Perception Is Profit: Matthew Lafargue on Making Bags Feel Important | Emily Blumenthal & Matthew Lafargue

What makes a bag feel powerful the second someone spots it across the floor—and why does that magic disappear when brands scale? We sit down with Matthew Lafargue of Accessory Think Tank to unpack lessons from the Macy’s sales floor to leading $1.8B in wholesale. Matthew explains how service, presentation, and training shape perceived value more than spreadsheets ever could—and why clarity in assortments, hero products, and tiering protects brands as they grow.

Key Takeaways:
 • Perception drives performance — Store experience shapes value before price does.
 • Protect the halo — Hero styles anchor growth and prevent brand confusion.
 • Test tight, scale smart — Clean buys and strong sell-through beat bloated assortments.

Our Guest:
 Matthew Lafargue is a retail and wholesale strategist at Accessory Think Tank, with experience spanning department stores and billion-dollar accessory portfolios. Known for blending field insight with financial rigor, he helps brands sharpen presentation, strengthen hero products, and scale without losing their edge.

Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.

Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com. 

Transcript

Logos, Consumers, And Staying Core

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Less logo, more logo, the MK in the circle we took off the bags, so she wanted it back on the bags. And I think a lot of things that happen is brands don't stay into the core of what who their consumer is. Yes, you have to grow grow that customer database and get new consumers and all customers, but if you alienate her or him, or they don't understand what's going on with the brand as a total, I think that starts, you know, consumers are very uh smart today. They have more avenues of being able to hear about things, see things, whatever.

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Hi, and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast with your host, Emily Blumenthal, handbag industry expert, and the handbag fairy godmother. Each week we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love, from the iconic brands and top designers to the creativity, craftsmanship, and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector, or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all. Welcome, Matthew Lafargue of the Accessory Think Tank to Handbag Designer 101 the podcast. Welcome, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Finally made it work, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:21

I know, I know. Listen, you have been on my hit list in a good way because you have worked in handbags for a cabillion years. That's my latest word, cabillion.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Let's just dive into a Diddy called Matthew. Where did you start? Because I know you were at Michael Kors for a long time.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Yeah.

From Macy’s Floor To Retail Insight

SPEAKER_00 1:42

I actually started on the selling floor at Macy's as a sales associate in Macy Stanford, uh, Connecticut.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Uh do you think that's why you understand what you do so much? Truly, because that's your roots. Well, front-facing.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

To be quite honest, I was a kid that never knew what they wanted to do, you know. I mean, I wanted to do everything and wanted to do nothing really. And nothing really, you know, I always was very envious of kids, you know, when I was going to even in boarding school and in college, that knew kids that knew what they wanted to do, you know, they wanted to be a doctor, they wanted to be a lawyer, whatever. I was like, I I just didn't know. But I do know that the minute I hit the selling floor, there was something there that I couldn't figure out what I liked or what I didn't like, but there was something there that was really intriguing to me. And I'm a people person 100%. And there's really very few people I don't like. So I think that, or that I can work with type of thing. So I think that and you think of today's, and even then, service is really, I think, is king. And if you're offering that service to a customer and you're able to fulfill, you know, something that they want or they like, and you're helped to access that, I think that that's magical. And so I knew that right away, and I had a lot of great mentors along the way. I started my career actually at Macy's in cosmetics. So, you know, there were a lot of great mentors. I still have my department manager's business card. I still have that business card. And I will be ever uh uh indebted to Sharon and the Robert Chavez. I was um at Macy's at the time. And, you know, I always visioned myself one step ahead of where I was. So if I was the, you know, the business manager, I was the department manager. If I was the department manager, I was the assistant buyer. And, you know, I think that that helped propel me because I had no background in, you know, I didn't go to like a school for merchandising or anything like that. It was there were a lot of those programs, you know, like there was management training programs that that really did that for, I think, a lot of people. And that's obviously fewer and fewer because there's not as many department stores and you know retail outlets as there were then. And yeah, so I think it was, I understand the customer better than maybe most. And I think that was key. Then and I was always open to listen. You know, I think you can always, if you don't listen and you don't really, you know, go to the middle of the mall and that tells you who's there. That's what I used to say. Go to the middle of the mall, sit there and watch the customer. You can think who it is, but that's where you actually really see who's walking that mall, you know?

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Retail anthropology, how and why we shop, watching it. It's it's true. So you were at Bloomingdale's, and I know you were at Michael Kors. Talk a little bit about your experience. Macy's.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

So I was at Macy's for 10 years. So I went through, you know, I started out as a sales associate, and then I was at Macy's, I was an assistant, you know, a department manager and assistant buyer, and then a group manager, and then I bankruptcy occurred, and I went from That's a monkey wrenchy's to AS. Oh my god. Where I was an associate buyer in dresses.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

And then AS went on the planning and allocation uh system.

Service As A Competitive Edge

SPEAKER_00 5:16

So I was the last person in. So I went off to business or to planning, and I was in petite sportswear. I mean, I've done every FOB you possibly can think of, pretty much. And then, but while I was at Macy's, one of my I worked in handbags. I was an associate buyer in handbags. And to be quite honest, I hated handbags then. I didn't really get it. Why did you hate it? Because it was an error that everything I called it mark down everything. We bring it in, we mark it down, you know. And I was in bridge handbags, which, you know, rarely wasn't where the business was. But I learned a lot. And I had a, you know, a boss that was really tough, and she was a legend in the industry, and we're really good friends today. And it taught me, you know, to appreciate things. You know, a lot of I think a lot about, you know, being an assistant buyer in those days, it was very competitive, you know. It was very and you weren't in the right area, whatever. And then handbags weren't on the trajectory that they did go into. So yeah, can I ask you something though? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

You said it was markdown central. Do you think those handbags at that time, because I don't know how much has changed, what made handbags so markdown-ish? Was it the style? Was it the price point? Was it the product? Because if it was just understood, whatever was like if as a buyer, you see things, you're like, this is not that. Why are they doing this? I see this on the daily that okay, people aren't touching it. People will only buy it once it's marked down. What was it a pricing issue? Like, because handbags, as we all know, is a very unique it's a unique item in that there's no sizing, right? You get what you get and you don't get upset. Like that's it. Like it serves its purpose. It's a fully functional vessel. So the customer knows what they're getting when they buy it.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Well, I think it's not that their customers didn't need handbags then. I think it's also in those days, if you I mean, if you look, if you can recall what Harold Square was, it was all case line. You were not able to touch it for the most part, the better portion of their bridge portion of the business. And once again, I don't think we had enough sales associates to service the customer at that time. And then handbags, every F of it's all cyclical. I also was a dress assistant buyer when you couldn't give away a dress, you know. It was I I was always one of those, like when I left the area, it exploded. But look at the dress business the last few

Early Handbag Lessons And Markdown Traps

SPEAKER_00 7:46

years. It's been uh amazing. But I think also, you know, handbags had a very, very, very long run of unbelievable growth. And if you think about how stores changed the footprint of where handbags were, they went away from caseline for the most part. They were accessible, there were shops, there were all these things that made it more exciting. It's also what went down the runway, what the focus was, because it's all comes from the top down. I thought, you know, it's it's it's all prickles down. And I think that that was, you know, that was the key. And then I always say when it's a crossbody trend, it's not really great because the margin is, you know, it's it's the same margin as you're dealing with a bigger bag because it's not like everything shrinks, you need the same components, but you know, and I think then it became about the designer sneaker, you know. And I think it's just how I always say what if it looks important, it is important in a store. I mean, yes, there has to be demand and that there has to be a some type of branding and all of those things, but the average consumer comes in and she looks or he looks, and they're very educated today. But if it looks I do I shop that way. If I think it looks important and I like it, it is. That's what it is, you know? And I think that that's really key. And I do believe that there's headways that have been made in handbags the last couple of years, but the bags, you know, I the when big bags come back, the business will be back. That's my opinion. You know.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Really? So because I I love that we're jumping around because I've I've spoken about, you know, certain telltale signs that if the bags are very, very sturdy and very structured, the market is very, very tight because people don't want a loose bag. They want everything in its place when the colors are very safe and neutral. Like because you and I know that to put color into an assortment, you can't charge more for the two hot green, hot pink pieces, right? Because the customer won't pay more. However, it's costing you more on the back end because you're not scaling and you're not going into production for those units. So as a brand, if you have more color in your assortment, then chances are the brand is doing better, handbags are doing better because you can then afford to take those risks. I never thought to think that the bigger the bag, the better the market, the better the shopping. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Well, I mean, think about it. If you it's also the the consumer's lifestyle today. When if you picture it, she used to have a tote, she used to put at least a wristlet, maybe a smaller bag in there. She, you know, and whatever else she was carrying, uh, you know, if she was a commuter or sneakers, if she's commuting in or whatever, you know, and now when it not just even the whole COVID era, but customers work from home, you know, need what they necessarily used to need. It wasn't as big a

Why Presentation Drives Perception

SPEAKER_00 10:49

part of your wardrobe. I do think that people going back to work in offices and corporate life and all of that stuff will change things. You know, it's like career dressing. I mean, who dresses career-wise, but you know what? If you're a career resource, you have to figure out how to kind of change the maybe the uh traditional thought process on it all. And I do think that I at Michael Cors, I oversaw a US, Mexico, every portion of the world, more or less, at one point or another. But you know, I used to oversall oversee a very large volume on an annual basis of handbags and footwear. And I think we have gotten so used to looking at spreadsheets and data and all of this stuff. And a store and or a sales associate can only sell what you give them. So, and I used to say to especially the business planning wing, who's really looking at numbers black and white a lot of times, is tell me where the gray is. I don't need to know what the black and white is, it's already printed out on that paper. But where is that gray? You know, where is something that we can bite into that we can either not exploit but increase that uh thing, the amount of units that they get, and versus always being black, brown, you know, tan, cream. I mean, like it gets a little boring. And when you think about it, the consumer walks through a store, whatever speed that she walks through, and you're trying to get her attention, and there's not a sales associate sitting there who can maybe pull them over, then the only thing that's gonna get their attention is something that you know they see at the corner of their eye and go, Oh, I want to look at this. And I think that it has to be enough of a visual presentation that you can draw them in there. I mean, Michael Kortz, much of our business was a replenishment, believe it or not. And so therefore, the nice thing about replenishment is I didn't need to have 42 pieces in the back to, you know, do something. I think how things are allocated, all of these things, it's not, you know, you can add in some of that splash or you know, something that really attracts the consumer because without it, I think it's boring. You know, I think part of what's gone on lately in the market is it's been kind of boring.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

It has been boring.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

You know, it's nothing that's exciting.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

And I think it goes oh, go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Retailers pull back, you know, all of those things. You can only, you know, ship in what you get in a plan uh for your receipts. But I do think the willingness

Structure, Size, And Market Signals

SPEAKER_00 13:35

to try things and to listen is I think really key, no matter where we are in life. And I think that's what we need to be doing a little bit more than just being so dictatory, you know, you know, saying, no, it's this way, just this way, you know, how do I, you know, we don't try something you never know.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

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SPEAKER_01 13:59

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SPEAKER_02 14:06

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SPEAKER_01 14:38

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SPEAKER_02 15:01

So let's get started, and you will be the creator of the next it bag. Joining me, Emily Blumethal, with the Handbike Designer 101 Masterclass. Were you at Coors when the notorious retail glut happened when Coors took over all of department store space?

SPEAKER_00 15:25

I started in 2004. Oh boy. I was there through 2019. So yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Oh my.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

I was uh a big part of that. You know, I was there. So it was an amazing, amazing time. And I thought what was uh really great is that I've worked for uh the CEO, John Idle, for quite some time. And that some of the things that, you know, it was very entrepreneurial and it was amazing. And it was another, and my boss, you know, Anna, who I worked for for a very long time, you know, it was a magical time. And all of handbags were doing well. But, you know, we as anything, when it started going bad, I used to say we caught a cold and they caught the flu because there was so much into the course business that it was, you know, it was unhealthy in many ways. We're too big of a percentage of the total. But it wasn't like we were trying to make it any. I mean, it just was naturally kind of done. It was a phenomenon that was amazing and it was an experience of a lifetime. It really was.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

And I think very few people could say that they were part of a brand that was just selling, like selling, like units upon units.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

And everywhere I looked, it was someone was carrying a Michael Kors back. But you know, the the big portion of that business started with the watch, that the gold watch, we called it the boyfriend watch that every college kid had on their wrists. I mean, I still have three of them. Uh, it was an amazing thing, and it was amazing. It was a a great time. But you know, the the market was a

Data Versus The “Gray” Opportunities

SPEAKER_00 16:57

little turbulent at that time. It was like 2008, you know, handbag market was many of the mainstays of department store uh business was not doing well, you know. So we were the kid on the block that was, so it was great, and but we had a lot of great strategies, and we did our own, you know, shop managers, which were our employees, to assist and to train and to educate the staff that was there, which made a difference because they were the brand representative that was, you know, maybe everybody saw Michael on Project Runway or uh knew of Michael Quarters, but they were that touch point that that, you know, that they were the ambassador to the brand and you know took the time to explain to customers, you know, what were the Michael's must-haves and why was it this way and that way. And I think that it still all comes down in my mind to service. It's all about service. And I those I shop in places that might not be the, you know, you know, the designer store on the block, but I go to places that I'm going to get service, that at least not acknowledge that I'm at present, you know. And I'm not somebody that wants to be, you know, smothered with a bunch of help, but I do like that personalization. And I think it's all about personalization.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

You know, it's especially with where we're going. I had a program that made it to the very top of Macy's. Uh, it was an independent designer program to pilot bringing new products in, like independent brands, but recreated at Macy's price points. And it made it all the way to the tippity top. And the said VP DMM in, you know, Macy's was so funny because it was what's that British show where the upstairs, downstairs, where they had the people down that like the buyers were sitting in cubicles surrounded by boxes, and the further higher, yeah, the higher up you went, they had offices, they had lights. It was just there were no boxes to be found.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

And anyway, she had said it's a great program. Our customers will love this. However, our floor staff is not meant to educate, they are there solely to ring up. It will not succeed here. And I think that speaks volumes, like specifically along the course line, because there were a lot of I back in the day, I called them core Michael Core soldiers, like coach had people that you knew would always show up. They were so hands-on with always making sure with their shop and shops that everything was merchandise, that the floor staff knew the product, like ever they were so well educated. And then there were the cores people who like they were like boots to the ground, like that's it. They knew their job, they knew their business, they were there, they were there not to play. Do you think like because it was cores, core coursed by Michael Coors, like and then there was what Michael Coors would put down the runway was very different from like the MK brand. Like, do you think from uh I mean you're not part of it, you can see things holistically. Do you think there is a takeaway that

Variety, Visuals, And Avoiding Boring

SPEAKER_02 20:05

someone who's growing a brand can say, here were some best practices, here are things not to get, don't get too big for your britches kind of thing? Because there were so many little points of the tree that it was like, okay, there's Michael Kors on on Project Runway, but the woman who's buying it from the outlet in New Jersey with the logoed bag, they are you you know, these two are not the same.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

I think I mean that that's a very difficult question to answer. I do think that, you know, I think what was great about in the beginning was, and I was just on a call with a client that I have uh with chat uh where I work today, is the accessory think tank. Yeah, I think yeah, I should saw it. The accessory think tank, nobody calls it by chat, but I think that, you know, what was one of our advantages in the beginning was she saw the bag, she looked at the bag, she opened it up, and she said, and she looked at the price point, and it might have been more than she was, you know, thinking about spending, but it there was she didn't feel that she was walking away, being taken advantage of, that there was intrinsic value in the bag. Well, no matter what that was, if it was about the details or an extra compartment or you know, who knows? So I do think there was that component. I do think that uh we also had the advantage of Michael being on Project Runway at the time and all that stuff. Uh long term, at the height, I think the height I would had 500 and something people report directly into me or indirectly to me. The majority of that team was really field team between shop managers and our field district team and our uh brand coordinators. The focus we made an investment in the field because we knew that that was. Going to help us execute and educate and also look like that we were clean on the floor and you know all those things and look you know shiny and new. I also think that we went through many fixturing iterations. And I one time said I said to and my CEO John would make fun of me because of my southern accent. I would say, I just want it to be a beacon of light. It just needs to be a beacon of light. And we I think our shops were the shiniest and the the beacon of light on the floor. And like I said, it looked important, and that was what's you know, I think that is a big

Masterclass Promo For New Designers

SPEAKER_00 22:35

hurdle. But I also, you know, what the downfall or the level is, you know, you can all I mean, we were so big. I mean, I oversaw $1.8 billion of wholesale. So you know, that's bigger than most companies uh ever are. And that was just the US and my responsibility. That's between footwear and handbags, but the majority of that was foot uh handbags. You know, it's you can't to continue to fly. I mean, how high can you be? And I also think that there were decisions that were made. We were at the time the millennial thing came about, then it was like, you know, this one and that one, and how do you recapture? Then everybody was complaining that you know, we looked like the sameness and all of those things. And we tried a lot of strategies, less logo, more logo, that MK in the circle we took off the bags, so she wanted it back on the bags. And I think a lot of things that happen is brands don't stay into the core of what who their consumer is. Yes, you have to grow grow that customer database and get new consumers and all customers, but if you alienate her or him, or they don't understand what's going on with the brand as a total, I think that starts, you know, consumers are very smart today. They have more avenues of being able to hear about things, see things, whatever. Do I think the off-price versus the full price portion of the business uh really did anything? You know, I think expansion of outlets, in my opinion, were, you know, it was difficult. I also think that uh handbag

The Michael Kors Expansion Years

SPEAKER_00 24:15

classification took a turn for south versus north, and it was very, very competitive at the time, and brand, you know, stores were trying to retract. And it's you have to have stock in order to do a business. So it was a lot of those things. It was the levelization of the handbag business, you know, what that classification. But you know, still today, CORES is a huge business. So it's still the total business might be in a much more healthier place than it was, but I do think that there are still, you know, iconic shapes. And I also think that, you know, we have the collection business, which I think that brands should really focus on their halo because that gives the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

And for those who don't know, what's a halo for this for that matter?

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Like would be their collection business, you know, the more designer designer business. Uh just, you know, I think it in Michael was big in the ready-to-wear business was much bigger than the collection accessory business, but all of that type of thing, because we first were branded Michael by Michael Coors, then we went to Michael Coors. So there was a lot of confusion, you know. I mean, I think there was uh, and I don't just like do I believe the customer, oh, that's a Lauren bag or a Ralph Lauren bag. I think she sees Ralph Lauren. She doesn't really, you know, I'm not a big thing about labels, but I do think that, you know, I think there there were things that we could have done better. I think that we did a lot of amazing things and really changed the industry in many ways. And, you know, what comes up goes down and what goes down comes up again. And I think it it will happen. I think but I think there has to be some excitement, you know, there's has to be a reason. It's like, you know, when the watch business went south, but you never saw a watch ad anymore. Was it really that she didn't want to care wear a watch anymore? It was the phone, or was it nothing was inspiring to her?

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Right. Now at the accessories think tank, you and our beloved Nancy Foreman work the best dynamic duo on the scene, I must say. Do you you know, based on your collective retail experience, which is clearly hardy, what are the things that with all the things you've known, learned, touched upon that you're able to incorporate with working with smaller brands, independent designers, because the biggest issue that you and I know is that these brands don't have budget. And if they do, it's not a lot, right? They don't. And you know, it's as somebody who lives off of working with brands like that, it's to go from working with a role of perma replenishment to okay, we got to be scrappy, clever. How can we get that same kind of strategy? So, what are some takeaways that you incorporate working with these smaller brands that actually can work based on their limited budget with all your years of experience?

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Well, I first of all think you have to understand my background was always with big brands. You know, I'm I I've worked for several different big brands, and I always knew that it was a struggle for little brands, new brands to come onto the marketplace. I had not a clue. I didn't even understand how hard it was. And I don't think that there is a better champion than Nancy Foreman for little brands and uh, you know, young designers, and she will go the 150 yards beyond what is needed. But, you know, I think it is almost impossible. I mean, not even from the retailer perspective, but also the manufacturer's perspective,

Field Teams, Training, And Personalization

SPEAKER_00 28:05

because they have to have a certain amount of units, you know, they have to have all these things, and because it doesn't make a minimum, and the cost of doing all of that, and the worst thing that you can do as a young brand is do all of that and do have all that inventory, and then it doesn't sell, and then you're bogged down in dead inventory. That and I swear, no matter where that's stored, it it reproduces, you know, it's it's like it has babies, and I think that you know it is really, really difficult. And then I sat there, and when I first joined uh the organization, I was like, Well, if you don't have any the inventory, how can you sell? So I was going at it this way, and Nancy's no, but you've got to have small units and you can grow into them and all of those things. So I think there is a happy medium. I think you have to have an advocate like a Nancy or an organization that you're working with, or if you have that ability on your own that you have to understand, you cannot spend all your financing or all your budget up front because the production of it all, even though it's a pain in the ass and it's hard and it's really tough, the real challenge comes the minute that you start shipping. And can you help where you need to help if something isn't working, or how are you going to market that brand that you're going to continue to want the consumer to want to purchase it? And if you can find great partners in a specialty store or you know, a department store that can build upon your brand and is advocating for your brand because they see the long-term possibility, then that's that's ideal. But you know, I think everybody also thought, you know, time of COVID and all that, oh well just have a you know, direct-to-consumer business, not knowing how difficult it is to capture a consumer on direct to consumer. I mean, it costs so much money to get that customer and your database. So it's a acquisition cost. Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's absorbing it, you know, and it's like, and I also think that anybody that's in this business or wants to be in this business has to think long term. They have to be hungry for it. It has to, it can't be, okay, I have this little pretty project, and you know, I oh, it's not selling. Well, what am I gonna do? You know, but I do think, you know, you have to never gonna have enough money is just what it is. It's I think because it's an ever-consuming, changing, fickle industry we're in, and trends happen and come and go. But I do think that you have to be positioned and understand that in order to fund future production and to do all those things, you have to have that sale. So you have to how you're gonna do that. There's a lot of creative ways, but I do think that that's the one thing that is missing. You know, if they I don't think a lot of brands think after. They think once it's done, it's done and you know it's gonna happen. And it's just as hard on the other side. So you either have to have somebody help you with that. You know, we offer those services, we do a wide range of services from you know, design concept to sales strategy and management post-life, I say, or post-birth, I say, but it's also, you know, being, and that's what a lot what if I do, but we're involved in everything. But you know, I also sit on a lot of the design portion of it too, because that is where I get to know and understand the brand DNA and what they're trying, you know, to do. I think it's just as important as just the sales side, just like I think that somebody's in more product development needs to be in the sales side because they then can see what the struggles are, you know.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

But I do think you know,

Brand Architecture, Logos, And Confusion

SPEAKER_00 31:45

it's it's a balance to everything. And I think the willingness to try things different, you know. Uh there's a million ways to they say that'll skin a cat or whatever, you know, try to do things, but it's really difficult. I sit there and listen to Nancy and I go, I I don't know if I could do that, you know, you know, like say into factories, you know, we need, you know, this, we don't need this. And but she's you know, developed a nice network out there. And I think that's, you know, it's like I said in the beginning of my career, I had a lot of mentors and all that stuff. You kind of have to have that no matter uh every in every facet of life, I think. You know?

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Yep, yep. Matthew, I think we can wrap up with that sage advice you just shared. I think designers are super fortunate to if they have the opportunity to work with Tat or the accessory think tank to work with you. And Nancy, how can we find you, follow you, and if we're a designer, have this opportunity to try and talk with this dynamic duo?

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Well, you know, you're probably asking the wrong person, but I I mean Matthew at the accessories think tank.com or Nancy at theaccessorysink uh think tank.com. And I know that we're on Instagram and Facebook and all of that stuff, but you know, yeah, LinkedIn, you can get us through there, all of that stuff. Yeah, it's people like you and organizations that we've worked with that, you know, we have what's really nice is part of our thing with when we meet with new clients is have them contact other people that we've worked with. And it's really that word of mouth, which I think is really important. But yes, we're on LinkedIn, we're on Facebook, Instagram, all of that stuff, and but the accessories tank.com and it's Matthew or Nancy and at either, yeah. Sorry. That's okay. It's once okay. I shouldn't know better. Shouldn't I? Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

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.