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

From Waitress to Handbag Innovator with Bogg Bag Founder, Kim Vaccarella | Emily Blumenthal & Kim Vaccarella

• Emily Blumenthal • Season 1

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Kim Vaccarella’s journey from hospitality to the creative force behind the Bogg Bag is a story of resilience and innovation. Kim shares how she transformed skepticism into success, navigating the unpredictable fashion industry with determination and creativity. Drawing inspiration from Crocs, she crafted a unique product that defied expectations, proving the power of vision and perseverance.

Takeaway Points

  1. Resilience in Action: Kim’s journey highlights how persistence can turn initial skepticism into groundbreaking success.
  2. Family-Driven Entrepreneurship: Learn the emotional and financial dynamics of running a family business while managing growth.
  3. Creative Problem-Solving: Discover how Kim turned a foam sheet prototype into a thriving brand, blending innovation with storytelling.

Our Guest, Kim Vaccarella is the founder of Bogg Bag, a handbag brand known for its Crocs-inspired design and functional appeal. Without formal retail experience, Kim ventured into fashion with intuition and a strong support system, overcoming challenges like patent investments and industry complexities. Her story is a testament to the power of creativity and determination in building a successful brand.

Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.

Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com. 

Buy Emily’s Books: “Handbag Designer 101” & “Savvy Suzanna’s Amazing Adventures in Handbags”


Youtube: / Handbagdesigner101-ihda | Instagram:/ Handbagdesigner

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Speaker 1:

I was a really good waitress so I can always pick up a second job. So he said you're not going to go back to working two jobs, Like we have kids to raise and all of these other things. But he was supportive in that regard. So I just, you know, spent money that we would have either had in the kids' college fund or would have put in the college fund, and I was confident in one way or another that I would be able to recoup that.

Speaker 2:

Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast, with your host, Emily Blumenthal, handbag industry expert and the handbag fairy godmother. Each week, we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love, from the iconic brands and top designers to the creativity, craftsmanship and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all. Welcome, Kim Vaccarella of Bog Bags to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast. Kim, I am over the moon to have you. Thank you for joining us, of course.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much, emily. I'm so happy to be here.

Speaker 2:

I feel like I scored a coup. You've got quite the protective layer to get to you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's been a little bit crazy, but it's all good. I'm glad to be here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean talk about unsung heroes. You know, having worked with handbag designers for a really, really, really long time, it's fascinating to see someone and I wouldn't even call it a backdoor, because I had a handbag once upon a time and it took me a long time to come to the conclusion that it was really a solution item. It really wasn't a handbag, and having something so unique and interesting, it's always a challenge for buyers, for retailers, even for people to understand where it fits within their landscape of accessories and fashion. And I think you know your product, the Bog Bag. It really kind of took a lot of people by surprise, even though you were not surprised at all.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know it was one of those bags where we used to get comments. What the hell is this Like? I don't know what it is. I remember the first store I went into in Ridgewood.

Speaker 2:

It was called Pink, new Jersey.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, in Ridgewood, new Jersey and it was called Pink Bundle-O and I went in there with this pink bag and it looks very similar to what the bag is today, but it wasn't as refined, let's say. You know, it was my first run out and she looked at it and she goes I don't know what this is or what the hell this is, but I feel like I have to have it. And that was kind of like the whole beginning of Bog Bag is. Everybody had the same reaction like what am I going to do with this? Like this is I going to do with this? Like this is so big. And then, you know, it started picking up.

Speaker 2:

You know it's funny because you start getting the same, getting used to the same facial expression. When you give it to people, they make the huh Okay, Okay, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Like, oh, thanks.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I want to get into the backstory, but I want to talk a little bit real quick about the connection with Crocs and how you were able to use that for you or use that as a workaround, or was that part of your narrative and pitch? Because you know it's brands with fans and the only way we get fans is the story and the backstory. And how are you able to work with that the story?

Speaker 1:

and the backstory, and how are you able to work with that? Yeah, so originally I did not think that I was going to manufacture this bag, bring it to market. I had zero experience in this. You know, I had worked in bars for a good part of my life until I started a career that I fell into, which was commercial real estate lending, which I did for 26 years before retiring to take this on full time. But I had no experience one in bags, handbags, retail, wholesale effing EBITDA.

Speaker 2:

Like seriously, it's quite a sucker punch in the stomach where you're going to throw up being like okay, so what was that again? No, no, no, say that one more time. Okay, let me get back to Google. What is this? What is that?

Speaker 1:

How do I set a wholesale price and what is my retail price and what are my margins? Like it's just not stuff that I had any you know connection to, but I was an entrepreneur since an early, early age and I was always looking for different ways to make money right, whether it was, you know, selling daisies and styrofoam cups. So there was always something I you know I used to say that I was kind of like a Lucille Ball with these harebrained schemes Like what can I sell to make money? Yeah, exactly, and that's I still have that. I mean, I'm still buying websites and stuff. Like I don't have enough to do. But it's just, it's inherently in me.

Speaker 1:

But again, I didn't think I thought I was going to develop this idea. I really did think it was a great idea, but I knew I didn't have the background to be able to do anything with it. So my idea was I was going to sell it and I was going to sell this idea for a bajillion dollars. And once I had, you know, this was all in drawings. I listened to all the books that I had read, which are all a bunch of bullshit half the time.

Speaker 2:

So much. There's so much bullshit. You know what I feel like. If I was in my 20s, I probably would have bought everything that was sold to me. But you know, the older you get, the more you deal with day-to-day life and existence. And you hear this. You're like okay, this was written the way. Chat GPT was pre-chat chat GPT. I don't need this. Like you're not telling me that I can use. I get that.

Speaker 1:

Right? Well, it was. You know all the the become a millionaire or become a millionaire, mom right, and all of these books. I mean now that I laugh at myself for reading them back then. But it was, you thought.

Speaker 1:

If somebody was writing it right that it was going to be, it was going to be useful information. But a lot of them were come up with an idea, patent it and sell it and I was like, wow, that sounds super easy, right? So this is. This was the initial intent with Bog Bag was to go through this route. Once I started getting a lot of no's, I went into the city and where I'm from in Ridgewood, new Jersey, there's a lot of people that work in the city. They work in fashion, they work in all various facets. So I would go out and visit some companies and I would get very resounding no's Like this is too utilitarian, it's too big, you'll never have the need to buy more than one. So all of these things I listened to but didn't listen to right. But I just knew that it wasn't going to be as easy as me selling the idea. So I went ahead and made a sample and then, once the sample came in, I'm like, oh, wow, maybe I can do this.

Speaker 2:

Okay, pause. So, much to unpack.

Speaker 1:

Sorry, we haven't even gotten to the need. I'm from Jersey, girl I talk very fast, Listen.

Speaker 2:

I mean, people are going to have to listen to this in the minus between you and me, it's like. So hold on. Did you end up getting a patent?

Speaker 1:

I did.

Speaker 2:

Okay, girl woman, after my own heart, I could talk about handbag patent, utility or designer, both, both. I should have looked this up. I apologize. No, no worries, I have two utility and two design. Because I hang out on the USPTO site, I linger. I actually have done a few talks for them, just because when I created my handbag I patented it as well.

Speaker 2:

I have four handbag patents, which is a rarity. There aren't a lot of us out there but let alone recognizing that the patent for what you have is actually something usable, sellable and marketable. Because most people who get patents and again I've done this scene, this work with enough designers it's usually something tech-based, and tech-based patents are always, to my opinion again, just my personal and professional opinion are a waste of money because it moves too quickly, it changes and you really have to do a deeper dive of who your customer is and if you are your own customer, then doing that kind of psychographic demographic. All of that information is kind of at your fingertips. Did you start hustling it before the patent or while it was in motion? While it was in motion.

Speaker 1:

So once I knew I had the applications in that's when I started hustling.

Speaker 2:

it Was that something hard to justify internally with the expense. Now you have a nothing and you're protecting nothing and you're going to start hustling nothing and then to say, okay, I've just dropped 20 grand on a nothing, but I have a feeling Was that hard to swallow, especially being a mom and having kids 100%. But it's not like you weren't going to do it.

Speaker 1:

That's the funnier part supportive and you know, do what you need to do type of thing, because you know he would always come back to me with you know well, how are we going to handle that? And I'm like, we'll figure it out, we'll figure it out. And my comment to him always was I was a really good waitress, so I can always pick up a second job. So he said you're not going to go back to working two jobs, like we have kids to raise and all of these other things. But he was supportive in that regard. So I just, you know, spent money that we would have either had in the kids' college fund or would have put in the college fund and I was confident, in one way or another, that I would be able to recoup that. So you know, thankfully it worked out.

Speaker 2:

But isn't that funny that you're like, okay, this is terrifying, but it'll be okay. It'll be okay, it's weird.

Speaker 1:

It's weird, and I've had that odd attitude my entire life Me too. Like always, my husband laughs at it because I constantly that's all I used to say. When we bought our first house, he was in the police academy and he was making, I think, $25,000 a year and I was working I was not killing it by any stretch and I was like we have to go. Look at this house. He goes, you realize I make $25,000 a year. Right, I'm like it's fine, it's fine, it'll be fine, it's a good deal.

Speaker 1:

We can't pass it up, and thank God we didn't. It ends up being a great deal. We lived there for nine years and we ended up, you know, more than doubling our money on it, but it's just. You know, those are the types of things where I'm like it'll be fine. Or when he told me you can't do anything to this house because we have no money, and I sat there with a hammer while in the toilet bowl and broke up all the tiles around me and said well, we have no choice. Now we have to replace the tile.

Speaker 2:

So everything works out in the end. Listen, everything, all the good ideas happen in the bathroom anyway. So you know, especially with a hammer, how did you? Because this is always one of these things that people want to know. So and we're going to get back to the idea how did you find someone to make sed for a sample? Because that's like finding a babysitter that you don't want to tell her information or have anybody see her with your kids, afraid someone's going to poach it. People do not give up that information, right?

Speaker 1:

Exactly so, coincidentally, my neighbor happened to be from China he's the man we bought our second house from and I said do you know anybody in China with a factory? And I said I feel really bad asking that question. But he laughed it off and he was cool about it. But he said you know, you would think I would, but I don't. And then I guess he went home that night and then called me up either that night or the next day and he's like you know what? I do know somebody. He introduced me to this guy that was doing manufacturing mostly for like craft stores, for like Michael's, joanne's, that type of stores, and he's like I don't know. You know it looks like your product's pretty big, but let's have the conversation. So I had a conversation with this gentleman. He referred me to another girl and I would then work with her for a couple of years.

Speaker 2:

Did you have them sign an NDA?

Speaker 1:

No, not at the time. I didn't, you know. I did know what an NDA was because I was in commercial real estate lending, but I didn't know on that side. And then I, you know, in my mind, I thought it's China, like it doesn't matter, like what am I going to do with an NDA?

Speaker 2:

Exactly Now. If you were talking to you back then, would you have had them sign an NDA?

Speaker 1:

It doesn't mean anything, right? I mean it's how are you going to enforce it? So no, I probably wouldn't have.

Speaker 2:

It's one of those things that again so many brands businesses. The first thing they want to do is sign an NDA and I'm like what are you protecting? You know, sure, I'll sign it, but that just shows to me, honestly, how green you are. Like, what are you going to do with this? Okay, sure, so I totally get that. So I want to go back in the way back. You know, kim Tobia machine. So you, you're originally from New Jersey, you're from Ridgewood, you know, respect Bergen County. I'm here for it. You went to college.

Speaker 1:

I only went to two years of college locally while I was working and received an associate's degree in accounting, just because it's what I happen to be doing at the time. But no, I didn't go away to four year. I don't have a fancy degree, barely made it out of high school. So yeah, I'm here.

Speaker 2:

But would you take that same attitude with your own kids?

Speaker 1:

Honestly, I wanted nothing more, which is why I had the college account so early, which thankfully helped me fund this in the beginning. But my husband and neither one of us went away to school and had the four-year experience and we wanted it so bad for our kids. My son went to school for one year, absolutely hated it. My husband just retired as a police officer. Mazel tov husband just retired as a police officer, mazel tov, thank you.

Speaker 1:

And we always laugh that my son, my oldest son, who was 25, wanted to marry his mother and be his father. And he now he's had a girlfriend for five years who's worked with me since day one. She's my first employee. They were in the same friend group in high school and they weren't dating at the time, but they would come to date later on.

Speaker 1:

So she's like my ride or die, yeah, and he's a cop. So you know that's what he wanted to do. He tried it, he went away, didn't like it. And then my younger son, who's 21,. He had a very long bout of long COVID. He's going to school locally to deciding whether he wants to go away for the next. He's about two years in and deciding if he wants to go and experience something for the balance of the two years. But you know, I did have those big dreams of them going. I wanted to go. Both of my sons were athletes so I wanted to go and watch games on the weekend and I wanted to fly here and go there and do all these fun things, but it's all good.

Speaker 1:

You know what. They're both around. You know they want to hang out with us, which is like you know. I have a big birth, not a big birthday coming up at a birthday, and they just keep going up and up and up and they start counting down.

Speaker 1:

Oh my God, it's awful. But you know they want to hang out with us, so we go to the beach together. We have a house in Tom's River and we go there and the kids will have their friends or they'll just hang out with us or their cousins. So it's a lot of fun.

Speaker 2:

So you know, it's so interesting how things work themselves out, isn't it? It's just wackadoo, how you know the goals and dreams, but really at the end, you know, I heard once a long time ago that you end up doing what your parents did one way or another. It might not be in the exact same shape or form, but you end up repeating what they do Professionally. Personally, I can't speak to that, but you know, maybe you had someone in your family that was an entrepreneur. I really even hate using that term because it's just such a loose term. It's like marketing or PR or whatever all those terms actually mean, but it's like somebody somewhere must have shown you that it's okay to do this. You know, that it's okay to take these kinds of risks. I mean, you know it depends.

Speaker 1:

I've looked at it that way. You know, my mother was an artist, but not an entrepreneur. She was just extremely, extremely creative. I have not a creative bone in my body, so I am yeah, I am not there at all, but a lot of it was. You know, my mom was divorced when I was very young and she struggled and even after she remarried still struggled a little bit with money, and I know that you know. You know Ridgewood in the town and it's great and all that.

Speaker 2:

But you know, it's not a poor town.

Speaker 1:

No, it's not, but there was. You know, she didn't have her own, if you will like she wasn't like able to do a lot on her own, when financially anyway, have you always dreamed about creating a handbag?

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 1:

So I think that was ingrained in me very early on, that I will not have to ask anybody for money and I will always have my own money and I will do what I want with my own money, type of thing. You know, up until I got married and then even when I married my husband, you know I know a lot of people now they do everything separate or they have separate accounts or they do things differently and you know we, from day one, just pulled everything and everything that we've been able to accomplish has been for our family Collective. Yeah, and you know. So I think that's part of it is. You know, I wanted to be able to do the things that I wanted to do and to have the money to support that without having to ask for it necessarily. So that was part of what drove me.

Speaker 2:

That's a big deal. It really really is. And you know, you said picking up an extra shift, you said commercial real estate. All of the things that you've referenced are very much career, not career, working on your own kind of income-based jobs, right, You're still the one in charge. Like hit or miss. Like you can work a bunch of shifts and make a lot of money. You can work no shifts and make no money. You could sell lots of homes and make a lot of money. You can sell nothing and have nothing. So you know, it's like a hunt which you kill is very much part of once. That's who you are. It's like okay, no matter what, everything will be okay Because I know I always can make up for it someplace. Right, it'll be fine.

Speaker 2:

Exactly. I think that's really important and I think you know ironically, based on what you're saying about your kids how you had these big hopes and dreams for them to do something else. But I think, seeing what the pair of you have gone through, why wouldn't they want to do that too? You know?

Speaker 1:

No, no, it's great and again it's great to have them here and with us and to be able to see what we're building here and my husband actually works here now too. Well, he's got the time so he retired on the 31st of December, but he's been here for a while, you know, coming in and learning the day to day. So that's been great too. So it's a you know as much as we've grown so much, it's really still a family affair.

Speaker 2:

Would you be averse to? Because I'm sure at this point people are like, hey, I'll buy you out. It's wild. Once you start making money, the phone calls you get based on the phone calls that you tried to have, that no one would take Of course, of course.

Speaker 1:

I actually I took on a private partner, was that?

Speaker 2:

hard.

Speaker 1:

It was such a random chance meeting through a guy in Teaneck, coincidentally, yeah. So yeah it was-.

Speaker 2:

Where were?

Speaker 1:

you when in Teaneck Were you like, were you I wasn't in. No, no, no, he's from Teaneck. Oh, okay, I was not in Teaneck, new Jersey. Yeah, in New Jersey. I got a phone call and it was a major recording studio artist's manager or on his management team and they had wanted to talk to me because they were building a VC with their artists, because some of these artists, when they're young, they make a ton of money.

Speaker 1:

They don't know how to invest it properly. So I thought it was really cool and I talked to them a lot until we realized that the VC that they had would not be enough money to buy me or buy a Porsche.

Speaker 2:

Were you considering it, were?

Speaker 1:

you considering it. I was Listen, I listened to everything. I had just come out of a year's worth of due diligence with a major publicly traded brand and I know they had bought another brand that I was very familiar with and I was speaking with them. I loved the people, I thought the process was really good, but at the end of the day, I didn't think, you know, I needed help. I needed help getting to that next level. I needed infrastructure or something desperate.

Speaker 1:

We were still doing things on paper and pen up until October of last year, so there was a lot of things that needed to happen. I needed the right people in place. I did not know what I was doing in that regard. I had six people working in the office At that time. We were doing $50 million a year with six people. So, you know, I just knew I needed some help if I was going to continue to grow the business, and at that point I was all in. So what else am I going to do Not grow the business? So when I going to do Not grow the business? So when I spoke to this group anyway, you know I said you don't have enough money for a piece of the business and the deal that I had been coming out of was a majority. It was a lot of money and a majority share, but I just didn't think Did you buy them out? No, I never did the deal. Oh for the majority share.

Speaker 1:

That never happened For the majority share. That never happened For the majority share. I never did it.

Speaker 2:

I was watching them, was that?

Speaker 1:

hard. They were watching. You know what? The hardest thing about it, honestly and this is not something I have discussed before, but the hardest thing about it is I stay very right here. Throughout this whole process it's the only way I know how to do it. Throughout this whole process, it's the only way I know how to do it.

Speaker 1:

But when we were going to get this $105 million at that time which was, you know, today it's a lot of money, but at the time it was insanity and I was so excited and I remember my son saying like what are you going to buy? And I'm like I don't need anything. Like what the hell else am I going to buy? I don't want any more junk, because I have much younger brother and sister. So I have nieces that are four, six, eight, and then I have a nephew who's one, and I'm like I'm taking my sister and my brother and their husband and wife and their kids, and I invited my parents too, and my nephews, and it was like 16-something people and I'm going to take you all to Disney world. It's like, what do you do when you? You know you get a windfall. We're going to Disney world, right? So that was the plan and then the deal didn't go through.

Speaker 2:

So I went into kind of a depression for a little while because I was embarrassed and I was, you know, even though that wild, like embarrassed and I was, you know, even now wild like, yeah, in hindsight, like, and, I think, as someone who and I don't want to say lucky, because what you've done is not luck on any stretch like, yes, right place, right time, but it really comes down to the right hustle, the right. You know, things don't happen by luck, things happen by. I'm doing this over and over and over and over, at a rapid pace that nobody will see, and when something falls through it's like, oh my God, I had that on my face and it sounds so awful. But I equate that to, you know, like going public with a boyfriend, girlfriend, going public with a relationship, going public with I got into this school.

Speaker 2:

There's so many things but at the end of the day, nobody cares about anybody but themselves and people knowing you and who you are and how kind you are and generous and thoughtful. If anything, they'd probably be there to support you and uplift you, as opposed to say what happened to her. Isn't that, you know? But you are your own worst critic. I can't even imagine like I would have been in a black hole.

Speaker 1:

It was rough. I went through the motions immediately following it. I went through the motions. This was about a week where I would go to work. I don't think I showered the entire time. I would literally brush my hair, brush my teeth. I would roll out in leggings and a sweatshirt. I would go to work, go home, go through the motions again Towards leggings and a sweatshirt.

Speaker 2:

I would go to work, go home, go through the motions again Towards the end of the week. Did anybody notice this? Was anybody aware?

Speaker 1:

My husband knew my kids may have noticed. We really didn't discuss it and I just kind of swept it under the rug like, okay, it didn't go through.

Speaker 2:

Well, you have to, you're a mom, I mean, the mom is in charge of the peace in the home, and if you went crazy then everybody else falls apart. So you had to kind of swallow it and just keep it there.

Speaker 1:

It was. Yeah, it was just kind of like a quiet depression, if you will, and I don't remember what day it was, but there was a certain day where I just said I need to. I don't write, I barely read, to be honest with you but I just started writing and I wrote the good part of a book. I'm probably I don't know how many pages I'm in I'm towards the end and it was just about that whole, you know, from the beginning. And just I started reflecting on all the bit that I've gone through in this. You know my neighbor knocking me off not the neighbor from China in a business park that I was in, that I was renting a space in. He completely knocked me off after like refunding me and like talking to me. You know it's just there was so many things that had happened and it was just kind of like they all kind of came crashing down and like what am I doing wrong? And one of the chapters I said EBITDA before, but one of the chapters is effing EBITDA because as I was going through this process, I didn't know what the hell EBITDA was and how important it is when you're going to sell. So I started writing about all these things and it's called Don't Get Bogged Down. It's not out yet, but it's just.

Speaker 1:

You know about the whole experience, and where I left off was not going through with the steel, and then that was probably in January, and March or April is when I heard from this guy and we started that conversation. So it was like kind of like I didn't really have time to grieve the first one, but then we were like in it again. So one I knew I didn't want to do majority. I wasn't ready to give up yet, so this had to be a minority share and I had to make sure that the infrastructure was there. Having said that, what I really wanted from this prior deal that we were looking at is right. After that, all of them were gone. So thank God. I mean it was absolutely a blessing in disguise. Again, it was a shitload of money, but it was a blessing in disguise because I could have possibly failed the entire business and everybody in it by having done this deal.

Speaker 2:

So you know, everything happens for a reason. Isn't that weird? What do they say Like life's rejection is God's protection? Not being a spiritual, religious or anything person, but I totally subscribe to that yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2:

The fall, the depression, the embarrassment, the shame and having to act like do-do-do it's no big deal and you're still going back to making dinner, going to work, going food shopping. I often find that food shopping is where depression hits the most, because you're alone in the aisle pushing the cart and you're like it's like you're totally alone then, and then you're looking around and being like God, I'm still doing the same thing and nothing's changed. And I've done so much, I've accomplished so much. I've accomplished so much. I've got this business. I have people relying on me. People are buying my product but like here I am.

Speaker 1:

Nothing's changed. Yeah, it's a tough thing and I think a lot of business owners in general, but especially women business owners, it's really a hard thing because you have to try and convince yourself or anyway I did I had to convince myself that, even though there were some bad things that happened or things that didn't go exactly as planned, that I was still trying to do the right thing. By everybody that I dealt with and I'm like you know you start realizing, like why do I have to keep convincing myself of this? Like you know who you are as a person and what your values are and you know how you want to treat people and that doesn't change by a bad thing happening. So it's. You know there's a lot of this push-pull that you go through. You know it's tough.

Speaker 2:

Can I ask you to change unofficial lanes. Your aha moment to coming up with this bag and realizing the material, realizing the holes, realizing the strap, the drop, all these terms you had to probably learn. You know what's a drop, Okay, oh it's the space.

Speaker 2:

The space from the strap to where the opening is. How was that process for you, like? Did you sketch it on a napkin? Did you do a mock-up? Did you cut the holes yourself? Like, how did you go through all of that to get to? This is what the sample should look like.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so I went, it was one-dimensional, obviously because I didn't know how I was going to turn this into a 3D right, but I actually bought a foam sheet from Michaels and then I bought another foam sheet and constructed a strap out of it and I drew in the holes with a pencil and then kind of came up with dimensions that I put. I still have it I don't know where it is, but I still have it somewhere where it's just this one-dimensional foam sheet with pencil markings on it, probably a couple of footprints on it, and we've left it as is and just a strap on it. And then it was a matter of turning that into a box and that was what was going to bring our samples. I would later get somebody to draw it up, because when I sent it over to the factory I certainly couldn't send a picture of a yellow foam sheet.

Speaker 2:

You could actually. It might not be what you want, but you totally could. I've seen less, I've seen last. I think they would have gotten it.

Speaker 1:

I think they would have gotten the idea. Yeah, but that's how it was done.

Speaker 2:

And do you remember the moment where you were saying and usually when because your bag is a solution item one way or another, because it's creating a void that was missing on the market as far as you were concerned, now everybody gets it what were you doing that you realized like, oh, I could use something like this, because usually what follows is you go on a shopping spree looking for it, and then you can't find it, and then the idea germinates and then you're like why don't I do it? How did all that come to be?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we were on the beach. So my parents have a house in Ortley Beach and we were there with the kids and we were supposed to be going to Great Adventure.

Speaker 2:

How old were your kids at that time?

Speaker 1:

Well, this is 2008,. So nine and five, so they were still little.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they were still little so you were still schlepping crap to the beach.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's an all-day affair there. You know, you go down, you set up, early in the morning you claim your real estate.

Speaker 1:

Oh, God yep, yeah, you set up. You have the chairs positioned just such so that you can block off this big you know plot of land and you're going to sit there all day but carrying things back and forth. I mean you had the cart, you had the cooler, you had the chairs. So you know, I was always buying a cute bag, you know something that was more of a fashionable, like beach bag, but they just didn't work. I'm an obsessive coffee drinker so I was spilling coffee on it constantly or the kids were getting their dirty hands on it, the sand was getting into it and getting into all of the seams and there was just no way of washing them. So you know, I had this graveyard of beach bags where I would use them once. Try to wash them, they would be all shriveled up and I would just throw them in the bottom of the closet. And I had been saying that I needed another beach bag and I needed something a little bit bigger.

Speaker 1:

You know, looking at flip-flops and shoes like Crocs everybody was using that for shoes at the time, so you would see them all over the beach and then I was playing with one One of my kids had one, and I'm just playing with the material and I'm like this is the perfect material for a beach bag Not the shoe, but the material that they were using, right, because it kind of, you know, had a little bit of stretch to it and it got warm in the sand, but it didn't get hot, and that's where the idea came from. It was kind of like that aha, and we went back that night, after spending you know 12 hours on the beach, and started looking on the internet to see like hey, there's got to be a bag like this out there. And there just wasn't. And that's what started the whole rigmarole.

Speaker 2:

I mean it's funny because I track handbag collabs and Crocs did a collab I think it was with Balenciaga where they did a bag, a tall top handle bag no holes.

Speaker 1:

With a shoe.

Speaker 2:

Yep, yeah, yes, I saw it. And did people mistake you for Crocs? Did people say, oh, is this by Crocs, with Crocs? Did you come across anything like that? If you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you. If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you.

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 2:

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Speaker 1:

We've had a lot of questions. It's the crock of bags. They don't bother me, we're bog bag in their crocks and we're both doing well, so it's totally fine. But yeah, I mean obviously because of the material. You know, before Crocs EVA was really not. You know, some versions of it were used in flip flops, but a lot of times those are rubber too, but kind of Crocs was like the big innovator in EVA. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And that's the material it's made of. That's the material it's an ethyl vinyl acetate. So Now you know that too. Yes, exactly, very well.

Speaker 2:

So now you know that too.

Speaker 1:

Yes, exactly Very well, so that's the material. And you know they were kind of the innovator. So when you know, bog Bag came out, it was almost. You know, it wouldn't have been natural to not look at the two and say, hey, is this connected in some way?

Speaker 2:

And the name.

Speaker 1:

Bog, mm-hmm, what's that story? Oh, bog, what's that story? Oh, so initially I just wanted to do something short and quick and it's not a really good story, so I'm going to bore you for a second. But I was thinking about water and the fact that the material was waterproof and somehow got onto frogs, lily pads, pogs, and in an English accent I clearly don't have. I said bog, it's the new bag, and it just kind of stuck from there.

Speaker 2:

You know it's very random. It's I mean again, being someone who hangs out on the USPTO site US Patent and Trademark Organization site. It's something I tell my students to get very familiar with, get comfortable with. It's also an amazing place to research handbag patents and to get inspired by bags that no longer have their patents, that you know they're dead, which is such an awful way to talk about something.

Speaker 1:

But if you look it up it, says dead Like okay. Oh goodness.

Speaker 2:

Let's call it what it is, but did you actually do research on the name? Did you know to do research on the name?

Speaker 1:

I did at some point when we were going to trademark the name. So I didn't do any trademarking early on. I was mostly focused on the patents and then eventually we would come to trademark and do all that fun stuff. So you know, then you have to start trademarking throughout the world and do all these different things, it's so expensive Jesus Christ, did you have a lot of thought where the name should go?

Speaker 1:

on the bag. Yeah, so no, I kind of knew where I wanted to put the name initially and it never changed. It's been in that far right corner. It's never changed. It's on the opposing side as well. So, basically, what you see today is exactly how it was dreamt up from day one, and then, obviously, we've expanded upon it day one, and then obviously, we've expanded upon it In terms of brand extension, line extension.

Speaker 2:

Was that something that, when your wild slash, typical mind to me was like, okay, first we're going to do the bag, then we're going to do this, then we're going to do that. How did your process go for that? Because I'm sure it was there, I'm sure you knew like, okay, well, once we do the bag, we're going to do this and then we'll do that. What was your process for that?

Speaker 1:

You know, the greatest thing about not knowing what I was doing is that I could fly by the seat of my pants with my ideas, right, so I could just come up with something and, depending on how much it was going to cost me, then I could implement it. So, you know, after we had the large one out, we thought about having one that was a smaller size. So we came out with the baby bag, but it took a few years to get to that point. And then from there we wanted to go to the bitty bag because we wanted it to be multi-generational, and mommy and me and we were seeing that kids really wanted their parents' bog bags. They wanted to play in them, they wanted to be carried in them, which we don't recommend. Hashtag. Thank God there's holes because so many people put their kids in bags. It's kind of ridiculous.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's terrifying.

Speaker 1:

It is terrifying.

Speaker 2:

Make sure those holes are too small.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly, oh, my God, so it was about that. And then accessories right, coming out with accessories to complement the bag, to turn it into your full organizational system. Like do you need a divider to divide the cold stuff from the package stuff? There were just so many different opportunities to do so we're behind the eight ball on that and we're really starting to catch up now just because there was just so much going on over the last couple of years. Like right, I'm a little tired.

Speaker 2:

But not allowed to be.

Speaker 1:

I know, I know, but you know, accessories are king and we need to be the provider for all of the bog accessories. So that's what we're really focused on going into 2025. We've already started the process, but now we really need to amp it up.

Speaker 2:

Okay, I have one more question Considering it is theoretically a beach bag and having a very clear vision on who your customer is, when it should be used, how it should be used, because you have to. You realize, the more and more you do this, the more you have to have a very clear focus picture of all these key points, as opposed to realizing, which most people takes them a minute to say. We can't be everything to everyone all the time. One could say that your bag is seasonal, right. One could say it's for summer only, it's for warmer climates To get to that level of success and profitability. You've been able to overcome that and say, okay, how are we able to convince people or we don't need to to say you can use this bag when you're not in a place that requires the hold, so things can go through?

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 1:

So one of the earliest things was this factory that I talked about initially that I used. We had received in my first container purchase which was like a million dollars to me at the time. We had received bad product. Functionality was great, color was beautiful. They weren't cleaning the barrels when they were changing the colors and it would cause a black fleck.

Speaker 1:

Having envisioned it always as a in Orly Beach was decimated by Sandy like really, really bad. Houses were completely missing off the foundation. I had these bags. I had no recourse. I had lost the money, but I wanted to do something. One for the victims of Sandy, and two I needed to move these bags, so we ended up donating all of them. And two I needed to move these bags, so we ended up donating all of them. And we lined up when people were allowed to reenter their homes and we filled them with supplies, with water bottles and bleach and gloves and masks and all these different things. Their houses were filled with mold for a really long time before they were able to get in there and clean up and I gave up on the idea. I was like I'm done, I can't do this, I don't have any more money to spend, I don't know what the hell I'm doing and this is insanity. And I was okay with that. I was. Everything was good in my world.

Speaker 2:

I was good with the decision. You were at peace. I tried it. I was all in. Had you already moved forward with the?

Speaker 1:

patents. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was all done. So everything was just sitting and I wasn't touching it. So I didn't really know what was going to happen. But I was not doing anything. I went back to life as we know it. We were taking care of my mother-in-law and my father-in-law, you know, the kids. There was just so much going on and I was like okay, cool, come a life.

Speaker 2:

Went back the end?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly, and what happened was we had a Facebook page letting people know where we would be, and about a year later I'm going to say between 10 months and a year later as people started getting in and rebuilding a little bit, or at least cleaning and getting a plan, I started getting messages from all these people. Now, these were not the typical, you know. If it was in Ridgewood, wasn't my family and friends buying it because they felt bad for me, or did they really see the value of this bag? These are people that were using the bag, not for the beach, that was gifted to them. That was gifted to them not for the beach because they weren't going to the beach yet, but they were using it to help organize themselves, to keep things where they needed them, in their homes, and they were finding real value of it.

Speaker 1:

So that was the first indication and that was way back in 2012, that this is not just a beach bag. They're finding use out of it. Those comments that I received were the comments that got me to think about bringing Bob Bag to the world, and that's what I did. And then, you know so, from 2012, just looking for a new factory, realizing flying to China, realizing that my current factory was not going to work with us finding another one and moving on, and then we reemerged in the market around 2015. So there was a very big chunk of time there, but, yeah, that was when we started realizing.

Speaker 2:

So you went all that time without a new production. So who went with you to china?

Speaker 1:

my husband. We got on a plane to china. It was. I don't even know how we did it, like I don't even remember, like isn't that hilarious if you flash back like what, like, okay, want to go to china.

Speaker 2:

Sure, let me tell the police station I'm not going to be in for two weeks.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2:

We'll be back. We're just starting to shine now. That's basically what happened?

Speaker 1:

Honestly, we went for four days, no, so it was like this massive push to get there. We went to the factory, we came back. I think we were gone three to four days in total. We literally flew there and flew back, because some things you can't get done over email or Zoom Things you can't get done over email or Zoom.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so wait. You were at this factory and realized, whilst at said factory, it's not going to work with this factory. And then you came home and said, now I need to find a new factory.

Speaker 1:

I had no plan B in China, I was just going there. Yeah, we went there. We saw the product. He said you have to take all this product. I said I'm not taking that product. It's defective. I can't do anything with that product. He says well, we're going to sell it. I told him I was going to burn down his factory. I probably should. Yeah, respectfully, I will burn down your factory. And we left and that was basically it, and we never had dealings with them again. We never recouped any of the money that we had lost and you know, it was a learning experience. And I moved on and found a friend that also does something in bags, but she does a breast pump bag and she had been using a factory and she recommended that I speak with them and I've been using them since 2014, 15.

Speaker 2:

And did that factory do anything with the busted samples?

Speaker 1:

No, no, I'm sure they sold them like they said they would, and I haven't been back to burn down the factory yet.

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, they need to look out Jesus Christ. Oh my God, kim, I like this could go on all day. I want to have like the Kim TV show so I can get in really deeper into Kimtopia and the Bob bag of phobia. This was flipping amazing. Like I want to know what happened to the person who tried knocking you off and did you burn down their factory also.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that'll have to be a whole nother one. I'm going to do a follow We'll have to catch up again.

Speaker 2:

We're going to do a part two, because this was too goddamn good. Oh, I would love to tell you about him. That's next. We're totally doing a part two because I know our listeners will go bananas over this. Kim Vaccarella of Bogbag, how can we find you, follow you, get our hands on your amazing perfect product now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so we're on Bogbagcom, which is B-O-G-G-B-A-G, and then all of our social is at Bogbag as well, except for Instagram's has an S, because somebody stole my BogBag one or they hacked my BogBag one many, many years ago. So, yeah, it just has an S on the end on Instagram, and then to find me, I'm on LinkedIn, instagram, facebook. Kim Vaccarella.

Speaker 2:

Oh my God, kim, you've been an absolute peach. We're totally going to have you back. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much, emily. It was so great, totally going to have you back. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much, emily, it was so great. 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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