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Spanx
 Sara Blakely invented and founded Spanx with little professional help and on a shoe string budget. Sara did it all - From getting the patent, finding a manufacturer, naming the product, designing the packaging and getting the word out about her product. She went from sales trainer by day/stand-up comic by night to owning a successful shapewear enterprise. She had the “crazy” idea to make shapewear out of hosiery fabric. Lawyers refused to help Sara write a patent, so she did that herself. One lawyer finally helped her write claims and her patent was approved and she successfully trademarked the name Spanx. Next step was a trip to North Carolina to beg mill owners to help her make her idea. Most sent her away saying her idea “made no sense, and would never sell.” Two weeks later she received a call from a mill owner who said he, "decided to help hear my crazy idea." When asked why he had the change of heart, he said, "I have two daughters." Turns out they didn't think the idea was crazy at all. The prototype took a year to perfect because Sara was obsessed with making this shapewear comfortable….she dreaded wearing panty hose. As for coming up with such an apropos product name she knew that Kodak and Coca-Cola were the two most recognized names in the world, and they both have a predominant "K" sound in them. Also, from doing stand-up comedy, it is a known secret that the "K" sound makes people laugh. So for good luck, she wanted her product's name to have the "K" sound in it. SPANKS hit her like a lightning bolt. Sara immediately knew it was perfect! At the last minute she changed the KS to an X after doing research that made-up words do better for products than real words (and are easier to trademark). Spanx is edgy, fun, extremely catchy, and for a moment it makes your mind wander (admit it). Plus it's all about making women's butts look better, so why not? The next challenge for Sara was packaging. From her perspective pantyhose packaging had been the same for years — boring. She felt it was time to make a change and took a bold new approach with a red package and three illustrated women on the front. It's fresh, new, and for ALL women. Having no idea what legally needed to be on the package, she went to the store and bought ten different types of pantyhose and spread them across the floor of her apartment. If the same thing appeared on all of them, she remembers thinking "must be legal" and added it to her package. Also, last minute after consulting her moms to test the offense factor (they laughed hysterically) she added the tagline "Don't worry; we've got your butt covered!" Once the prototype was perfected, Sara called the buyer at Neiman Marcus and introduced herself over the phone. She said she had invented a product their customers would not want to live without, and if she could have ten minutes of her time, she would fly to Dallas. The buyer agreed! Sara put the prototype in a zip lock bag, threw it in her good-luck red backpack, and was on a plane. During the meeting, Sara says that “I had no shame... I asked her to follow me to the ladies room where I personally showed her the before/after in my cream pants. Three weeks later SPANX was on the shelves of Neiman Marcus! She called all her friends and begged them to go to Neiman's and make a huge fuss over the product and buy them up. At just the moment she was running out of friends, Spanx caught on and the rest is history. I did the same thing with Saks, Nordstrom, Bloomer’s and all my other retailers! For an entire year, she did in-store rallies about Spanx with the sales associates, and then stayed all day introducing customers to Spanx. She became notorious for lifting up her pant leg to every woman walking by. Her friends also called newspapers/magazines/TV stations and got Spanx significant coverage in the media. The big payoff for lots of hard work the Oprah Winfrey show, Today Show, The View, Tyra Banks Show, CNN, and countless other television programs and news channels, as well as in the pages of Forbes, Fortune, People, Entrepreneur, Real Simple, In Style, The New York Times, USA Today, Glamour, Vogue, Essence, and Self. This is what Sara has to say about her creative energy and sales philosophy, “My energy and inspiration come from inventing and enhancing products that all women want and need. Customer feedback is one of the key drivers of our business. For examples, Spanx Power Panties and Super SPANX were created in response to suggestions from our customers. And even more great things are ahead in the future!
Designer Highlights Spanx shapewear is a revolution in shapewear! A simple concept from the Spanx creator, Sara Blakely, has grown into a virtual phenomenon. Even Oprah Winfrey has championed the slimming effect of Spanx.When Oprah first had Sara Blakely on the Oprah show, she revealed to the nation how to get support without panty lines utilizing the ingenious Spanx shapewear designs. Since that time, Spanx undergarments have always been on the O List and in high demand. |
