Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

Expanding Your Handbag Empire with Government of Quebec

• Emily Blumenthal • Season 1

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Embark on a linguistic and commercial adventure as I, Emily Blumenthal, sit down with Ryan McInturf, the insightful attaché to the Quebec government. We navigate the nuances of Quebec's French language and its impact on the handbag industry, shedding light on the opportunities that await emerging designers in Canadian retail. Discover the strategic advantage of charming power players like Essence and Holt Renfrew, as we reveal how this dominance of pure French language can be the key to unlocking a distinctive, less saturated market space.

Ryan and I then candidly unpack the lessons learned from my own retail expansion escapades, from the jarring costs of labeling blunders to the complexities of navigating the Canadian market. You'll glean the importance of understanding landed costs, the pivotal role distributors play, and why Canada is not just a gateway to North America but a launchpad for global brand recognition. By the end of our discussion, you'll appreciate the fine art of balancing relationships with retail giants and the subtle intricacies of spreading your brand's wings across Canada's diverse regions.

Wrapping up with heartfelt gratitude, we extend thanks to Ryan for his invaluable insights and to you, our devoted listeners, for embarking on this insightful journey with us. As we bid farewell, we encourage you to connect, share your thoughts, and continue the dialogue. We part with a promise of more thought-provoking content in the episodes to come, keeping the pulse on the ever-evolving world of handbag design.


Follow Ryan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcinturfryan/ 

www.mrif.gouv.qc.ca 

www.international.gouv.qc.ca/en/new-york



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Speaker 1:

Hi and welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast with your host, emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, where we cover everything about handbags, from making, marketing, designing and talking to handbag designers and industry experts about what it takes to make a successful handbag. Welcome, ryan McInturff. Attaché to the Quebec government. Welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast. Welcome to you, canada and Brooklyn. Right yeah.

Speaker 2:

Brooklyn. Yes, yes, thank you, emily, for having me. I'm really pleased to be here with you today.

Speaker 1:

Pleased is a good way to start. I find that very launching in a conversation.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, start with a positive vibe. You always have to start that way.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, and I was fascinated to learn that it was your well-earned degree in French that got you a job working for the French part of Canada, so that's exciting.

Speaker 2:

Canada. So that's exciting, which a lot of people don't realize. When you know you go to Quebec, it's very important. Sometimes I think if you don't speak French first there you might offend them, but there's parts of like Quebec City that are 100% French, you know it's very.

Speaker 1:

Is the Quebec French the same as regular French? And pardon my ignorance, because I'm sure there's nuances, because if you speak about Spanish broken down per country, like they say that the most textbook country that has the Spanish that you would learn in school would be Colombia, but you veer anywhere beyond that. You'll look at. You know the word for bus in one country is one thing or the like Dominican or Puerto Rican. Spanish it's a guagua, or, as opposed to, autobus. So did you have to learn, like the street slang of French, I mean the Quebec French is different from French.

Speaker 2:

I mean, it's comprehensible, but the Quebec French is like, more pure, they would say, from the French, french of France, because the Quebec French they've kept it because it's been, you know, the community is more isolated, right? So they've kept it ever since all those individuals, from whichever team, sent them over to Quebec City in Montreal. So it's very pure French and they don't adopt English words, whereas in French French they'll say email, whereas Quebec French you'll say courriel.

Speaker 2:

Wow, yeah, they're not messing around, so they will not adopt a new English word. They'll create a new word or find another word for it.

Speaker 1:

So that is a very interesting segue to move into. You know we were connected I don't even remember how probably through LinkedIn, but because I'm a LinkedIn junkie, you can always find me there. Best friend, I love a LinkedIn. I always tell my students that's where the old people hang out and like and don't discount anything there on social, because that's where all your connections and business deals will most likely take place. You're in a very unique position because what the essence of this podcast is about is handbags, doing business as handbags industry, learning about production, manufacturing, marketing, da-da-da, the whole thing. I would love to talk about some benefits, about what it takes and why going through a Canadian channel could be beneficial to not only a small business but to a handbag designer, whether you're established or up and coming.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Well, you know, I would say, first of all, you can't discount the commercial aspect that you knowada will have for you. Let's say you're an emerging designer and you want to put your voice on the map. You know it's hard for you to get in front of sax, it's hard for you to get in front of bloomingdales. Essence is a brand, is it retailer?

Speaker 1:

and that's s s e n s e not essence, because whenever you hear that, I'm sure a lot of people still pronounce it. Yeah, they double. They do Double S, correct.

Speaker 2:

But there is someone who I would say like they're considered like you know, like a concepts or a camp and other buyers look who they're going to carry to maybe actually take that risk, because I think no one's really fulfilling that gap of Barney's. So you have Essence. That's kind of filling that gap of Barney's and they'll take a risk on you and they have the capacity to buy volume. So that's like a win-win for a designer, so they can buy volume and they can join the map, help you grow. I would say. That's one. I would say in the commercial aspects, there are a lot of buyers there, not just Essence, but there's Harry Rosen, for instance, for men's, there's Holt Renfrew, which is probably the equivalence of like a Saks Fifth Avenue, and then if you're looking more commercial for Macy's, you have Hudson Bay and Hudson Bay owns Saks. So thinking you know Saks is not actually by a Canadian entity.

Speaker 1:

So would you say in your professional Canadian expertise that a brand who may struggle with getting retail channels or even from a DTC perspective, that almost and regardless of where you are, try and get a foothold within North America, ie the United States, that almost going through Canada is like, almost like a backdoor in to the United States? I?

Speaker 2:

would say there's less competition, so it's easier. You know it's a smaller pond, so it's easier to get recognized in a smaller pond than it is to be recognized in New York. I would say you're less likely to meet someone who might. I don't want to say con you, but I would say you know, within Canada we spoke about this prior you know there's a lot of distributors in Canada that take care of all of North America and they're distributors which don't really exist. I mean there's still some distributors in New York, but I would say they're few and far between it's a dinosaur.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, which is sad because you know they have skin in the game. If you work with a distributor, they're actually going to.

Speaker 1:

Or even a showroom.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, where showrooms are like, they have their anchor brand from my experience and they'll sign on everyone. So it's really hard to gauge if they're sincere or not. It's like, are they actually sincere about actually growing the business or are they having someone else on here will pay for, you know, the $500 to $2,000 a month retainer and then if it falls to the water, they'll be like, oh, we tried, or oh, the buyer saw it when a distributor they're actually going to try to push it and pay more doors. So I would say, going to Canada, you could find a distributor that does all North America and then that can actually get. You know, you could get A they distribute your goods and B you could get them some good doors. Granted, you have to be careful about what distributor you're going to, because you don't want if you're loomies to your company and they put you in the bay everywhere they put you in macy's then you know that water is down your positioning. But at the end of the day, you know that's due diligence that every designer has 100.

Speaker 1:

That's so fascinating. So you know, with my experience of having been a designer and dealing with retailers ever since, from a handbag, awards and representation of the independent designers basis, the one thing that major retailers or any real retailer wants is they want proof of concept, they want to make sure that you have traction and they want to know retention. So they want to make sure that you know, do you have a social media presence, which is wild to say that you know back in the day. You know no one would consider their online website as real estate, but that is just as valuable, if not more, as actual in store. So to have a test market and I wouldn't want to minimize doing business in Canada, but to use Canada almost as a test market for retail is a real great idea and I think a lot of people wouldn't have a clue that that's even an option.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think it's like you mentioned, like a buyer, like I tell a lot of my clients this is, like you know, buyer's job is to reduce, to reduce the risk. You know, like if their job was to buy what they like, there would be an awful buyer, unless they just happen to be following what all their clients like. But if you could tell a buyer like, oh, you know, we've been shipping rents over x amount of seasons, that's going to give a sense of I don't want to say relief, but give a sense of ease for them to say, okay, well, I wonder if I will remove this page, this spot that only has like a 30 sell through, which is not good, but for this new brand, and then hopefully that new brand will have a higher sell through and then that way the buyer is doing their job and doing a great job. But they could say, like help run was doing a good job with them, so we have a similar clientele how does that work then with the conversion and shipping and customs of?

Speaker 1:

like? I get that a lot of cases that drop ship is really what most retailers want nowadays, Like they don't want to risk, they don't want to house it, they don't want, like it's all on you, honey bunny. Like thank you so much, We'll buy your goods but you're doing all the shipping. We don't want to commit to anything. So how does that work. Let's just say, as a designer from the United States, you're like okay, I've got a decent DTC business, direct-to-consumer business, I have a decent social media following.

Speaker 1:

I think I want to get into retail, which is very expensive and a lot of designers don't even realize that. You know you could start your retail business with a bill. I mean, that's what happened to me as soon as I started shipping to Bloomingdale's because I didn't follow their manual and put the label on backwards. I'm not even kidding. My first piece of mail from Bloomingdale's was a bill, not a check, and they didn't make up a small buy, but the old school phone book version of what they expect of a designer to follow. It is the time value of money it takes to be prepared to ship to big department stores. It's expensive in itself. So can you speak a little bit like now I want to try going through Canada to kind of work my way back into the United States. So what does it take cost-wise and learning curve and so forth?

Speaker 2:

Well, I would say you'd have to have your prices landed like anyone should have your prices landed. Ldp.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, landed Canada or landed US or landed US, they'll buy in US.

Speaker 2:

You have it, land in US and they could bring it in to there. But what I will say is I would not enter Canada trying to go on the marketplace model or the dropshipping model because A they would say, no, you need to have a warehouse. And I would not invest X amount of money just to be on a marketplace Because, like you mentioned, the retailer is not taking any risk. The marketplace is a new consignment. In my opinion, that's just a new consignment.

Speaker 1:

And what's marketplace? Just to clarify, because that is the latest hot term, that just the marketplace would be like.

Speaker 2:

let's say, you are on the marketplace of the Bay, the Bay is not buying an inventory, and then it's just like-.

Speaker 1:

Hudson Bay yeah, You're calling the Bay like your bestie. It's like the Bay and I. We're going bowling Hudson Bay, yeah the Hudson Bay.

Speaker 2:

So let's say you're on the marketplace of Hudson Bay or Maison Simons, they would require for you to have a 3PL or a warehouse in Canada, because at the end of the day, they're not the one fulfilling it. It's basically you're going to be shipping it to, could see what's the data and then we can make a buy. But I would say if you're not a Canadian native brand, it's a large investment just to have a warehouse for that, unless you're a huge CDC company, and that makes sense. But if not, if you're an emerging brand, I would say the best route would be to explore the Canadian market, would be to find a distributor or agency in the Canadian market and then they can get you into the small mom-and-pop stores and then they could also then get you into or distributor then can say, okay, we'll take care of the marketplace for you, we'll put you out because you're worth a distributor.

Speaker 1:

But a marketplace in that regard would still remain D2C, it would still remain drop ship and fall on the burden of the designer, correct?

Speaker 2:

Sometimes, if the distributor buys a good amount up front and then they're managing it, then they would manage it with them.

Speaker 1:

So they would then have the warehouse.

Speaker 2:

Exactly so. It depends on who you're part. If it's an agency, then you know that's just a mute point because you're not going to do that. But if it's just a sales agency like a showroom, they would just be a normal PO. Right, right, right.

Speaker 1:

In terms of these distributors, how do they work on cost? Because, okay, now would the distributor buy these goods outright and then they would then resell it. So are they working almost as a wholesaler in itself. Exactly.

Speaker 2:

Exactly so, from my experience.

Speaker 1:

So they would buy these goods, probably a small amount. They would be responsible. Would the designer be responsible for shipping said inventory to the distributor?

Speaker 2:

The designer would then ship it to the distributor. Let's say the distributor is Montreal, ship it to Montreal and then from there the distributor takes care of the shipments for the distributor. Let's say the distributor is in Montreal, ship it to Montreal and then from there the distributor takes care of the shipments for the rest. So within Canada.

Speaker 1:

How does it work getting into Canada, though, from a, you know, from a Like what is the best way you could recommend? Is it DHL, with a thousand billion like you know custom documents? Is it, you know, a trucker Like? What do you, in your experience, think is the most logistically smart way to ship goods in?

Speaker 2:

My experience. I wish I had an answer From my experience. Usually the distributor will provide that information, Like if I, for instance, when I was in Europe and I was meeting French brands and giving to them, because my goal, of course, is with the French brands and work with a Canadian partner for North America and not a US partner for North America. Right, that's your job.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so the French company is like you know, we're looking for an agency or distributor. I would say meet this distributor. They had a line just like yours. Then I would make introduction and then the distributor wants the brand and then they come to the agreement. So the distributor would know the best way, because at the end of the day, if the distributor wants that brand, they're going to, you know, handhold them to get that brand Right. But I know that the answer is not the best answer, but the distributors, of course, are there to help because that's how they grow their businesses, get new brands.

Speaker 1:

So I want to I mean, this is all really interesting, like I think again, I know it's your job as one person to represent doing business in Quebec and Montreal and so forth. Do you deal with competition, like as a counterpart, with someone in, let's say, toronto or someone in Saskatchewan, or you know, obviously Saskatchewan is a hotspot. Yeah, yeah, it's like I just like saying it's fine, yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's beautiful.

Speaker 1:

Or the Bantz country. They don't have.

Speaker 2:

There's a federal government that I partner with. So a lot of times if someone wants to work with, let's say, arcteryx, you know I have a relationship with Arcteryx because, you know, granted, I'm paid by the state, but if a non-Quebec company wants to work with Arcteryx, I'm not going to stop them, I'm going to make the connection for them because then it helps Canada in general. But there is a federal person but I can't really speak to their involvement. I do know that there's a French version of me, but the French version of me they charge their clients so they don't work with everyone. And then I think all of us have probably seen, know that the Italians are involved, because if you go to any trade show you'll see all these booths from Italy.

Speaker 2:

But I will say, every single country and every single person views the job differently. Some might view it like oh, let's buy a bunch of real estate at Coterie. I find that to be not the best investment. And well, I think Coterie is important, but it's not the best way for me to spend my time. Because if I'm at Coterie, who am I actually meeting? That could help my Canadian retailers, distributors, slash brands yeah, coterie is great, but they're really just a client. They're just using me so they could gain more real estate space. That's what it is.

Speaker 2:

If I have relationships with buying agents, international groups or DMMs, that brings much more value to my clientele. Or even licensors, because I could tell Aldo, here's someone you should chat with and you should explore their IP and maybe you can, because Aldo has the Ted Baker license and also the Brooks Brothers. That's as much more for, I think, for the country that helps them get more exports and then thereby paying more taxes than me saying here's the igloo from quebec buy quebec goods. And no buyer is going to stop, unfortunately, because no buyers are americans.

Speaker 2:

Half my family doesn't know where quebec is, so that's, you know. That shows no one's going to buy something because no one in colorado is like oh, I really want to buy this made in canada, they're gonna buy the made in italy more. So it makes sense that you have Italian all over the place because that sells and the buyer could be like okay, I know my client loves made Italy, but made in Quebec. Unfortunately the IP is not as strong. So for me it's better just to be on the ground and knowing how to connect the dots to create larger business.

Speaker 1:

If you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you. If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you. I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture and market a handbag brand, broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

Join me, Emily Blumenthal, in the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass, to sign up at emilyblumenthalcom slash masterclass and type in the code PINECAST to get 10% off your masterclass today as an independent designer and you just spoke about Aldo and so forth those kinds of manufacturers, just out of curiosity, looking to partner up with a smaller talent, Are they looking or are they purely looking from what you do? Are they looking exclusively just for more retail channels on the ground for you to represent them further? Because, again, for the designers that listen and the industry that listens, what are the opportunities for them to get in bed per se with Canada, Quebec and doing business, you know, as overall?

Speaker 2:

I would say also you know you can think about collaborations and that depends on like their voice, who they are. I use Moose Knuckles a lot of times as an example. They did a great Telfar collaboration and Telfar, I think, is a great handbag designer and that got Moose Knuckles A to access another clientele because Telfar had a different following, and B, it allowed Moose Knuckles to get into doors which they were wanting to get into, so it expanded their stockist and allowed Telfar to also increase his wholesale. It's a win-win. So I'd say you know Canada's home to, if you think of like the large players, like Canagoose, octerix, aritzia Aritzia also buys third party sometimes, so that's another big one. Red Sack and a lot of these brands look for new collaborations. Of course it just has to be the right match.

Speaker 1:

You can't just throw spaghetti on the wall and hope that it sticks, but it wouldn't be spaghetti in Quebec, it'd probably be called something else. Right, poutine or something. There you go, you're not done. Poutine on the wall.

Speaker 2:

But at the end of the day I think you have to see it's like great, this is a Canadian entity. Let's see what we can do with them. Aldo would probably do a collaboration if it was, if it helped its. You know, it doesn't hurt to explore it if you think you can help that entity.

Speaker 1:

So that's also a good point. About collaborations, I mean, obviously that that's really where the market's at, with the in and outs and the drops and like, because the beautiful thing is that it has a beginning and an ending and if it works out, great. If it doesn't, it's. I feel like a better investment of time than almost doing like a Kickstarter, where if it doesn't work you know it's there for life, like one failed Kickstarter is there forever. You can't undo that. So a collab with a brand it could do great things or it could do nothing.

Speaker 1:

So I think it's a better use of time and investment to be creative and out of the box to think about like what can. Obviously, when you're approaching any brand, it's not about what you're going to get. It's what you can bring to the table for them. Do you have a social media reach? Do you have a different customer? Do you have something that would be appealing to them? That therefore it's an ROI for them to do the manufacturing, production and so forth. Question I know Canada has a shopping channel also, so I know that a lot of brands sometimes will do a shopping channel program there before they would even venture to QVC or HSN. Can you speak a little bit about that too, if you can.

Speaker 2:

No, I know they're shopping. I should know the name of the shopping channel because one of my clients was just on it. It's called the shopping channel. It's called the shopping channel because one of my clients was just on it. It's called the shopping channel. It's called the shopping channel. I know it's in ontario and I know it's like it's a great business, that you could grow a business. It's probably easier to get into there than qbc or hsn or even shop hq, which is back, because you know shop hq filed, I think, for bankruptcy.

Speaker 1:

So last year I was on shop hq, which used to be e-mine live, and exactly yep that they were shop nbc, they were shop hq, they were e-mine live and then, I believe, they went back to shop hq yeah, they're back in business.

Speaker 2:

So I would say, like you know, well done yes, I mean they're bad, I mean they're back and you know, I will say my clients, my clients are giving them another try and they're very happy. And so I would say, if you are a designer listening, I would say don't run away from shop. It's huge, you never know, you never know, you know. And if you are factored, then even better. So then like, then you have insurance and if it goes awry, then that's Hilton's problem.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and PS to that. If anybody is listening, Christina Malleo Slangford is one of our episodes and it is dropping or dropped by the time this is out. It will be out December 19th. So with Christina talking about how to work with the factor, so yes, and.

Speaker 2:

I think I think that's a very important episode because, you know, I was talking to someone there and there is with a major retailer that people are very at the screen called Bancro, bankrupt. I don't think they will because they have a lot of real estate, but they're like one person's like oh yeah, I'm carrying all the paper myself and I'm like I would hate to be in that situation and all that paper and if something goes awry you're the first, especially if you're not a known brand.

Speaker 1:

What does that mean? Carrying all that paper? Just to clarify.

Speaker 2:

Meaning that, like you're the ones taking all the risk, you know, like you're the one waiting for them to pay you. It's not something else. It's like if X retailers like files for bankruptcy, then, oh, you are up. Schitt's Creek. Pardon my French, you're probably going to be the last one that's going to Get paid.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so, especially if you're not owned by ABG or you're not, you know it's going to be a very tough situation. Yeah, that's just the way. But talking about the Canadian Starving Channel, I wish I knew more about it. But a lot of my clients, they do great business there and I would say, like you said, you love LinkedIn, I would reach out to them on LinkedIn. Oh yeah, I would reach out to all the DMs on LinkedIn, you know, and then chat with them. The other thing I did want to mention to you about just Canada is, if you don't want to enter the Canadian market but you have goods to clear, canada is a good option to clear goods, because it's not going to, let's say, your main business is Bloomingdale's. There's no Bloomingdale's in Canada, so it's less likely that the buyer from Bloomingdale's is going to see it. So if it's in Manitoba or Saskatchewan, the you know the buyer from Bloomingdale's is going to see it.

Speaker 1:

So if it's in Manitoba or Saskatchewan, you know the likelihood of that past good being found by someone is minimal. You had spoken about, like when we did our pre-chat, you'd spoken about flyover states and something similar. So can you speak a little bit about what that meant? Yeah, sorry.

Speaker 2:

I would say flyover countries. So like, if you think of the US, like I mean, I'm not talking about Canada here, but, like you know, Gabe's, for instance, I think Gabriel's, like most of the locations are in Iowa, Nebraska, parts of Ohio, which is usually known as flyover country because they're there, it's very rural and you know you're not seeing a large population there. So it's a very safe way to protect a brand identity, because you're hiding the goods of where they are.

Speaker 1:

In plain sight, if you will Exactly.

Speaker 2:

And Canada has very similar parts that you have Saskatchewan, then you have all that area is just very densely populated and even parts of Ontario are not very populated. So it's not, and even parts of Ontario are, like, not very populated. So it's very easy to also have a flower country there and to move with winners.

Speaker 1:

Right. The beautiful thing is to hone in on your point is that I mean here we'd say everybody's money is green, but in Canada it might not be. It's red, isn't it? It's red like the maple leaf, but at the end of the day it's still commerce. So to expound on what you're saying, it means that if you have, if Bloomingdale's has bought a portion of your inventory because they placed a buy and you had to buy your goods up front, then you have this buttload of stuff left and you don't have the reach on your D to C. You can always go to Canada in two to three locations, at two to three department stores. That won't conflict and you can sell off your goods. Now question would they be sold at the same price that you would be selling to Bloomingdale's or would you take a hit as a result of the changing currency? It depends.

Speaker 2:

If the ATS is old, like if it's like time has passed, of course you're going to take a hit because you're going to have to reduce the price. But if it's like, let's say you have the ATS and you could deliver the immediates and you're talking to Maison Simons, I don't think you would take a hit because it would just be the same pricing.

Speaker 1:

One would assume, though, that would probably be D2C drop ship on the side of the designer if that's the case, would you assume that this is new business?

Speaker 2:

New business, I would try to get them in and try to get an appointment. Just talk to the buyer and if they have that need, then you can Then buy it upright. Yeah, buy it upright, exactly.

Speaker 1:

This is so cool. So are there any Canadian independent designers for handbags that you can speak to, or that you have any ideas or Canadian handbag brands that we should be on the lookout?

Speaker 2:

No, I'll say like just a Canadian company, it's not like an emerging. Well, I'd say there's a footwear that do some handbags called McGuire. I think they're really cool to see Everything that they do is transparent, so in their whole entire supply chain. They're really cool to see Everything that they do is transparent, so in their whole entire supply chain, so that way you could see it A to Z, where it's made in Portugal, how much they pay the people in Portugal, how much they pay for the shipping and then why they're charging you this cost.

Speaker 1:

Is that almost like a Canadian Everlane per se, ish, yeah.

Speaker 2:

But I would say a little bit more trend focused. They have a store in New York City. So look it up, mcguire. I would say they're, they are.

Speaker 1:

Is it MC or MA?

Speaker 2:

MAGUIRE McGuire.

Speaker 1:

Because my high school boyfriend was a McGuire and he was MC or maybe he was MA, I don't know. All I know is that he was very cute and he was very young and he still had braces and I was a senior and he was a junior and I don't know by the time you're in your last year of high school it's slim pickings you got to start like going in the younger grades. I don't know, my stock didn't drop for that. I needed something to do to kill the rest of the year. He was very nice. Anyway, mcguire's the store yeah, that's another episode.

Speaker 2:

I would say McGuire is a that's a great brand and I would say that they have accessories, but they're mainly footwear, but they do have handbags as well. In terms of, I would say, what I really like from Quebec and it's also going off cue, but I think Quebec is really known for these creators that you know just have a great cult following and I think it's almost advice to every emerging designer. So think about this brand called Dime. They are like the skateboarders, almost like 101 gold. So they have this glory challenge every year that they do with Vans at Vans sponsors and it's just skaters going and it shows that they stay true to their DNA and that's why people continue to follow them and want to do collabs with them. Them because they see that they speak completely to the skater audience, to that youth audience that will save up and buy a lot of money for them.

Speaker 2:

And it's same with this individual named jj jound and he has a following where I get everyone asking to chat with him and he started as just a blogger and he does collabs with anyone you could think of, but he has a very simplistic design and I would say I think Red Sack and Macaj when they do accessories. They have nice accessories. I like Macaj's footwear. Not too long ago I don't know if you saw Macaj's footwear- I did.

Speaker 1:

I actually 10 plus years ago I bought a coat from Bloomingdale's, a Macaj coat, and my ignorance to the brand and it's so funny because after it was more than 10 years I think, but you know a lot of people don't know its pronunciation I said maquillage or something, because it's spelled the French way, and I was immediately, immediately, you know, schooled on that. I was like, oh damn, I should know that, because I'm a, I'm clearly worldly in the world of handbags, but not for that brand. But they do beautiful work and beautiful product and I saw their footwear and I'm not surprised. I knew their buyer years ago because I was trying to get them involved with the Handbag Awards and they were saying at the time that that wasn't one of their core competencies. But I know that they're moving more into that, because once you go into footwear, handbags come next.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, it's just a natural extension. Now I think I'm always very impressed too, just with the canadian market where you know a lot of people don't know, like psycho bunny is owned by thread collective, so that's, that's a canadian company. And then the right collective has the outer license for scotch and soda and probably 10 other main known brands. Bugatti group has the reebok license for bags and I think it's really cool what they're doing with that. So I think, speaking to your audience, where you have companies who are looking for maybe, oh, should I look for a licensee, that's where you should look to Canada.

Speaker 1:

That's amazing. I know Bugatti was also trying to be an early adopter with WEM3. I'm not sure where that's at now, but I know that the son of the founder was really trying to be core of doing drops with Web3 and new products and so forth. So something to look into if that's where because I know it's still a dirty word it went from being very hot Web3. Now it's back. Yeah, it's had its resurgence, went free. Now it's back. Yeah, it's had its resurgence and I know having it with ape uh, not bathing ape, whatever. You know what I'm talking about. Oh, yes, yes, yes, I know what you're talking about.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, like that's a very streamer brand yeah, yep, yep, I'm ashamed, I can't think of it. I know, once we stop and we're like duh, it's so obvious. But I know we were talking to them and so forth. But I think all this information is really, really interesting. I think you know to say, like they do in the street world don't sleep on Canada.

Speaker 2:

No, you shouldn't.

Speaker 1:

You could sleep in Canada, but don't sleep on Canada, ryan. If people have more questions about doing business in Canada, doing business with Canada, getting some sort of introduction within the Canadian business world, specifically Quebec how can people reach you and are you open to people reaching out to you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm happy to chat with anyone. That's how I work. It becomes a boudinage, a snowball effect.

Speaker 1:

Look at you, french. Drop yeah RY on that degree, go you.

Speaker 2:

I would say contact me on LinkedIn. I'm always on LinkedIn. Or I'm happy, if you have episode notes, I'm happy to put my email out there so that people can contact me. And it just always leads with the conversation. You never know where that can lead.

Speaker 2:

So it's Ryan McIntcinterf yes, I would tell you my actual email, but it's like it's a monster, like I give it to people when I'm at, let's say, a store and I want them to make a mistake so I don't get their spam, because my email is like it's spelled. They do like dot gov, dot qc, dot ca. So I'll send it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the way people are not.

Speaker 1:

No, trust me, I mean, mine is at handbag designer 101 and you should hear me giving that to people on the phone. I'm like like a class handbag designer designer one zero. Yeah, I get you also. You have a name like a soap opera star, so I think it's kind of like I wouldn't forget that. Like, who did it? Ryan McInturk did it. Like that's hot, I'm into that. Okay, ryan, this has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for being part of Handbag Designer 101, the podcast. You may or may not be bombarded by people wanting to do business in Canada or at least to learn more, because I think this has been really eye opening and truly educational, because there's so much information that for people who are wanting to get discovered or want to get more distribution or want to cast a wider net and might be stuck, that perhaps going through Canada to get to full North America's seems to be a much smarter way. It's, like you know, there are less players to get you into a wider audience, so why wouldn't you do that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think it's just worth exploring, like you should always explore. You should consider all your options 100%. It's easier to go there less sweat and tears and you should do that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there's so many tears. When you're running a brand, it's all tears and that's what people can't see. Ryan, thank you so very much and have a great day, and we will for sure be in touch with you soon. Perfect, it was a pleasure. Thank you, max. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer. Thanks so much. See you next time.

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Emily Blumenthal

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