April 30, 2010

Bloomin’ greeting cards

BOULDER – Plant the greeting card and watch what grows.

It’s the time of year when Bloomin’ Flower Cards Inc. can see the vibrant results of its labor. Springtime is when its assortment of handmade paper cards embedded with seeds usually are planted and sprout wildflowers, herbs, vegetables, wild grasses, trees and even chili peppers.

Founder Tom Noyes credits the success of the Boulder-based business to its ability to quickly adapt to the changing demands of the marketplace.

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 “The green movement has offset the financial strain on the economy and our sales have gone up as a direct result. Companies are using our products to communicate their own earth-friendly initiatives,” he said. “We don’t just make a consumer product that’s earth-friendly, it’s also a marketing tool.”

Noyes, along with company President Don Martin and Chief Financial Officer Sue Swanson started the company in 1995 and today have 50 employees. While they wouldn’t disclose revenue, Martin said industry sales are down while Bloomin’ Flower Cards’ sales are up more than 100 percent. He said  retail sales account for only about 3 percent of total sales while customized promotional products account for the rest.

Bloomin’ manufactures paper made from 100 percent post-consumer waste (envelopes, shredded paper, etc), and contains soy-based inks and organic pigments. They make the paper pulp, add the seeds, dry the paper and cut it into 8.5-inch by 11-inch sheets, which is used to create cards that have a seed-germination rate of about 80 percent.

Bloomin’ uses vintage letterpress machines that can give any product an Old World nostalgic feel. They typically are  printed in one or two colors, one sheet at a time. Letterpress printing offers a hand-crafted, stamped look and feel that is much less detail oriented than offset or inkjet printing.

Martin, who has a master’s degree in art, knew he wanted his own greeting-card company, and Noyes had recently invested in a card company. Over time, he and Noyes spent evenings moonlighting as paper-makers while working real jobs during the day; Martin worked at Leanin’ Tree Museum in Boulder and Noyes owned a bike shop.

They self-financed the business and lived on credit. Their first greeting cards were sold locally. Martin would fill his truck with displays and drive to a town and stay until he had sold 10. “We gained confidence that it had some legs as people bought our displays,” Martin said.

It was a long time before they had a major distributor or greeting card company. Barnes & Noble ordered bookmarks and soon their client list grew to include NASA, Toyota, Nissan and American Express. Today, they both admit they’ve come a long way from the days when Noyes made paper and cards in a chicken coop and packed them in his bedroom.

Lane Hornung has 40 broker agents working at his Boulder-based 8z Real Estate. “We send out post cards on seeded paper listing properties sold in that neighborhood – people like to get the data but don’t like the waste associated with the postcard. Our brokers almost always live in the neighborhood they call on, so our cards say, ‘Our brokers have roots in the community,’ or ‘We’re local experts.’ ”

Most of Bloomin’ Flower Cards’ competitors are small mom and pop shops producing on a small scale, while Bloomin’ is able to quickly respond to most requests. Though they once printed a million handmade coasters as a cereal box insert for General Mills to promote its earth-friendly initiative, they do have a minimum order is approximately 350 8.5-inch by 11-inch sheets.

Immediate plans call for aligning with local companies and launching a wedding line of handmade seeded engagement announcements, wedding invitations, place cards, menus, response cards, and thank-you cards. Sturtz and Copeland and The Envelope Please will be carrying the line of wedding cards.

BOULDER – Plant the greeting card and watch what grows.

It’s the time of year when Bloomin’ Flower Cards Inc. can see the vibrant results of its labor. Springtime is when its assortment of handmade paper cards embedded with seeds usually are planted and sprout wildflowers, herbs, vegetables, wild grasses, trees and even chili peppers.

Founder Tom Noyes credits the success of the Boulder-based business to its ability to quickly adapt to the changing demands of the marketplace.

 “The green movement has offset the financial strain on the economy…

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