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BUSINESS
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A new business
►
has carved its niche
■ - in furry novelty items.
Photos by Glenn Triest
AARON HALABE
Special to The Jewish News
ost small business
owners work 25
hours a day, franti-
cally attending to
countless market-
ing, promotion and accounting
details. But for entrepreneurs
Susan Katz and Suzanne
Kurtz, the fur really flies.
That's because the two
friends own Fur Everyone Inc.,
a one-year-old business pro-
ducing a line of gifts and
novelty items including fur
headbands, earmuffs, stuffed
animals, checkbook covers and
jewelry
Working out of their homes
— Ms. Katz in Cleveland and
Ms. Kurtz in Farmington Hills
— they produce 40 items made
of fox, mink and beaver. Prices
range from $5 for a set of
mink covered golf tees to
$4,000 for a mink bedspread.
Most of the 40 items are pric-
ed between $5 and $75. The
products are all hand cut and
sewn and some, like the ear-
muffs, are available in
numerous styles and colors.
After a $20,000 initial in-
vestment, their first selling
season yielded gross revenues
. . . in the high $40,000
range," Ms. Kurtz says. In five
years, the owners hope to see
revenues of $300,000 to
$400,000. By that time, they
expect to expand into a full
retail operation.
i
C4
Suzanne Kurtz
and Susan Katz
sport furry
earmuffs they sell
as part of their
new business, Fur
Everyone Inc.
"We're aggressive about it,
but not overly so," Ms. Kurtz
says. "It's sort of balanced
agressiveness. And five years
to us is reasonable. If it hap-
pens in two, great. But we're
not pushing for it because we
don't want to make a
mistake?'
Both Ms. Katz and Ms.
Kurtz say their products ap-
peal to many different market
segments
"Probably the only people
we don't tap are people who
have their own furrier. Other
than that, everybody is pretty
much open game:' Ms. Katz
says.
"We really appeal to those
people who want to have fur
but can't normally afford it.
They're people who think fur
is fun and classy and novel,"
Ms. Kurtz adds. "And our
prices are well below what a
furrier would sell for."
The company's best-selling
items are pins and earmuffs.
The earmuffs and other
Winter items naturally sell
better when the mercury
begins to plummet
"Unfortunately, winter isn't
12 months a year," Ms. Kurtz
says. "Our season really
starts in September and goes
to the end of March. And we
do all of our inventory, order-
ing and buying in the
summer.
Because both owners hold
full-time jobs (Ms. Katz is an
advertising executive and Ms.
Kurtz is a technical writer),
the two have a limited amount
of time to sell their products.
"We pretty much have other
people doing the majority of
the selling," Ms. Kurtz says.
"We really stick to the
creative end, administrating,
bookkeeping and advertising."
The "other people" she refers
to are two sales represen-
tatives the company employs.
Ms. Katz says the reps pro-
mote their products to gift
shops, boutiques and large
department stores in Detroit
and Cleveland.
They are also attempting to
arrange cross promotions with
businesses who would buy Fur
Everyone products and offer
them to their customers as
purchase incentives.
Although the sales reps do
the majority of the large
volume selling for Fur
Everyone, the company's
owners participate in direct
sales efforts at area craft
shows and house parties.
Ms. Kurtz says their pro-
ducts often stand out at craft
shows among the traditional
offerings of yarn dolls and
costume jewelry. At one recent
show, she says, the company
sold over $1,000 in less than
two hours. Last year, Ms. Katz
and Ms. Kurtz participated in
six shows; they expect to dou-
ble that figure next year.
The partners also hope to
expand their network of house
parties. Last year, the com-
pany sponsored 20 in three
months. Ms. Katz says that
the parties which operate like
Tupperware parties, have
been lucrative.
Ms. Katz admits initial at-
tempts to advertise the com-
pany and sell its products in
various national markets
were experimental. "Last
year, our first year, we were
really experimenting. We tried
to focus more on planning and
getting our brochure together.
We really started gearing up
for this last June or July, so
we quicky tried to get things
done before Christmas," Ms.
Katz says.
Their first tasks, she says,
were to establish plans for the
house parties, find craft shows
and select and produce the
merchandise.
In their first three months
in business, Ms. Kurtz says,
the partners spent almost
every weekend traveling bet-
ween Detroit and Cleveland to
plan business strategy.
Many of those meetings
were brain-storming sessions
to determine product offer-
ings. The 40 items that Fur
Everyone sells were culled
from an original list of over
200. Some of the items that
did not make the furry top-40
list were "X-rated" products
that will be sold in a future
catalog. The company also ex-
pects to market a set of ex-
ecutive and bridal gifts.
"We have so many ideas and
it's hard to contain them and
to decide what to do first;' Ms.
Kurtz says.
Ms. Katz and Ms. Kurtz
have been criticized by people
with concerns regarding
animal rights. The partners
are sensitive to the issue. They
say they listen to objections
respectfully, but avoid confron-
tations. Patience and a sense
of humor, they add, get them
through the occasional
awkward moment.
- "What killed us is the one
person who gave us a lecture
on how much she hates fur
and how horrible it is to kill
animals, while she was stan-
ding there eating a ham-
burger," Ms. Katz says.
With the help of Ms. Katz's
stepfather, a Flint furrier, the
partners learned to buy the
product. Under the tutelage of
her stepfather, Ms. Katz adds,
she and her partner have
learned the intricacies of cut-
ting and sewing fur.
Ms. Katz and Ms. Kurtz met
at a Jewish Welfare Federa-
tion fund-raising event five
years ago. Ms. Kurtz knew
they were compatible almost
immediately and started talk-
ing about a joint venture
shortly after their meeting.
"We have some of the same
tastes, some of the same views
— we approach things similar-
ly. We're both quietly confi-
dent about how we feel and
what we do. And we're patient
about things;' Ms. Kurtz says.
The only thing they do not
agree on is pricing their pro-
ducts. "I low-ball, and
Suzanne high-balls every-
thing, but we compromise,"
Ms. Katz says.
The spirit of compromise in-
cludes the division of labor in
the business. Ms. Katz
handles the sales reps and is
responsible for product mer-
chandising and marketing.
Ms. Kurtz offers her writing
expertise when needed and
handles all, legal issues.
Both partners are involved
in the actual production of the
product. One might expect
that they have become quite
handy with the needle and
thread . . . "Can we sew
clothes and shirts and hems?
. . . Nah," says Ms. Kurtz.
"But fur, yes." D
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
51