A Costa Mesa-based designer of handbags, luggage, purses, belts and hats for local clothing companies is looking to bring a little flair to the budding market of reusable grocery bags.
American Joe Inc., which designs bags and other products for Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc., Costa Mesa’s Volcom Inc., Irvine’s Billabong USA and others, plans to come out with its own line of reusable shopping bags this month.
The line of Love Reusable Bags is designed as a fashionable alternative to generic reusable shopping bags, according to Chief Executive Joe Rogers.
“Everything points to this becoming a huge market,” he said.
Plans are for several types of bags, including one for cold items and other bags in retro and surf-inspired colors.
“We’re treating our canvas bags like T-shirts with new designs planned months in advance,” Rogers said.
The bags are American Joe’s first products of its own in years. The company’s mainstay business is supplying products for makers of clothes inspired by surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding.
American Joe designs products and has them made by Nam Liong Group, a Taiwanese textile company. Rogers’ partner, Mark Chen, has connections to Nam Liong.
“I ended up partnering with this Taiwanese company that owned several factories and essentially became their U.S. sales arm working with my many contacts within the surf industry,” Rogers said.
American Joe sees about $20 million in yearly sales.
The company got its start in 1998 designing and selling backpacks inspired by clothes from Quiksilver, Volcom, Billabong and other local clothing makers.
Then it started producing bags for other companies. American Joe’s first client was Quiksilver, which first started selling the company’s backpacks.
“The business quickly took off,” Rogers said.
Besides bags and accessories, American Joe also makes some swimsuits for Volcom and Northern California’s Fox Head Inc., which has operations in Irvine.
American Joe also makes rash guards and other products for surfers that are sold by other companies.
The idea for reusable bags came after Gary Crane, a college friend of Rogers’ and a former partner in Newport Beach-based Duffy Electric Boat Co., joined American Joe.
“I had just sold out of Duffy Boats and was looking for something new,” Crane said. “I knocked on the door of my old college buddy, who always had something going on under the radar.”
Rogers and Crane tested the bags in a limited run around Newport Beach earlier this year, selling them at specialty grocery stores and to moms around the city.
The company plans to go after retailers in Orange County and San Diego.
“We’re going to focus it here,” Rogers said. “If we can start a fire here, we’ll be able to start a fire anywhere.”
American Joe has seen initial interest from Monrovia-based Trader Joe’s Co. and San Francisco’s Williams-Sonoma Inc., according to Rogers.
“Trader’s Joe loves them but the price point was too high and they don’t have the shelf space we need to really display these,” he said.
In William-Sonoma’s case, the “prints were too wild,” Rogers said.
American Joe is looking to market its bags online via social media sites and through bloggers, especially moms.
“The word of mouth on these bags is unbelievable because women love shopping with them,” Rogers said.
American Joe has tossed around the idea of painting an old Volkswagen bus in the colors of the bags and selling them out of the back at farmers markets and swap meets.
“We’ve got a lot of ideas on campaigns and promotions to get these products into users’ hands,” Crane said.
