The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.

As a Russian woman could not live in New York and became rich after leaving America

'03.10.2018'

Anna Bumagina could live well in New York and work in real estate. But 7 years ago, she moved to Italy, where she decided to start the production of wooden bags BU Wood without ties and design experience. After 40 business meetings and 2, the painful search for the dream factory that cost Anna $ 60 thousands, the bags hit the pages of Vogue and stellar Instagram. The brand entrenched in the luxury segment, and the hard bags went to the gift of "hard" women - Oprah Winfrey and Victoria Beckham.

The company managed to reach the turnover of € 600 thousand ($ 700 thousand) and convince customers that a tree bag is worth waiting for even six months (but it will be eternal), the author writes Inc. Angelina Hazan. However, an entrepreneur has not yet succeeded in reaching financial success - mistakes in pricing and a reluctance to constantly update the model line in favor of shops and the press have affected. Now Anna wants to transfer the bags to a new niche - art objects. An entrepreneur told Inc. how to create a luxury brand on a dream of self-expression, make a bag with your own hands and forget about Italian “impossibility”, even after lowering the starting capital to poor contractors.

In 2010, Anna Paperina's 27-year-old had a complete set of a happy person: a successful real estate business on two continents, an apartment in the center of New York, and a steady income. But there was no real happiness. Anna owned a company in the rental of corporate apartments in London and recently moved to the United States to open a branch. But the city of dreams New York did not justify expectations: she did not like to engage in the rental of other people's apartments - she did not have enough self-expression. According to Anna, once she had an insight:

“I realized that the amount of money that I earn cannot be converted into happiness. I wanted to create my own product, which would be a manifestation of how I see the world. There was only one way out - to look for another direction for business. ”

Clear ideas about the new product was not. Bumagina closed in her New York apartment, turning over children's diaries in search of inspiration. The answer was not in the past, but in the present. "I realized that I spent a lot of time in the NY Public Library, reading 30-40-50-x magazines, reviewing clothes." Dresses did not want to do, but the structural bags with a rigid frame hooked immediately. In addition, she herself did not find the perfect bag - neither from luxury brands, nor to order from a fashionable Moscow designer (“they did terribly”).

BU Wood in numbers (source: company data)

€ 800-1350 ($ 930-1570) - COST of one bag.
$ 60 THOUGHT starting capital.
8 TYPES of materials are needed for the production of one bag: several types of leather and wood, accessories.
16-18 WEEK on average, the process of preparing wood for the production of bags lasts.
6 MONTHS takes the production of one bag.
€ 600 THOUSAND ($ 700 thousand) - turnover for 2016 year (the most successful for the brand).
9 MODEL BAGS in the BU Wood line.

New York - Milan one way

Anna decided to act harshly and for sure: she closed her business in London and New York (renouncing “periodic income and comfort not to think about money”), bought a ticket to Milan — the world's best bag — and flew to Italy in 2011. all suitcases. She had no acquaintances in the factories or in the fashion industry. As well as specific ideas about the future model range. In the asset - the enthusiasm, all personal savings - $ 30 thousand - and the belief that energy is new. Thoughts about the possible failure of Bumagina was not: “When you are in your flow, in accordance with your destiny, the whole world is turning right.”

Moving to Italy, according to Anna, “was not only about bags. It was my spiritual path, the art of living right. My personal experiment about what happens when you choose the path of the heart, when the soul is dancing. ” Hence the brand name: BU Wood is both “Bu” as Bumagin, and “Be U” as “Be Yourself”.

The first thing Bumagina went to the specialized exhibition of bags and shoes MIPEL and MICAM. Neither the bag nor the manufacturers liked it. But on the Internet, through ASmallWorld's paid, closed social network, she was written by two people. Ernesto from Florence wrote that he has a factory, he makes high-end bags, and no further details. Without knowing anything about it, Anna made an appointment and went to the production site - it turned out he was making bags for Celine and Jimmy Choo. When asked what bags she plans to produce, Bumagina could show only hundreds of references. It turned out, we need a specific design and patterns. “Ernesto out of compassion gave me the contacts of an 80-year-old grandfather, who has been making molds for Ferragamo all his life. The meeting was to be held in 3 days. ” Time passed, and Anna did not have a specific design.

On the day before the meeting, she bought a suitcase in a vintage store and realized that this was the key to the whole concept. “He had sloping lines - and there was a moment of insight. I need geometric shapes, incredibly high quality, minimalism with preserved elegance. A bag of wood, I am Bumagina, I am in the city of Pinocchio, it all fits. Incredibly strong moment, like a stream passed through me. I realized that I have a cool concept. ”

Bumagina quickly found an architect on the freelance services site who in a few hours had the bag drawn in 3D. The design was on hand, Anna decided on the materials (“the tree is alive, it is timeless, timeless, it has a philosophy”). It remained only to find a factory for the production of the first samples.

Errors on $ 60 Thousands

Ernesto said that he was not ready to make complicated bags made of wood, but he volunteered to help in negotiations with other manufacturers. Since then, a period has begun, which Bumagina recalls as “a hell of a strip — 2, a year of experimenting with irregular factories all over Italy.”

Bumagina held no less than 40 meetings, in most of which she heard the same word - impossibile (“impossible”), too complex a concept. But 15 factories nevertheless made prototypes of bags for it - they were far from ideal. For Anna, every millimeter was important. Having invested $ 30 in thousands of personal savings in trial and error, Bumagina realized: “I did not spend money on those people. Paying for everything at the entrance, prepaid - this is very wrong. " At the same time, the money went to rent an apartment.

Finally, a factory in Varese made samples of not perfect, but acceptable quality. Bumagina cooperated with them for about a year, spending almost $ 20 thousand. Personal savings were already over by that time — a friend who had invested another $ 30 thousand into the project, bought out 30% of the company. According to Paperina, he believed in it and in the uniqueness of the design: “Just because the bags do not interest him.”

At this time, Anna began to gradually sell samples. After launching the site with an online store, we managed to reach a new sales channel - negotiate with Moda Operandi, a prestigious online boutique selling designer items from the collections of the next season. For the trunk show, their site needed a micro batch of 6-10 bags, ready in 3 months. But, unexpectedly, the factory in Varese, demanding exclusive rights to manufacture BU Wood bags, did not agree to the terms of Bugina’s terms. At parting, Anna heard that she would not find it better than them.

The urgent search for a new manufacturer was difficult. In Italy solidarity is strong - other factories, having learned about Varese, refused to cooperate with Anna. The situation became critical: Bumagina had $ 5 thousand left, burning an important order with a three-month deadline and bills for an apartment.

And then she decided to make a prototype of the bag herself. I hired an assistant in Milan, dealt with the production stages from a video recorded in Varese, bought a drill, with which the concierge helped. The contacts of all the suppliers were her own. “It turned out interesting - I was even able to reduce the weight of the bag. It turned out that the wood, the Italian poplar, as well as the brass accessories, weighed not so much. The hardest part was the skin. I decided to make it thinner, cut out patterns with a knife, found a company that refines skin. Itself from clay blinded the shape of the handle. Indeed, 2 made bags in a few weeks. ” These prototypes, far from ideal, seemed to Anna better than samples in the factories for which she had previously paid € 700-800 ($ 815-930). “I felt like a Chinese who copies his own bag on video. But I realized that everything is possible, “Impossible” can no longer be listened to. ”

Ideal factory

The idea of renting the equipment of the factories, which was idle at night, and producing itself, had to be abandoned: Italians could not be motivated to work on the night shift. Good employees really appreciate their “social package” and will not work for the drive and the idea. Anna decided that the only way out was to find a dream factory at any cost. “Even if we remember the film“ The Secret ”- something incredible was going to happen. It was necessary to return to the state of "when the soul is dancing," to the truth. "

Bumagina went to the chamber of commerce, took a list of all the factories in Milan, and started a telephone call. At the first meeting she was lucky: they refused to produce wooden bags there, but they gave contacts to a person who, in turn, shared the phone of the factory - the home of a legendary brand - spending 10% of its capacity for design experiments. The meeting with representatives of the factory in 2015 was described by Buzagina as “absolute space”.

At that time, Anna's money ran out. But the factory immediately understood the essence of the product, the importance of every millimeter and quality requirements. They appreciated the BU Wood concept as unique and complex, and, according to Bumagina, that is why they decided to undertake - true masters love complex tasks. About the availability of money from the businesswoman in the factory did not ask.

Having agreed on the production, Anna managed to make a batch for delivery to Moda Operandi. The factory billed the samples for samples only a year later (Anna explains this slowness by the fact that, besides the production of bags for big brands, the factory is engaged in experiments with interesting projects), by that time Bumagina had already sold bags. In the first year of sales, before the official launch of the brand, BU Wood's turnover was about € 30 thousand ($ 35 thousand) (including the sale of samples from the factory in Varese).

The contract with the new factory all the first year in the paper was not. But she did not see the trick in this, referring to the importance of the right partners: “When you come to Bentley, they cannot fail, deceive. Here also". The contract was concluded after all, and the cooperation continues to this day. Receiving departments of the factory found good suppliers - from the very beginning and until now all materials are purchased by the factory, besides providing logistics and packaging of products. Private customers receive bags through Fedex International Priority. Agreed with the shops on the terms of Ex-Works - they had to independently export goods from Milan.

“There was a case when it was necessary to deliver a bag to the woman’s beloved president of the country, quickly. We put a man from the factory on the plane to deliver on the same day. ”

According to Anna’s calculations, the factory, having believed in it and became interested in the complexity of the task, has invested around € 300-400 thousand ($ 350-460 thousand) in its project.

They produce bags with volumes depending on the number of orders - payment to the factory goes for a batch after the finished bags. Once a year, Anna receives an invoice for samples and designs. “I used to do 60, 80, 100 bags and send them to customers and stores every 5-6 months,” says Anna. “Now I want to place an order in such a way that it is better to let the client wait.” According to her, it takes 6 months to make a bag well. Only to give the tree to dry, you need three weeks. If a client wants to receive an order quickly, Anna does not agree: “I say: listen, I want you to give this bag to your grandchildren. Better to wait. ”

Store-windows of the Central Department Store, Instagram Sobchak and gifts to Lady Gage

Until recently, BU Wood bags could be found in the Moscow TSUM. It was easy to get to such a site - the buyers themselves wrote Bumagina with a proposal for cooperation, after Ksenia Sobchak came out with BU BU's flagship round bag.

Anna says that in the entire history of the company she made all 7 gifts - strong women with a hard core like her bags.

Gifts were sent to the assistants of Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Helen Degeneres, Victoria Beckham, Whoopi Goldberg and Dita Von Teese. The only Russian from the list is Ksenia Sobchak. “I like that she tries herself everywhere,” says Anna. - She is a strong personality. In life, very sensitive, intelligent. I don’t know how to make presents for real. ”

Bumagina recalls that she wrote an honest letter to her personal email Sobchak and offered to make a bag "KS" - Xenia was only required to express her wishes. “Ksenia replied that she liked my round bags, - I sent her one, then a year later another - she was stolen at the Milan Fashion Week. There was no condition for her to go out with the bags. ” After the shots with the BU BU round in Instagram, Sobchak Anne wrote from TSUM. Prior to this, attempts to independently contact the buyers of the trading house were unsuccessful.

Course on Vogue pages

Even before the launch of Moda Operandi, Bugina organized an event - the launch of the brand in Milan during the local Fashion Week. For € 3 thousand ($ 3,5 thousand) took a gallery, the same cost was the food from a cool restaurant, which no one in the end ate. € 2 thousand ($ 2,3 thousand). Anna paid a Spanish PR agency for a month of work - they invited all top journalists from the fashion world to the presentation. On small boxes, gifts for journalists and stands spent € 2 thousand. At the event came editors Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle. Almost all publications have written about the launch of BU Wood or have placed photo bags in a selection of bows. This promoted brand awareness at the start and attracted new customers.

After TSUM a wave started - the buyers bought bags for Sanahunt in Ukraine, Saks Fifth Avenue in Kazakhstan, trading houses in Dubai, Hong Kong. However, Anna quite quickly realized that it was not profitable for her to be present in stores, despite good sales: at the cost of one bag from € 800 to € 1350 ($ 930-1570, including production, shipping and packaging), from selling one bag in TSUM she returned about € 150 ($ 175) with a price tag of € 2200 ($ 2560) per bag. In addition, according to Anna, many of the Central Department Store customers are customers from the regions, and its main audience was not in Russia.

According to Moda Operandi, statistics from the BU Wood website and the Instagram API (the software interface of the application that allows access to analytics), the main clients were Russian-speaking, but did not live in Russia.

"I realized that open-minded Russians buy bags from London, Hong Kong, Dubai, New York." Anna, who also does not live in Russia since 23 years, assumes that her clients are similar to her in both mentality and tastes.

“In my work with TsUM I really liked the atmosphere, the people, the feeling of status. But now it is interesting for me to work with direct clients and with Moda Operandi, to dictate my conditions, ”admits Bumagina. - TSUM took the bags for implementation. But if the bag is exposed, it will no longer look crystal new. When we ship to a customer directly from the factory, that’s something completely different. ”

Growth, decline and change

The turnover of BU Wood for 2015 a year was about € 350 thousand ($ 407 thousand). Recognition of the niche brand contributed, among other things, to the publication in luxury gloss.

Success followed a period of recession. In 2017 — an incomplete 2018, despite a good launch of alligator bags, the company's turnover was stuck at € 250 thousand ($ 290 thousand). The reasons for Anna are clear: on the one hand, if before a round wooden bag was unique, there have recently appeared many analogues. Secondly, Bumagina refused to place in large stores - it was unprofitable, besides, they constantly needed new collections. Having created, by his own admission, the perfect bag, to do one more just because they require shops, Anna did not want to. At the same time, if you diversify the line and try new colors in each season, you need to buy 50 square meters of leather, these are € 20-25 thousand ($ 23-29 thousand) - a big investment to bring new things to the stores, but without compromise quality.

“I have an incredibly high cost of the bag — no less than € 800 — and many luxury brands sell their bags for € 1500 for € € 30-50.” So Anna came to the conclusion that initially was wrong with the pricing. “I create a very high quality product and timeless. The question arose - how to make a product that is very niche, to be constantly desired. ”

Bumagina found the answer in repositioning the brand. Now BU Wood is being transformed, so the numbers for an incomplete 2018 year - the turnover of € 80-90 thousand ($ 93-105 thousand) - Anna is not afraid. “This is a deliberate recession, because I decided to change everything. Now there will be a restart. If earlier I wanted to match fashion, now my bags are more of an art object, an art object. ”

Repositioning immediately affected pricing - Anna decided that the bags would be smaller, but they would be much more expensive. BU Wood 2 a month ago went up in 3 times - now one bag costs € 6,5 thousand ($ 7,6 thousand). There are already orders for bags that have gone beyond the boundaries of fashion and have moved to the art section. New tasks for the brand Anna formulates concisely - “focus on profits and make the wooden bag legendary”.

Anna Paper's advice to entrepreneurs

1. Strategy is the most important

We must immediately understand to whom, where and why, to see all the numbers and costs. Absolute clarity is needed - it will save time, energy and money.

2. Starting capital may be zero

If I came to Milan and immediately went to the necessary factory, I would not need starting money. The main thing is to find the right people and know everything about your business. For example, I really wanted to make an animated video with the producer Hermes. Found his contacts, asked him how much it usually costs. € 200 thousand ($ 232 thousand). I have no such budgets. I was ready to pay € 1,5 thousand ($ 1700), but what can I do for them? He says: pay my illustrator and animator, I will not take money from you. Just because you are. So is my factory - I am not financially the most interesting project for them. This is not about money for them. I love craftsmanship in everything, and I was looking for people who work not for money, but for things that are beyond money. I have a difficult and incredibly interesting task - to deliver it to the client in an uncompromising quality, not to lose myself along the way. And how many times have I been advised to make bags cheaper in China!

3. Your idea, your vision should be a reflection of you, your truth

The founder of one of the first-line agencies in Paris once said to me: “It is rare to meet people who are so eager to do their job, they know so well what they want, which are not only about money.” Just because I am where I am. This is not a business way, but a spiritual way.