Portland, OR, December 7, 2008 – Hello Betty Shop launches as a women’s accessories boutique designed to serve shoppers interested in buying luxury products from socially responsible designers and brands. The online shop offers high quality handbags and accessories from small emerging designers like Julie K, Minx and Mogil who either manufacture exclusively in the United States or abroad using socially responsible practices.
Hello Betty founder, Amy Sawyer says, “Women buy on average three handbags per year and some shell out a fortune for designer brands that they may not know are mass produced cheaply in China. In fact, the majority of well known “luxury” handbag companies are now quietly outsourcing to factories where labor is cheap and standards are low. What’s worse, these companies continue to increase their prices while trading on a mystique of handcrafted quality. I don’t think this can last forever; consumers are becoming more aware of where and how things are made.”
No one is more aware of this issue than Julie Knapp, a Los Angeles based handbag designer and founder of boutique leather goods company, Julie K. “I would like for people to know that I care about what I put my name on and it has to be of great quality,” says Knapp. “The only way I can guarantee quality for my customers is to directly oversee production.”
This commitment to domestic manufacturing drew Amy Sawyer to the Julie K line and it has since earned a featured spot at HelloBettyShop.com. “Julie cares about supporting local craftspeople and fair labor practices. Aside from her gorgeous handbags, this was a major reason why I decided to pick up the Julie K line,” says Sawyer.
Sawyer, a young entrepreneur from Portland, Oregon conceived of Hello Betty after failing to find unique designer luxury handbags and accessories that were affordable and ethically made. “I was a frustrated consumer because every store offered the same brands and virtually all were factory produced abroad. I wanted a quality product that was made by a real crafts person, not an assembly line worker making fifty cents an hour,” says Sawyer. “In the malls of America, this is almost impossible to find. So, I decided to offer an alternative for women who wanted handcrafted quality but also cared about how and where their handbags were made.”
For additional information on HelloBettyShop.com or socially responsible shopping, please contact Amy Sawyer or visit https://www.hellobettyshop.com/AboutUs.asp.
ABOUT: HelloBettyShop.com, an online women’s handbags and accessories boutique was founded in 2008 and is based in Portland, Oregon. The company mission is to offer unique, fashionable and ethically produced luxury products.
CONTACT:
Amy Sawyer
Hello Betty LLC
(503) 704-0500
hellobettyllc@gmail.com
www.hellobettyshop.com
