arts&life

fashion/on the cover

TOP: Camo backpack.
ABOVE: Spiked backpack.
LEFT: Shredded denim backpack with pins.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LESTER’S, NYC

School Glam

LYNNE KONSTANTIN ARTS & LIFE EDITOR

Little puffs of fl uff,

crystal-studded

everything and

shimmering, spiked

and shredded

backpacks make

Bari Lynn Accessories

too cool for

back-to-school.

44

August 24 • 2017

B

ari Erber’s mother-in-law
put forth a challenge.
“She told me, ‘If you
make $10,000 in your first year
of this business, I’ll walk to the
bank naked.’
It didn’t take long to surpass
that number.
“Ten years later, she hasn’t
lived up to her promise yet,”
Erber says. “But every Rosh
Hashanah, I tell her this is the
year I’m going to make her do
it.”
Erber, owner of super-hot
Bari Lynn Accessories, might
be able to add a few figures to
the number her mother-in-law
threw out. The company Erber

jn

founded — and her husband,
Daniel, now helps her run —
has soared to success since
launching in 2007, offering
highly coveted accessories for
girls, and often their moms,
with a sophisticated fashion
palate. Since that first year,
Erber has each year reached
her goal of beating the previous
year by 10 percent, while the
staff has grown to 30. “We’ve
been very lucky,” she says.
The Orthodox mother of four
— with one on the way — was
born-and-bred in Manhattan.
Now 37, Erber graduated with a
master’s degree in Jewish edu-
cation from Yeshiva University

in New York City and had
begun work on her doctorate.
While marrying and having
her first child, she taught in an
early-childhood classroom and
worked in curriculum develop-
ment at Manhattan’s JCC.
“I started making barrettes
for my oldest daughter, who
was 3 at the time,” Erber says.
“I saw things I liked in stores
and thought, ‘I could make that
so much better’ — so I went to
Michael’s and started buying
stuff.”
Barrettes turned into head-
bands, jewelry and more — and
orders came pouring in.
“I was teaching and working

on Bari Lynn at the same time,”
she says. “When I had my third
child, I decided it was just too
hard. Something had to go
— so I chose the option that
would give me the most flex-
ibility with my own children.
“My mother-in-law said,
‘This is what you’re giving up
teaching for?’”
Yep.
Starting out with three cli-
ents — Dimples, Tip Top Shoes
and Lester’s, all in New York
and all still clients — Erber
began pounding the pavement,
barrettes in tow.
“Every time we went on
vacation, with the kids, we’d go