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Ribbon Watches & Jewelry - Interview with Three Chickadees
02/09/12
Three Chickadees* is a Connecticut based business specializing in fun and stylish
ribbon watches, bracelets, belts, totes, and key chains. Behind the scenes,
Three Chickadees is owned and operated by three working moms with a passion
for beautiful ribbon. They met at work and remained friends after one left the
company to work elsewhere. In 2004, they decided to put their business experience
and sense of style to work, and they formed Three Chickadees, LLC.
I asked Melissa, Karen and Lisa some questions about their jewelry designs
and their business. I think you'll find their answers very interesting and informative:
BellaOnline: How did you get involved working with ribbon?
Three Chickadees: That's a funny question because we didn't start out intending
to become designers. We were looking for products to sell and since we all liked
women's accessories, and we all love ribbon, selling ribbon watches and belts
seemed like a perfect fit.
On our buying trips in search of the perfect ribbon accessories, we realized
that the quality and selection of the products we were looking for just wasn't
available. That's when we decided that in order to offer the best quality and
selection, we had to make the products ourselves.
We've come a long way since the day we made our first watchband, and we are
thrilled with the quality and selection of the products that we currently offer.
BellaOnline: What's behind the name "Three Chickadees"?
Three Chickadees: When we were trying to come up for a name for our company,
we knew that we wanted to incorporate "three" into the name since
there are three of us. Melissa thought of the name Three Chickadees and we instantly
loved it! Our customers often comment on the name and remember it, so we think
that it was a great choice.
BellaOnline: Describe the ribbon you use for your watches and bracelets. What
is it made of, and how is it constructed?
Three Chickadees: We started out using mainly acetate grosgrain ribbons that
we hand-chose and purchased directly from the manufacturer. We are now focusing
on obtaining ribbons of different fibers from worldwide sources, and you will
see more of these exotic and unique ribbons in our products as we expand our
lines.
BellaOnline: I've seen some other brands of ribbon watches that tout their
style as being "preppy," but your watches embrace a wider range of
styles. For example the Sherri* seems a little rock-and-roll to me (and is one
of my favorites!), and the Kelly* reminds me of those 70's rainbow belts from
my childhood. Is this kind of variety a big consideration when you choose ribbon
designs, or does it just happen based on your own varied tastes?
Three Chickadees: We hand select ribbons that we like ourselves, and since
we tend to have different tastes, it does make for a varied selection. Melissa
seems to be partial to greens and traditional styles, Lisa leans toward pinks
and more trendy looks, and Karen likes anything that goes nicely with jeans.
We do our homework, too. We research the up and coming fashion trends, and we
add to our lines so that we stay new and current. We are, however, traditionalists
are heart, so we will always have the classics in our line.
BellaOnline: What would you say has been your biggest challenge with the business
so far?
Three Chickadees: The journey we've taken thus far has been fun and exciting.
We constantly surprise ourselves with our ability to overcome obstacles. Of
course, it has been, and continues to be, a lot of hard work, but it is certainly
worth it to be able to do something you have a passion about. Time seems to
be our biggest hurdle, since we all have full time jobs and 5 small children
among us. You will regularly find us sewing or working on marketing and advertising
very late at night or very early in the morning. Perhaps lack of sleep is our
biggest obstacle!
BellaOnline: Three Chickadees products are available on your website; are they
also available at any retail locations or trunk shows?
Three Chickadees: We started out selling watches and belts at craft fairs,
and knew that we were on to something when we started receiving telephone calls
after the fairs from people whose friends had bought our watches and belts.
We were describing the ribbon patterns over the telephone and people were ordering,
so we decided that a website was a necessity.
We've recently launched our newly designed website so that we can offer our
products nationwide. We also sell our products wholesale to retail shops. We
started our wholesale business by calling on local boutiques and showing them
our lines. We received such good feedback from the merchants that we met with
that we decided to expand our wholesale business. With the launch of our new
website, we have expanded our wholesale market nationwide.
BellaOnline: Are you working on any new designs or lines that you can tell
us about - or at least drop us some hints?
Three Chickadees: We can tell you that we will be incorporating new styles
of ribbons into our lines that have a more exotic flair. We like the look of
some of the European and Asian batik and brocade ribbons that we have seen,
and we will be adding some of them to our line. We are also exploring the idea
of using fabrics to create our products in addition to ribbons. Of course, we
can't give away all of our secrets, so please keep checking our website for
our latest styles and selection!
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