Lolita Healy, president and CEO of Designs by Lolita Inc., producers of hand-painted glassware and giftware, has apparently found the recession-proof formula: products for having fun with friends.
Recession-proof, you wonder? Try these statistics: the Lolita brand had worldwide retail sales of $54 million in 2008; followed by $68 million in 2009; followed by projected sales of $72 million in 2010. Royalty payments for licensing arrangements rose from $1.7 million in 2008 to a projected $2.7 million in 2010.
Healy says the quality that distinguishes her products from those of other entertainment and home-design wizards like Martha Stewart and Jonathan Adler is the simple element of fun. “My designs are light and whimsical,” Healy said. “I believe that even when times are tough people want to have fun. When times are tough we need to smile more.”
Healy designs and licenses the production of giftware aimed mostly at women. The first prototypes were the Love My Martini collection of hand-painted martini and wine glasses, which Healy started painting herself in 2000 in her kitchen in Tennessee with two small daughters as in-house advisers. The brand later expanded to include painted wine glasses, service ware like trays and coasters, paper products, candles, bags and totes, beach towels, pajamas and aprons, board games and a book on entertaining titled “Martini Moments.” Future products will include ceramic mugs and jewelry.
Winner in the entrepreneurship category of the Providence Business News 2010 Business Excellence Awards, Healy said the qualities of a successful entrepreneur include “a passion for the work; knowing what your talents are … and doing your homework.” Another big element of success, she says, is knowing your market.
The story of Designs by Lolita Inc. begins at Healy’s kitchen table in Tennessee in 2000. Although a true story, the folksy imagery tells only part of the story of a smart, well-prepared businesswoman who mapped out a plan for a multinational brand and has followed the plan like a bulldozer running on high-octane gas.
Healy, a native of the South who was an artist from an early age, graduated magna cum laude with a double major in marketing and fine arts from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va. In her 20s, Healy worked in sales for the fashion designer Donna Karan. “I learned a lot there about how she got her products to market,” Healy said.
Healy’s first product was the Love My Martini martini and wine glasses, which she began making and presenting to retailers around her home in Tennessee. “When I first started the line, I thought, ‘this thing has legs,’” she said. “Women love having fun; they enjoy pretty things; they enjoy being with their friends.” As a motto for the business, she chose the phrase “What is Your Moment?” – a little reminiscent of Oprah Winfrey’s uplifting “Live Your Best Life.”
Then, Healy said, “I needed someone to produce it and to get it out nationwide.” She wrote a business plan in 2001 and hosted a coming-out party for her glassware at the Atlanta Gift Show. She licensed the designs and she works with manufacturers that produce and distribute the products. From that point, the brand grew exponentially, with Lolita products appearing in stationary stores and department stores, for a total of more than 10,000 retail outlets in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
“I knew before I started it that I wanted to do a licenses product line,” Healy said. “I wanted my business model to be vertical, with the manufacturer as my middleman.”
“I have always known what my point of differences is in the American market,” Healy said. “There is no one doing my type of product,” which she described simply as fun. “I don’t pretend to be serious,” she said. “I take the business seriously, but I don’t take the design seriously.”
Healy’s signature martini glasses are decorated with bright, like sketches on a theme, including birthdays, anniversaries, and subjects such as “Beach Diva” to “Kind of on a Diet” to “Divorce.” They are beautifully gift-wrapped.
The light, sassy images and entertaining products resonate in a culture that has been promoting female friendship in the form of girlfriend getaways, girls’ nights out and entertaining at home as a cheaper alternative to costly restaurants and spas. “The gift-industry channel is my core channel of distribution,” she said.
She sells a lifestyle and entertaining book titled “Martini Moments.” Healy’s website explains: “Each chapter highlights a special celebration where you can enjoy martinis with food and friends, for romance, for any occasion! Each chapter has a martini theme, hostess and martini mixing tips, menu suggestions and delectable recipes, and even a music play list.”
Mindful of her market, Healy is careful about pricing. Many gifts cost $30 or less. Since a beautiful greeting card can cost up to $5, she says, a pretty and beautifully wrapped wine glass customized to the occasion – from themes – is a fun and low-cost gift among friends.
Not surprisingly, Healy plays the social media like a violin, speaking to her customers and fans through Facebook, Twitter, and an e-newsletter called Lifestyles by Lolita. Warm responses from the media have included mentions or commendations for Designs by Lolita products in Giftbeat Magazine (April 2009), Women’s World (February 2010), Seventeen Magazine’s blog (April 2010), NBC San Diego (April 2010), 33 News in Dallas (June 2010), Better Morning Atlanta Show (July 2010), Fox Connecticut Morning News and Connecticut News Today (July 2010). Healy was named a finalist in the international Stevie Awards in two categories, best entrepreneur with fewer than 100 employees and best overall business with fewer than 100 employees.
With studios in Providence and Savannah, Ga., Healy spends quite a bit of time on the road, some of that in the service of educating and inspiring women entrepreneurs. She is part of the Women’s Leadership Exchange and does speaking tours to colleges.
Women in business have made huge gains in the past generation, she said, at discovering their talents, getting experienced and reaching the glass ceiling in the business world. Nonetheless, women still retain the biggest share of the responsibility of maintaining a home and raising children (Healy has two teenage daughters).
“Women need a support network, and need to know they should get help in areas where they are weak,” for instance, bringing an accountant in if the business owner needs help with the numbers, she said.
From Tennessee, Healy moved to Atlanta. About four years ago, she married for the second time, to a Rhode Island native, and moved to the Ocean State, where she now runs a studio in Providence. Healy noted, “Early on, I had a lot of naysayers. I decided at one point to push negative people farther from me, to keep all negatives at a distance.
“None of this,” she said of her company’s success, “was luck.” •
