time of the month, the bags will always be there and will never, ever wrong you. So I understand that relationship of having a love-hate relationship with apparel, because clothes just start, if you look at them, especially as a woman, it starts getting in your head, whereas the handbags are just to bring you joy. So you know, follow the joy.

Speaker 3:

I'm going to follow the joy every time, even when sometimes it brings me some tears. There's still joy because, like I said, apparel has been weird. I'm 6'2", so like finding shoes, finding clothes, things that just fit, it's always just hard and I grew up like early 2000s, until that weird time of trying to figure out body image and stuff like that. But handbags was just something that, as I'm finding myself and finding my own style, has brought me joy and being able to create that for someone else that I found I was like okay, this is my purpose, this is what God put me here for. I'm staying with this regard. Hell, high water, this is where I'm at.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, trinise, it has been an absolute joy. How can we find you, follow you and learn?

Speaker 3:

more. Yes, you can find me on Instagram at covered underscore by underscore T. I'm on TikTok as well as undercover by T Facebook, and I'm in the works to do YouTube like a behind the scenes thing, so just stay tuned on my other socials to see when that comes out as well.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my gosh Trenise, can't wait to see where you go. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening. Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer. Thanks so much. See you next time.

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