freddy&ma

the blackout....

remember the blackout that shutdown the east coast in August of 2003?   while freddy&ma was not even located in NYC at that point, both founders  had interesting new york experiences that day, with one of us walking from laguardia to midtown carrying someone else's bags and the other walking from mid-town to new jersey.  i will leave it to our readers to guess who did the longer walk.  The NYTimes has a great story today about two people who MET during the blackout and are now getting married.  I am quite glad i didn't meet my soulmate that day.  given my appearance after walking 10 miles or so in the ninety degree heat, i looked more like a bum than someones future mate :-O

mass customization is in!!!

so we have decided to start reporting on all of the sitings of mass customization that we see in the market.  turns out that, contrary to popular belief, Freddy&Ma are not the inventors of mass customization.  in fact it has been around for quite a while.  FashionTribes has a cool report about a company tha is selling subscription t-shirts.  buy a 5 month subscription and get a bunch of shirts that no one else can buy!  very cool idea.  perhaps we will offer something similar with our handbags! 

a coffee press in a bottle???

so here is a little product plug.  someone very near and dear to freddy&ma has designed a super neat product called PRESS-BOT.  It is a coffee press that fits inside of a Nalgene bottle.  Very cool product, it would make a great Christmas gift for the outdoor/camping nut relative that everyone seems to have.

failure - the precursor to success

i think one of the best things you can do to guarentee success in a new venture is to go ahead and accept the fact you are going to fail before you will succeed.  that way when the inevitable initial failures start rolling in, you can smile, as you know that the first step towards success has been taken.  when we started freddy&ma, i had a grand idea for a company that would make a unique and different product.  i had a napkin sketch on

fame is NOT always fleeting...

ok, here is a little bit of off the wall celebrity news.  while trolling the news sites this morning, i came across a name i had not seen in YEARS.  turns out Punky Brewster is having her first child.  Seems pretty amazing that this makes the AP news wire b/c i can't (though chime in if i am wrong) think of ANYTHING else this girl did besides that show, which was on the air 20 years ago.... and i thought fame was fleeting.....

always have a backup plan

as many of you know, our business has very unique manufacturing needs in order to allow every bag to be built to a customers specifications.  early on, we identified a manufacturing partner and invested a lot of time and energy in trying to cultivate a working relationship with them.  even though it seemed like a slam dunk, we kept looking for other vendors in our spare time, just in case the original guy couldn't pull through. 

well, now a few months before our launch, we have realized that our initial partner could not do what he said he could do.  however, we had a backup plan which turned out to be an even better solution than the original.  one door closes, another opens.  i am just glad we didn't completely commit to the original vendor and kept our eyes peeled for a backup, that could have been a very big problem!!!

the networking conundrum...

everyone always talks about how networking is the key to success.  it turns out it is relatively easy when your immediate friends have direct connections that can help you, but as you move out along the 6 degree of separation tree, it becomes a much trickier affair.  how far out the tree can you climb before the limbs start to break?  is it ok to directly ask casual aquiantances for assistance with your venture?  how do you balance the desire to actually want to find out what is new in their life with the desire to just talk shop?  networking can be a tricky affair indeed.....

wow, this startup thing is hard work!

Ok, so some of our more astute readers may have noticed the rather large time gaps between posts recently.  This is due to the incredible amount of work that both Freddy&Ma have been putting in trying to get our first collection launched.  Between running around NYC to get samples and patterns to the appropriate people, meetings with web designers, drawing up contracts for our highly acclaimed artists to just trying to find time eat, there has just not been enough time to keep this blog up to date.  However, we are going to try to publish at least 3 posts a week going forth.  Check back in every other day or so to get a little update.  We have gotten requests to chat a bit more about the business trials and tribulations that we are experiencing, we will try and oblige. 

On another note, personal trainers are a constant presence around Freddy&Ma's global headquarters in NYC, with our favorite trainer being Paul Torres of course.  Below is an interesting article from this weeks NY Times talking about how other people are starting to adopt the F&M established trend of having our trainers by our side, 24-7. 

burlesque?

I'm fascinated with the attention that has been given to burlesque performers recently.  Be sure to check out the documentary on HBO, Pretty Things, by Liz Goldwyn, of the infamous Hollywood Goldwyns.  The women themselves are very interesting, but watching Goldwyn try to be sexy is more than a bit painful and mostly annoying, especially her final number.  The documentary is partly a self-indulgent exercise for Goldwyn, but the interviews with former dancers are well worth watching.  Probably the most recognized performer today is Dita Von Teese, who, along with the Pussycat Dolls have brought burlesque to the attention of practically everyone.  As one who celebrates all things retro, I'm a big fan.  Of course it begs that silly question of art vs. porn........any thoughts?

We're back!

Not that we were ever gone!  Things at freddy&ma have been moving along.  There's so much to do, but we're pounding away so that we can keep to our October launch.  We can't wait to show you what we've been up to!  Stay tuned...