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The Tip is 'Teach Grandchildren' One day, while I was on the Made In America Secrets site my granddaughter noticed and asked me what I was doing. I told her about the Big Secret and as I explained, she began to ask me more questions. After several minutes she left my office to play with her little sister. Months had gone by and until recently, I had forgotten about that moment. She was visiting again and I was talking to her about buying a custom printed T-Shirt. She immediately told me about a website that I could use to buy one. Wow I thought, she is only eight years old and already teaching me. The most amazing thing then happened, she said "Pops they sell Made In America T-Shirts". Thanks to her I purchased six custom Made In USA T-Shirts. Her name is Britton, she understands the Big Secret and I love it when she tells me her Little Secrets! Now she is ten and writing a screenplay called Mertastic. It is a story about a mermaid. Recently, she was visiting our house again and using my computer. She called me to come into my office and of course I came to her because that is what grandparents love to do. One of the reasons I love to be with her is because it is always interesting to see what she is up to. This time, she needed a mermaid tail for her movie, so we began to look around using Google. Her mother is a talented seamstress and will make the tail so we were looking for fabric that would be satisfy my granddaughter's vision of her mermaid tail. Once again we began to talk about Made in America and therefore started to investigate the country of origin of the fabrics she was considering. Because of that experience Made in USA fabric is now one of Made in America Secrets products. Thank you, Britton. Buying Tip Continued - Read more on Made in America Products by Toby Weston Handbags Toby Weston Handbags was born out of necessity 37 years ago when Toby, whose two children were out of the nest, decided to attend a local community college. Unhappy with the inability of the then current handbags to permit her to quickly locate her pens and pencils, personal items, car keys, notepads, etc., she designed and made a bag that fulfilled this need. The following Xmas she gave a friend her newly designed bag as a gift. Sometime after Xmas, her friend contacted her and told her that she had sold the bag Toby had given her! However, she added that she took orders for eight more bags from friends of hers! inside_home_06 Sewing in a remodeled closet, Toby did produce the eight bags and others as well. It wasn't long before she was contacted by the upscale division of a major department store and invited to come in and show her line. (She had to ask what they meant by line.) She put together some samples and met with the bag buyer and manager of the store. As the bag buyer was going over her bags and ordering them in dozens, Toby stopped her with, Whoa, wait a minute, I'm just a little lady sewing in her bedroom closet. The ensuing laughter was good natured and a reasonable order was placed for Easter delivery. The store manager asked her to please stay as naive as she was. To validate the old adage that timing is everything, it was suggested to Toby that since she now had a rather large satisfied customer, why not call Disneyland. After much mental anguish (she did not view herself as a sales person), she did finally contact one of the buyers at Disneyland and his response was, How soon can you get here? That was the call that took Toby out of the bedroom closet and into a real business. After selling Disneyland, the phone did not stop ringing with stores from all over the country calling and the owners telling Toby that a friend or relative had bought one of her bags at Disneyland and could they order for their stores. From that time to this, Toby's bags are still made the same way (not in a closet), attention to detail and unmatched quality being the norm. In 2005 Toby retired and her daughter Wendy took over all of the day to day wndy2workings of Toby Weston Handbags. Wendy came from a design and retail background so it was a no- brainer for her to step in and take the reins from Toby. Wendy has added additonal designs to the TWH lineup but she is well aware that the star of the show is the original classic Toby Weston Handbag and that will not change. If you asked Toby and Wendy what is the most important thing that has come out of a 37 year old, family owned business, they would tell you it's the people all the wonderful women that are die hard Toby Weston Handbag fans and the great store owners who have been an important part of our success. We thank you all. |
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