Small town, huge start

SANDPOINT - For one local start-up business, 2011 turned out to be the launch pad for what has become a hot, national clothing concept.

In late 2010, Elizabeth Turley rolled out her women's apparel and accessories line under the name Meesh & Mia. She had moved into uncharted territory by offering stylish designs with the discrete inclusion of college and university logos and color schemes. Because women have been frustrated by a lack of fashionable merchandise that celebrates their alma mater, the creation of Meesh & Mia simultaneously created an entirely new product category with no competition in the marketplace.

Cha-ching!

Going into 2012, Turley has taken the company from its small business incubator office space to a 7,500-square-foot distribution and product embellishment facility, which sits right next door to her rapidly expanding creative group and photo studio staff.

Meesh & Mia ended the year with 16 employees - a number the founder projects will more than double to as many as 40 people over the coming year. They will fill new positions coming up in the areas of inventory planning, marketing, merchandising, distribution, creative and advertising, she listed.

Barely more than a year old, the concept is officially on fire as literally dozens of new schools come on line each month.

But what appears to be an overnight success was preceded by a long period of planning and pitching the Meesh & Mia story to build a customer base and secure financing for the business.

"We struggled through being undercapitalized in 2010, but with a lot of determination, we pulled it off," Turley said. "So many people hung in there and believed in this thing. It's comforting to know we're now in a position to grow as big as we want as quickly as we want."

Good thing, since the business has rocketed from just 15 universities in the early days of operation to nearly 70 by the end of 2011 - a 35 percent increase over initial projections for 2011 market penetration.

"Now we're on track for 105 schools by February and our 2012 projection is 200 schools by year-end," Turley said.

The thing that's propelling this growth is the solid punch Turley throws as a career professional in the women's apparel world. Her experience at major women's apparel companies such as Chico's and Coldwater Creek allowed her to put a new spin on brand loyalty, re-inventing the collegiate clothing industry in the process. Until Meesh & Mia hit the scene, college and university bookstores made only half-hearted attempts to attract female customers by offering smaller sizes of the same silhouettes they carried in men's team shirts and athletic wear.

Turley sensed that a more fashion-oriented approach was in order and seized the day. She was confident it would work, but did she think it would ramp up this quickly?

"Yes, I did, actually," she said. "I've always thought of this as a big company. I knew that when it took off, it would really take off."

Being first to market with a new branding concept like Meesh & Mia also has resulted in the kind of media attention Turley only dreamed of in earlier stages of her career. An ad in Southern Living magazine led to her product being featured on a nationally syndicated daytime television program feature on the "tailgating" phenomena, followed in November by a call from the Today Show requesting product for a similar feature segment.

For Turley, that was the holy grail of media exposure.

"It was kind of funny, because I had tried without any success when I was at Chico's and again at Coldwater Creek to get placement on the Today Show," she said. "And then here we were, little Meesh & Mia, making a debut. Kathy Lee and Hoda touched our product and the guest, a Southern Living editor, ever so briefly said, "great companies like Meesh & Mia.'"

"It was our moment of fame," she added. "And now we can say, 'As seen on the Today Show.'"

Immediately after the program aired, customers and colleges alike began to clamor for information about when their school would be able to get the branded clothing. The stars further aligned for Meesh & Mia when a national sales director came on board, complete with an established network of 25 sales reps, and broadened Turley's original concept of first licensing only big schools to include a strategic approach that now targets every college and university in the country.

"It doesn't matter where the school is or how big it is, the demand from women for good product is strong across the nation," she said. "With this sales team blanketing the U.S., we can reach an unlimited amount of schools.

"Our goal," she continued, "is to take this nationally."

After initial success with schools in the east and southeast, Meesh & Mia now has picked up licensing agreements with Stanford, Cal State Berkeley and universities in Idaho and Oregon.

Along with adding about 135 new schools this year, 2012 will mark the year that the brand went pro, according to Turley. Like the colleges and universities that missed the boat when it came to retailing to women, professional sports teams have historically been focused on men's wear. Once again, Meesh & Mia struck a chord with those franchises.

"We're already selling product to the Dallas Stars and the Portland Trail Blazers," Turley said. "And starting this year, we'll have contracts with NBA and NHL teams, which opens up the doors even more."

Just as with their collegiate counterparts, these teams already have a retail presence in place, allowing Meesh & Mia to move product through those locations without having to build stores of its own.

"Our focus on licensing gives us an edge," Turley said. "It's a very different business model from the traditional brick-and-mortar presence - and it's clearly an advantage."

In these early stages of the game, the brand has attracted a demographic of women in the 25-54 age group, mostly loyal alumni, coach's wives and professional women who want to show support - fashionably - for the home team. Starting this month, Meesh & Mia will announce a national contest aimed at pulling in a somewhat younger customer.

"Now we're figuring out how to close the loop with the student market by involving them in a design competition," said Turley, adding that schools with merchandising, marketing, advertising, graphic design and photography programs will be invited to participate starting on Jan. 15. Four winners will have their designs included in the company's Fall 2012 product assortment.

For the most part, the year 2011 was filled with open field running for Meesh & Mia, as the brand hit the limelight with virtually no competition.

"It's remarkable that no one has done this before," said Turley. "We're certain that others will follow our lead, but it's a $10 billion market, so there's room for competition."

For information on Meesh & Mia and a list of schools currently offering its products, visit: www.meeshandmia.com