While many Mississippi State University students work at a business, marketing senior Cammie Chapman is creating her own.
Chapman, of Brookhaven, recently started her own line of purses called Swanky Girl. Inspired by her mother’s sewing ability, Chapman decided to put her home-learned skills, love of purses and love of creating to use.
“I love purses so I started making them to see how they would turn out,” Chapman said.
She said her husband took delight in her skills and encouraged her to begin her own business.
“I heard the word ‘swanky’ and didn’t know what it meant so I looked it up in the dictionary and found out that it meant ‘fashionably elegant.’ I chose it because it would be easy to remember, and I liked the way it sounded; it was different,” Chapman said. “I didn’t just want to make my own purses, I wanted to make my own brand that would stick out in people’s minds.”
“I think that anybody can learn to sew, but there’s something different about mine that can’t be reproduced. It would be so boring to make all the same purse,” Chapman said.
Over Spring Break, Chapman put her marketing and sewing skills to use, making business cards and purchasing a sewing machine and fabric.
“I found some great fabric–it’s vintage reproduction fabric–and took a chance on it,” Chapman said.
Swanky Girl is not just made of vintage designs, although that is one style it does offer. Swanky purses vary in colors and styles, and each product is different, Chapman said. She works on one at a time, and each product has a label on it.
Swanky Girl brand purses are available only at Occasions in Starkville and POSH in Cleveland. They can also be purchased from Swanky Girl’s Web site of www.swankygirl.com.
Occasions employees seemed pleased to carry Chapman’s designs.
“I think that it’s great that she has the initiative as a student to start her own business,” said Occasions’ employee Jessica McCracking, a sophomore in interior design. “Her style is very unique. The purses are bright and colorful. They are her own style and not like anything else you see. She’s not copying someone else’s work.”
Senior Georgia Brasfield of Jackson, said, “I think her (Chapman’s) designs are going to be very well accepted among college students because of the diversity of her patterns, styles and the reasonable pricing.”
Chapman said she hopes to provide her customers with the styles they will most enjoy.
“One goal has been to make stuff that people will love. It’s really cool to see people wear something you make. Another is to put my marketing skills to use and see how successful my business can be,” Chapman said.
Chapman’s brand includes purses, checkbook covers, jewelry, handbags and beach bags. Prices for purses range between $25 and $40, while jewelry costs about $10.
Chapman said that her jewelry designs, many of which are pearl designs, are appropriate for college women and could offer them the ‘elegantly stylish’ look they are after.
“I think that style from the ’50s is coming back into style. I think pearls are very elegant and Southern, but my pearls are a little different. They’re a little retro and a little larger than normal pearls,” Chapman explained. “I think they’d be good for all the girls who are graduating and are trying to change their look from student to business woman.”
Chapman said hopes to create a brand that everyone will like and a name that everyone will recognize. She has already had a great response to her products and is eager to see what direction her business will head.
She also said she hopes one day to expand her business to include ties, pillows and other products.
Chapman’s business venture serves not only as a challenge for herself, but as inspiration fellow students everywhere. As Chapman took up the saying to “Do what you love,” she shows that anything is possible combined with faith and hard work.