Trendy textiles put Maruca on fashion map

BOULDER ? Louis Vuitton purses are a dime a dozen. The motorcycle bag? Everyone in the city?s got one.

But a Maruca Design handbag is something different. Just as stylish and trend-conscious as the competition, Maruca Design Inc. retains its distinctiveness by offering bags made from unique fabrics. The Boulder-based design house has hundreds of accounts across the country and an allegiance of loyal purse patrons

?What sets us apart are our fabrics,? says Angela Schuster, sales manager for Maruca. ?Most handbag companies on the market import their fabrics; we don?t. Ours are exclusively owned by us, and they?re original and beautiful.?

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Unlike other purse and apparel companies, Maruca Design doesn?t use any material from overseas manufacturers and avoids fabrics that are mass-produced and stylistically generic. Instead, the design house buys tapestry fabrics and jacquard, a type of texturized weave, from U.S. mills.

Fabrics are delivered to the company?s studio at 4949 North Broadway, where Maruca designers cut, sew and create. The result is a handcrafted handbag that looks and feels like no other.

?The fact that (Maruca) designs its own fabrics sets it apart from other handbag companies,? says Kent Young, manager at Boulder Arts and Crafts Co-op. The Pearl Street artists? cooperative has carried Maruca handbags since 1992.

?It?s a wonderfully attractive line,? Young says. ?They?re incredibly creative because of the styles and fabrics. They?re incredibly appealing to our customers.?

Based on the breadth of these purses? availability, Young isn?t the only wholesaler to think that a handbag from Maruca Design is attractive; Maruca has wholesale accounts in every state. Most of Maruca?s clients are small, independent boutiques, although the company does sell to cosmetics firm Origins and the national catalog retailer Gump?s.

There actually is a Maruca. In 1991, Rex Maruca, who grew up working with his father in the upholstery industry, launched the design house in Boulder.

The idea to start a handbag company came to Maruca after he created a bag out of fabrics to carry samples of upholstery pieces. The interest and praise he received for the look and style of the sample bag prompted Maruca to start Maruca Design.

Maruca lives in Seattle, but runs his company in Boulder by phone, fax, e-mails and an occasional visit.

?(Maruca) got his name out and the bag out, and it grew from there,? says Schuster. ?Little by little, people began to know the name Maruca. It took a while, but it?s amazing what you can do without advertising.?

No advertising, and absolutely no cold calls, is still the mantra that Maruca Design follows. The company relies on trade shows and independent sales representatives to attract new accounts. The tactic works, and last year, the company grossed approximately $1 million in revenue. Maruca Design has six full-time employees, eight local contract garment workers and 12 sales representatives nationwide.

?Our goal is to provide excellent customer service and develop relationships with our customers,? Schuster says. ?We?re trying to improve our business systems to continue to grown and expand.?

Maruca credits fiber artist Carrie Vadas with creating the popular designs. Vadas, who joined Maruca in January 2001, makes decisions about patterns, colors and shapes that go into the design of the 36 fabrics created each year, 18 fabrics for the fall/winter line and 18 for the spring/summer designs.

?I know production, but Carrie comes up with new ideas each year. She is an uncanny talent,? Maruca said during a phone interview from Seattle.

Maruca Design does not have a retail location of its own, but the company opens up its North Broadway studio in the spring and fall for a biannual sale. Evelyn Spence, Boulder resident and editor of Skiing Magazine, hadn?t heard of Maruca Design until a shopping spree took her into the Arts and Crafts Co-op, where she saw the specialty handbags and a postcard announcing the company?s spring sale.

?The place was a madhouse,? says Spence, of this year?s May studio sale. ?Women of all ages were buying literally armfuls of bags, digging through boxes. You couldn?t move in there. I had no idea there would be so many faithful followers.?

Spence, a self-proclaimed ?not a big purse person,? ended up buying three handbags and two cosmetic bags. She says she?s received many compliments on her purchases.

?I really liked the fabrics and colors of the purses and handbags,? Spence says. ?They have some really distinct shapes. They design their own fabric, so I knew I?d find something unique.?

Marua Design changes its line twice a year, in the spring and fall, and carries approximately a dozen handbag models in each season, in addition to coin, cosmetic and jewel cases. A Maruca handbag retails for anywhere from $44 to $66.

Jacque Michelle, owner of the women?s clothing and gift boutique Jacque Michelle, carries a Maruca Design purse, in addition to selling the line at her North Boulder shop.

?I love the one I own,? Michelle says. ?I call it my banana bag. It fits all my essentials ? comb, lipstick, wallet.?

Michelle says that the shape of Maruca Design handbags make the products particularly appealing to customers of all ages.

?(Maruca) has an amazing variety of shapes,? Michelle concludes. ?If a girl likes to go to the clubs, she can find a Maruca that will work. And if she wants a tote, Maruca?s got that, too.?