Mile 22 Bags

Marathon mementos: Missoula business creates custom bags using personal memorabilia

By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian

So you’ve run the race, finished the marathon, and you’re heading home with your race T-shirt, bib number and all the other stuff you got when you registered and completed the event.

Now what?

The afterglow of a hard-earned accomplishment lasts only so long; then what do you do with all that race memorabilia?

Stefanie Fisher, a 24-year-old Missoula runner and entrepreneur, has created a solution to keep the experience fresh.

Her company, Mile 22 Bags, is all about creatively commemorating significant achievements in a person’s life, such as a first marathon, half-marathon or any other milestone.

In the basement of her South Hills home, and with the help of local sewing experts, race T-shirts and other swag are transformed into an attractive collage that is displayed under clear vinyl in the form of cordura messenger bags, totes, wallets and handbags.

 

From this humble location, Fisher has launched a national retail company and in just six months bagged a business for herself.

While packing a box of orders for a Washington, D.C., specialty running store, Fisher said she’s stunned by her unexpected success.

“The business has taken off really fast,” she said. “I never imagined I would be at this point in six months. I thought maybe in five years.

“The biggest change has come in the last month, where I’ve gone from being a Web-based business and going to expos, to getting into retail.”

Just back from a whirlwind business trip to Seattle, Fisher has landed 14 new contracts with retail stores there, which are part of growing list of accounts she has with shops along the eastern seaboard.

Currently, she has coast-to-coast accounts, and will be meeting with other out-of-state retailers after the Missoula Marathon trade show, where she will have a booth displaying her merchandise.

Her product is unique, part functional art and part vanity wear, which is particularly appealing to women.

“For women, accomplishing a hard-to-reach goal like finishing a marathon is significant,” Fisher said, “and women’s love for handbags is significant, so this is an easy combo to market.”

“Besides, what else are you going to do with all that stuff you get at races?”

The bag concept, Fisher said, was born out of necessity - and frustration.

When she graduated from the University of Montana’s business school in 2007, it took her seven months to land a job in her field in Missoula.

The work environment was so frustrating, it motivated her to think about how to be her own boss.

Encouraged by a former UM business school professor, Michael Braun, and emboldened by a sewing class she took at Selvedge Studio last summer, Fisher stumbled into her heart’s desire.

The first bag she made for herself, commemorating her finish in the 2008 Boston Marathon, garnered so much attention she knew she was onto something.

After fine-tuning the concept, Fisher decided to test out her products at the Las Vegas Marathon in December.

Putting everything on her credit card and without a thorough business plan, Fisher followed her heart.

“I bought a booth at the expo there, took my two best friends, called in sick at work, and told myself if we sell $25 in merchandise, I’m quitting my job,” Fisher said. “I sold $75, and it was a done deal. When I got back, I gave my two-week notice and began this company.”

Ever since, orders have come streaming in and the company has grown so rapidly that Fisher has hired two employees.

The name, she explained, came from a brainstorming session with her fiance, Joe Sample, and a friend, both runners. Their conversation turned to a central theme: that a marathon is really achieved once people hit the 22-mile mark.

“Every marathoner seems to remember mile 22. That’s really memorable, because for most people, they haven’t run that far before, and that’s where you hit the wall,” Fisher said. “That’s when the finish is so close and where you have to dig deep to push on.

“That’s where you earn your marathon.”

And that’s where you earn Fisher’s stylish, one-of-a-kind custom bags.

“What makes this bag special is that you have to do something to earn one of these,” she said.

As the orders have rolled in, Fisher said she’s learning that the bags have an equal appeal for seasoned runners who are interested in having a bag made out of some of their most challenging and memorable races, or a reflection of the sheer number of races in which they have completed.

Fisher has partnered with Team in Training, which uses marathons as a way to raise funds for cancer research. She gives

40 percent of her sales to the cause.

At the Missoula Marathon on July 12, her company will be doing the same for Youth Homes, a Missoula nonprofit that serves children in need, and 40 percent of the proceeds she gets from sales at the organization’s post-marathon lunch will go directly to Youth Homes.

“I really believe in the power of a company giving back and I am doing my best to support organizations when I can,” Fisher said.

Because most of her business and customers are from out of state, Fisher is looking forward to creating bags for runners in her own community and showing people how she can turn their memorabilia into something really useful and special.

Then she’s off to California to nail down new accounts with 75 speciality stores.

“It’s been really fun so far to make this work,” Fisher said. “I feel so blessed that I can do what I love and that I can do it from Missoula.

“I’m just stunned by how fast life can change.”

Reporter Betsy Cohen can be reached at 523-5253 or at bcohen@missoullian.com.

 

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Copyright © 2009 Missoulian

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