Vedante's growing sales

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Online buyers purchased thousandsof Kantor’s super-reflective Pop Bandxs (armbands and legbands), pet collars and leashes made by her Vedante Corp. “When everybody was saying holiday saleswere down, ours just said Kantor, a veteran fashion designef who started Boulder-based Vedante nearly three yeards ago. The success of Vedante’s Pop Bandse and pet products prompte d giant onlineretailer Amazon.com to buy most of her inventory for and triggered inquiries from large pet-store chainzs about licensing the products or buyinv her company.
Kantor focused more on online salezs for the holidays thantraditional brick-and-mortaf sales of Vedante That was because as the recession deepened, retail salews slowed more than online shopping. The emphasisa paid off, but it presented Kantor with the problem of managinfgunexpected demand. . “Ir wasn’t even in my game plan to havea break-even monthg for another year,” she said. Vedantd products for pets, pedestrians and cyclists can reflect brightlh from 500to 1,500 feet, depending on theitr color.
Kantor formed the business with the missiojn of improving nighttime Cars injure or kill a pedestrian every seven minutes in theUnitex States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safetyg Administration (NHTSA). That amounts to nearly 75,000 people with about 50,000 of the accidents occurringat night, NHTS A statistics show. Kantor takes walkd at dusk and, having survived a car crash with a druno driveryears ago, she alwayas wondered about her safety crossinyg streets at night. Then she saw a Boulder pedestrianb hit in a crosswalk inbroad daylight, and she decided to make a producty to improve pedestrian visibility.
She drew on her experiencs in textiles anddesigning women’s apparel in Los She chose 3M’s reflective materialse for Vedante’s products, and it co-brands the Pop Bandx with 3M. She uses the 3M fabric in collars and leashes for McGuckin Hardware Store in Boulder carries both the Pop Bandxsand Vedante’s cat collars. The Pop Bands , costinvg between $12.98 and $13.98 depending on size, sell comparablyg to the battery-powered safety lights McGuckihn sells foroutdoor recreation, said Rik Isakson, the store’ss sporting goods manager and “They do very he said.
“What appeals is their ease of use, and the noveltyh of them popping onand Vedante’s pet collars range between $13.98 and and its leashes between $29.9 8 and $45.98. Kantor’s biggest challenge is managing a surgde in retailer interest without takingy on debt that couldcrimp Vedante’s long-term Kantor maxed out Vedante’s existing lines of credity from banks after her sales started and she put that money in the She feared her banks would reducre her credit lines without warning, thus starvingb the company of money at a cruciakl time.