It’s all in the bag

Alicia Robinson

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. Kimberly McClintick’s

is probably on a handbag.

Her passion for handbags certainly shows on her -- the accessories

designer behind Kimberly K Accessories has three small tattoos of

handbags she’s created.

When the handbag business McClintick started in Philadelphia began

to take off, her husband accepted a new job in Newport Beach, so she

packed up her fabric, designs and sewing machine in August and

brought them here.

She’s still settling in and works from a home office, but she’s

already added two area stores to the retailers around the country

that carry her bags. Being featured in the April issue of Redbook

magazine has further boosted demand for her bags, which come in a

variety of styles and sizes, from fun and funky to classic and

conservative.

“People have really loved them because they clean very easily and

they’re just fun fabrics,” said Karen Thro, who sells McClintick’s

bags at her Newport Coast boutique Millie. “I’ve sold a ton.”

The spring and summer line included a sturdy tote made from a

fabric with bikinis printed on it, and other bags sported

multicolored polka dots, grass-skirted hula girls on a background of

palms and pairs of Chinese shoes.

Bags were a switch for McClintick, a former hairstylist who

decided to go to design school though she didn’t know how to draw or

sew.

She learned both skills, ultimately convincing her school to let

her start a business as her internship project instead of working for

someone else. She graduated as valedictorian of her class.

Ideas for her bags come from just about everything -- a Christmas

gift of sequined pillows led to plans for a line of evening bags with

sparkly trims.

“I get inspiration from so many things,” she said. “Sometimes it’s

art or a sculpture, sometimes it’s seeing a woman on the street

carrying a bag, and I say, ‘I like that, but how can I make it

better.’”

It’s a good thing she designs bags, because at the moment

McClintick has her hands full. She’s juggling sales and marketing of

her spring and summer bags with designing a new fall collection.

Someday she’d like to add a wedding collection and even go into shoe

design.

With an eye toward expanding her sales, McClintick has hired a

Southern California sales representative, and she’s considering

making her bags more widely available online.

While running a business has been a lot of work, McClintick said

it’s also been a lot of fun.

“I really love it,” she said. “My whole life is bags.”

Kimberly K’s bags are available at Millie in Newport Coast and

Madison Avenue in Newport Beach.