VERY INSPIRING LIFE OF SARA BLAKELY...SELF MADE YOUNGEST WOMAN BILLIONAIRE. Sara Blakely (born February 21, 1971) is an American businesswoman and founder of Spanx, a multi-million dollar undergarment company. ...At age 27, she moved to Atlanta, and while still working at Danka, spent the next two years and her entire $5,000 in savings researching hosiery patents and visiting craft stores to find the right material for her product. Eventually coming upon a solution, she wrote her own patent from a Barnes & Noble textbook and incorporated her company under the name Spanx. Turned away by numerous mills who did not see the value of her idea, she eventually found a hosiery factory in Asheboro, North Carolina, which was willing to make her product. She successfully pitched her idea to Neiman-Marcus by personally taking the buyer to the ladies restroom to show her the benefits of Spanx in person. Bloomingdales, Saks, and Bergdorf Goodman soon followed. She handled all aspects of the business from marketing, logistics, and product positioning (preferring that Spanx be sold alongside shoes rather than in hosiery). In November 2000, Oprah Winfrey named Spanx her favorite product of the year and sales took off; soon after Blakely resigned from Danka. Spanx had $4 million in sales in its first year and $10 million in sales in its second year. In 2001, she signed a contract with QVC, the home shopping channel, where she sold 8,000 pairs in the first six minutes.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 08:59:21 +0000
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