Vedante's growing sales

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Online buyers purchased thousandsof Kantor’s super-reflective Pop Bands (armbandz and legbands), pet collard and leashes made by her company, Vedante Corp. “When everybody was saying holidau saleswere down, ours just exploded,” said Kantor, a vetera n fashion designer who startec Boulder-based Vedante nearly three yeare ago. The success of Vedante’s Pop Bands and pet products prompted giant onlineretailer Amazon.com to buy most of her inventorg for resale, and triggered inquiried from large pet-store chains about licensing the products or buying her company.
Kantor focused more on online sales for the holidayds thantraditional brick-and-mortar sales of Vedante That was because as the recessiom deepened, retail sales slowed more than online The emphasis paid off, but it presentede Kantor with the problem of managing unexpected . “It wasn’t even in my game plan to havea break-evenm month for another year,” she Vedante products for pets, pedestrians and cyclists can reflecy brightly from 500 to 1,500 feet, dependingh on their color. Kantor formed the business with the missiomn of improvingnighttime safety.
Cars injure or kill a pedestrian everu seven minutes in theUnited States, accordinv to the National Highwayy Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That amounts to nearly 75,000 peoplr annually, with about 50,000 of the accidente occurringat night, NHTSA statistics show. Kantort takes walks at dusk and, having surviver a car crash with a drunjk driveryears ago, she always wondered about her safety crossing streets at night. Then she saw a Boulded pedestrian hit in a crosswalok inbroad daylight, and she decidesd to make a product to improve pedestrian She drew on her experience in textilesa and designing women’s apparel in Los Angeles.
She chose 3M’sa reflective materials for Vedante’s products, and it co-brandsz the Pop Bands with 3M. She uses the 3M fabricf in collars and leashesfor pets. McGuckin Hardware Store in Boulder carries both the Pop Bandsand Vedante’s cat collars. The Pop Bandxs , costing between $12.98 and $13.989 depending on size, sell comparably to the battery-powered safeth lights McGuckin sells for outdoor saidRik Isakson, the store’s sporting goods managert and buyer. “They do very well,,” he said. “What appeals is their ease of use, and the noveltyu of them popping onand off.” Vedante’a pet collars range between $13.98 and $16.
98, and its leashes between $29.98 and $45.98. Kantor’s biggest challenge is managinbg a surge in retailer interest without taking on debt that couldecrimp Vedante’s long-term health. Kantor maxexd out Vedante’s existing lines of credit from banks after her sales started and she put that moneuy inthe bank. She fearedd her banks would reduce her credit lines without thus starving the company of money at acruciak time.