Retailer Excellence Awards - Rising Star: Lindsay Phillips
Pamela Brill -- Gifts and Dec, 8/20/2010 7:27:08 AM
When it comes to building a burgeoning business, Lindsay Phillips is one entrepreneur who knows the importance of putting your best foot forward.
The 25-year-old founder of the self-named designer women's shoes and accessories brand has seen her company take off in a matter of just three years. With more than 4,000 retailers nationwide carrying Lindsay Phillips footwear and accessories, her company has established a solid U.S. presence and has also seen recent growth in the Canadian and European market places.
How the Phillips brand took off is a success story based on humble beginnings. Phillips' initial product design experience dates back to a high school art class, for which she created a ceramic flip flop adorned with beach-inspired beads and charms. The shoes were an instant hit with family, friends and classmates.
THE BIRTH OF SWITCHFLOPS
During college, Phillips worked for two summers at Ralph Lauren's leather goods division where she acquired a better understanding of the design world. "I learned everything about design, merchandising, buying, product development and retail," she tells Gifts & Decorative Accessories. Harnessing these very skills helped propel the launch of her signature product, Switch Flops.
"What prompted me to start my own business was the amazing response of my parents' friends who saw the original ceramic shoes I had made, which were displayed in our house," she recalls. "Everyone wanted a pair of the sandals adorned with fanciful plastic sunglasses, palm trees, fruit and other Florida icons, and was disappointed to learn the shoes were non-functional.
"When Phillips began designing other flip flops with similar objects that kept falling off, she eventually used Velcro to change the straps and create different looks. Thus, Switch-Flops were born.
She later traveled to China to find a manufacturing facility that shared her vision. Phillips notes this as her greatest challenge to date, saying, "I learned about the patience and persistence that you need to create something new.
"A LIFESTYLE BRAND
Fast forward to the present, and the Lindsay Phillips line has since expanded into other products, such as scarves and bags, which are helping to further penetrate her name into the consumer culture. "Although I had great success with my shoes, I didn't want to limit myself," she explains. "I wanted to create my own brand that promoted the Lindsay Phillips lifestyle.
"Phillips believes her products offer "a classic look with unexpected twists, allowing personal expression with an emphasis on pattern and color" and that her expansion is testimony she is not a "one-hit wonder.
"To demonstrate her dedicated commitment to her retail customers, Phillips is offering branded shop-in shop displays to create destination stores. "My goal has always been not only to connect with my customers, but also to the retailers that carry my line," she says.
Down the road, Phillips envisions more destination shop sand possibly branded stores that offer the complete Lindsay Phillips experience, including home goods and jewelry.
"There would be excitement and surprise in every aisle," she predicts. -Pam Brill
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