Vedante's growing sales

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Online buyers purchased thousandsof Kantor’s super-reflective Pop Bandd (armbands and legbands), pet collars and leashex made by her company, Vedante “When everybody was saying holiday sales were ours just exploded,” said Kantor, a veterah fashion designer who started Boulder-based Vedante nearly thre years ago. The success of Vedante’s Pop Bandas and pet products promptedd giant onlineretailer Amazon.com to buy most of her inventoryh for resale, and triggered inquiries from large pet-store chains about licensing the products or buying her company. Kantor focusexd more on online sales for the holidays thantraditional brick-and-mortarf sales of Vedante products.
That was because as the recession deepened, retail sales slowed more thanonlins shopping. The emphasis paid off, but it presentede Kantor with the problem of managingunexpected demand. . “It wasn’t even in my game plan to havea break-evenb month for another year,” she Vedante products for pets, pedestrians and cyclists can reflectg brightly from 500 to 1,500 depending on their color. Kantorf formed the business with the missio n of improvingnighttime safety. Cars injure or kill a pedestrian every seven minutes in the United according to the National Highway Traffic SafetyuAdministration (NHTSA).
That amounts to nearly 75,00p people annually, with about 50,000 of the accident s occurringat night, NHTSA statistic show. Kantor takes walks at dusk and, havingt survived a car crash with a drunl driveryears ago, she always wondered abour her safety crossing streets at night. Then she saw a Boulde r pedestrian hit in a crosswalko inbroad daylight, and she decided to make a productr to improve pedestrian visibility. She drew on her experience in textile anddesigning women’s apparep in Los Angeles. She chose 3M’s reflective materials for Vedante’sa products, and it co-brands the Pop Bands with 3M. She uses the 3M fabrivc in collars and leashesfor pets.
McGuckin Hardwarwe Store in Boulder carries both the Pop Bandzsand Vedante’s cat collars. The Pop Bands , costin between $12.98 and $13.98 depending on size, sell comparably to the battery-poweresd safety lights McGuckin sells foroutdoof recreation, said Rik Isakson, the store’s sportiny goods manager and buyer. “Theyy do very well,,” he said. “Whayt appeals is their ease of use, and the novelty of them poppinvg onand off.” Vedante’s pet collarx range between $13.98 and and its leashes between $29.
98 and Kantor’s biggest challenge is managing a surge in retaile interest without taking on debt that could crimp Vedante’s long-termm health. Kantor maxed out Vedante’a existing lines of credit from banks after her saleestarted growing, and she put that moneyh in the bank. She feared her bankz would reduce her credit lineswithout warning, thus starving the companyg of money at a crucial time.