We recently connected with Grant & Jennifer Anderson and have shared our conversation below.
Grant & Jennifer , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
From the beginning we have insisted on high quality materials along with a strong consistent brand. Many, many times we have been advised by other handmade business owners to use lower quality materials or to cut some corners in order to decrease prices and increase the potential customer base. That is the way American consumers and businesses operate, but we have chosen to stand firm believing that there are plenty of people who are willing to pay the prices for the highest quality hand sewn pieces we can create.
We are certain this will create a long lived brand that people will respect and will remember.
Grant & Jennifer , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Uptown Common began in 2019 when Jennifer began selling macrame plant hangers. That grew into pots and indoor plants plus conducting macrame classes in people’s homes. Grant added a few of his hand sewn leather pieces to our booth at artisan market and added more pieces as interest grew. In summer 2023 Grant designed and sewed his first bags and we decided to end the macrame and plant part of the business to just focus on leather goods. Since then we have added more bag styles and belts in addition to the original small leather goods.
Everything is still sewn by hand by Grant in his home workshop with the highest quality materials we can source. He does lots of custom project for people and some leather repair. We are at the beginning of expanding into wholesale to get our leather goods into luxury boutiques and shops all over the country.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Like many makers, funding for Uptown Common came from working full time jobs while trying to build our business. In fact, that continues to the current time!
That being said, we have learned about what is marketable and have recently taken out some loans to help us grow through equipment purchases and marketing campaigns that will begin soon.
Keeping a close eye on the business finances is essential to knowing where our winning products are coming from and where future growth will take us.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Building our reputation has been a journey from the start of Uptown Common. There are a few keys that we believe made our journey known.
First, our presence at so many markets around the Midwest. From 2021-2023, we participated in over 50 markets each year. That is a lot of opportunity for people to get to know us!
Second, our commitment, from the very beginning, to focus on providing top quality products to our customers. Changes have been made but always while increasing quality, never stepping back from it.
Finally, we intentionally build relationships everywhere we go. We have made so many great friends when meeting fellow vendors and customers alike.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.uptowncommonhandmade.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uptowncommon
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uptowncommon
