LI leather-goods maker expands into purses

The factory had that new car smell, thanks to piles of calendars, frames and other goods made with leather and embossed with household names: Tiffany, Harrods, Barneys, Neiman Marcus, Henri Bendel, Saks Fifth Avenue -- but never the name of the Melville stationery and home goods maker Graphic Image.

"We're the biggest brand that nobody's ever heard of," Tom Glazer, president of the family business, likes to say.

The company is out to change that by taking what it knows -- leather -- and turning it into GiGi New York, its new line of purses, totes, wallets and cosmetic bags that cost from $195 to $400.

Their own brand

"Five years ago we decided we needed to stand up and assert more of our own brand," Glazer said. "Our plan was to get into the Hermes-quality market. We saw there was an opening for real quality for under $1,000."

At its factory, workers have begun cutting and sewing GiGi products that will identify with Graphic Image's look. That means lifelike python prints, metallics, gilded leather edges and saturated tones such as hot pink and forest green.

At last week's New York International Gift Fair in Manhattan, samples drew about 30 business clients. On Sunday the company will show at the Hampton Classic in Bridgehampton.

For the holidays GiGi will appear at Lady Gaga's interpretation of Santa's workshop at Barneys New York in Manhattan.

"You're moving a little bit from a need into a want," Glazer said. "The Graphic Image customer needs us. We want to have a little bit of fun with the customer who wants us."

When Glazer's father, Bennett, founded the business in 1969 making diaries for Brooks Brothers, the philosophy was to subsume Graphic Image's identity in favor of its clients'.

A new direction

But as the world got hooked on all things digital, Glazer and his sister, co-owner Carol O'Connell, pondered two questions. Where does the company go from products involving paper? And why build others' brands when creating its own could hook a following?

Four years ago, Graphic Image launched a handbag line called Aeon, but prices up to $1,000 narrowed the market.

"The truth of the matter is, we're running out of new directions to go in," Glazer said. "If you go Bergdorf's and Barney's, we have a huge presence. I don't know that we're able to advance that presence too much beyond where we already are."

By making GiGi in the U.S., Graphic Image is unique, said Mustafa Sepici, chief executive of Turkey-based Sepici Holdings, an agent for some of the oldest and finest tanneries in the world. "Nobody is making bags of this high quality in the U.S.," Sepici said.

Many high-end handbags are made overseas, but at a time when companies flock abroad for cheap labor and tax shelters, Glazer has pulled some business back from Shanghai.

China is superb on quality, specialized and difficult work, such as wallets, he said, but the lead time for orders had gotten longer. Also, Glazer said, he realized "Made in Asia" is not synonymous with luxury in the public's mind. He wants to sew in a little cachet with GiGi, perhaps a tag saying "Made in America."

Glazer, who hopes to sell the line in high-end independent stores and online, knows he won't knock coach off its perch.

But he doesn't want GiGi to be just another name in the store. That's another reason for Graphic Image to control its branding.

"I could go to the Barneys and the Bergdorfs, but . . . they are all extremely brand directed. . . . "It's better to tell the public who you are. We want people looking us up."

Company
Graphic Image, Melville

Product
GiGi New York, handbag line

Retail debut
September

Start-to-finish time
Half an hour to make tote bag

Other products
iPad holders, luggage tags, the U.S. Constitution booklets, BlackBerry holders, calendars, address books

Employees
125-150

Sales
$10-$15 million a year

Customers
Martha Stewart, Michelle and Barack Obama, Oprah

Official secret
Tom Glazer test-drives purses for comfort and holding power, but you’d have to be quick to catch him in the man purse act: “I have carried them, to and from home. I don’t normally go into New York City with them.”