It’s our birthday, and it’s a big one! Today marks the fifth anniversary of HDS Medallion Designer CarryAll Bags for Mobility Devices, the destination for practical yet stylish walker bags, wheelchair purses, power chair accessories, scooter bags, etc. We can’t believe it’s already here. We thought it would be fun to commemorate the occasion by sharing some of the history of our company with you. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to build a designer CarryAll bag company from the ground up, this blog post is for you!
It Began With Seniors & Walker Bags
It’s been an interesting journey since the day we launched the company online. What many folks don’t know is that we actually started the company two years before the online store opened its doors to the public. Our owners may be two former executives and owners of a successful management consulting company, but that doesn’t mean launching a mobility bag company like this is easy! Those two years were packed with challenges, including:
- sourcing the fabrics and embellishments
- conducting a long search for an American manufacturer
- researching and building a new website
- establishing a social media presence
- trademarking our name and logo
- setting up the company infrastructure (accounting, inventory management, etc.)
- finding an order fulfillment company
- researching marketing approaches, networking, etc.
In other words, a whole lot of work! However, the effort was absolutely worth it. In the early days, the dream was to establish a business that would provide women with a product there was a definite need for. We motivated ourselves with the constant reminder that the hard work would be worth it when it got our designer CarryAll bags into the lives of senior women who truly wanted a stylish option for their mobility devices, especially walkers.
Now It's Disabled Women, Girls & Men And
Wheelchair Bags, Power Chair Bags, Scooter Bags
Now that our anniversary is here, we took some time to compare our company at launch to where we are today. The changes are pretty astounding, even to us!
- We originally aimed for only one demographic who would benefit from our designer CarryAll bags for mobility devices - seniors with walkers or transport wheelchairs. Five years later, we've heard rave reviews of our extended line of mobility bags from women and girls of all ages using all different kinds of mobility devices, as well as their families and loved ones. We've also had great success with little people, and have a new product designed for men and military veterans in the works!
- At launch, we only had our Classic collection. Five years later, the Classics have been joined by the Premier, Demi-Premier, and Metro Collections, with our top secret Universal line debuting this year! Take a look at all of our collections.
- Our initial lineup was primarily designed to work on walkers with a velcro attachment system. Five years later, we've added our innovative, versatile design with adjustable, detachable straps and D-ring system that works on over 95% of all mobility devices!
- We began with about 10 different patterns for our bags, all made of cotton. Five years later, we've more than 35 patterns with bags in twill, denim, and even modern waterproof material!
- In the beginning, we were selling only through our website and a few print ads in senior-friendly publications. Five years later, we have a brand new website. We're on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, and our bags are also available on Amazon and eBay. We've partnered with fantastic organizations like the Reeve Foundation, Push Living, Little People of America, Quest and more, and regularly attend trade shows like the Abilities Expos around the country!
The original HDS Medallion Designer CarryAll Bags for Mobility Devices site compared to just a portion of our new design. A lot has changed in five years!
It's amazing what five years can bring, but don't think for a moment that we're stopping here! We've got amazing new products and collections in the works for 2016 and beyond. We'll be at brand new venues this year, like the Push Nation Festival in Tampa (next weekend) and the Abilities Expo in Washington, DC. We're thrilled with everything we've accomplished in these five years and we can't wait to show you what's next!
That brings us to the most important part of this blog post: our thanks to you. These past five years, we've been able to meet hundreds of people who have touched our hearts and affirmed our vision. From friends new and old at trade shows, to the feedback we get from our online customers, it's all about you. We thank all of our customers, visitors, vendors, friends and family who've supported us over these five years. Everything we do, we do for you, and we can't wait for you to see what we have in store in the many, many years to come!
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