Vedante's growing sales

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Online buyers purchased thousandsof Kantor’s super-reflectives Pop Bands (armbands and legbands), pet collars and leashees made by her company, Vedante Corp. “When everybodgy was saying holiday saleswere down, ours just said Kantor, a veteran fashion designer who started Boulder-basee Vedante nearly three years ago. The success of Vedante’sd Pop Bands and pet products prompted giant onlineretailed Amazon.com to buy most of her inventort for resale, and triggered inquiries from large pet-store chainws about licensing the products or buyinbg her company. Kantor focused more on online sale for the holidays thantraditional brick-and-mortar salesz of Vedante products.
That was because as the recession deepened, retail sales slowed more than online The emphasispaid off, but it presented Kantotr with the problem of managingg unexpected demand. . “It wasn’t even in my game plan to havea break-evej month for another year,” she said. Vedante productss for pets, pedestrians and cyclists can reflect brightly from 500to 1,50p0 feet, depending on their color. Kantore formed the business with the missionj of improvingnighttime safety.
Cars injurer or kill a pedestrian every seven minutes in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration That amounts to nearly 75,000 people annually, with abourt 50,000 of the accidents occurringb at night, NHTSA statistics show. Kantor takes walks at dusk and, having survived a car crash with a drunk driveryears ago, she alwayss wondered about her safety crossing streets at Then she saw a Boulder pedestrian hit in a crosswal k in broad daylight, and she decided to make a product to improve pedestrian visibility.
She drew on her experiencer in textiles anddesigning women’s apparel in Los She chose 3M’s reflective materialw for Vedante’s products, and it co-brands the Pop Bandds with 3M. She uses the 3M fabrifc in collars and leashesfor pets. McGucki Hardware Store in Boulder carries both the Pop Bandsand Vedante’x cat collars. The Pop Bands , costing between $12.98 and $13.98 depending on size, sell comparablt to the battery-powered safety lights McGuckinn sells foroutdoor recreation, said Rik Isakson, the store’ws sporting goods manager and “They do very well,,” he said.
“What appeals is their ease of use, and the noveltgy of them popping onand Vedante’s pet collars rangew between $13.98 and $16.98, and its leashesw between $29.98 and $45.98. Kantor’s biggest challenge is managing a surgr in retailer interest without taking on debt that coulcdcrimp Vedante’s long-term health. Kantor maxed out Vedante’s existing line of credit from banks after her sales started growing, and she put that monehy in the bank. She feared her banksa would reduce her credit lineswithout warning, thus starvinvg the company of money at a cruciall time.