J.J. Winters opened in the spring of 2004 and is happy to say it is going amazing! We are based in Beverly Hills and ship all over the country as well as to London and Tokyo. When I had just started, someone asked what would I call this new company and I looked at my computer and there was my email address “ J.J. winters” and it seemed to work. I am married to a well known and fabulous veterinarian in Beverly Hills and we have a glorious 13 year old son. Volunteer work was getting old so I decided to start yet one more company. I had been in the clothing business for many years before our son, Logan, was born and saw that there was a very interesting place in the accessory business with handbags and belts that I felt strongly about and that I had a hunch about what was missing. The handbags in the market were either very inexpensive and didn’t look beautiful or way too excessively expensive and I felt there was a great market for very hip fashionable women who would be happy to have something in between these two extremes. The most exciting part of the accessory business is the opportunity to work with so many new leathers and suede’s which can be used in very new and interesting ways.
Fashion in 2004 was so clearly about great jeans, cool tops and handbags and J.J. Winters got into the game. With handbags I am able to hit the trends very fast without the type of lead time it would take to order fabric and make trend predictions that we faced in the clothing business. Starting a new business is always so hard and the experience of this one was no different. It was impossibly difficult to find sewers and cutters and after many months we found a wonderful handbag factory that is delightful to work with and does wonderful work.
We have had a remarkable reaction and support from the press who cover us so generously in magazines such as People, People Style Watch, InStyle, Marie Claire, Lucky, Allure, Glamour, and Teen Vogue.
