For the Maker’s Fair on Dec. 11, students of principles of business created a variety of businesses, media manager of Totes&Stuff, freshman Julia Geofferey said. After the mid-year break, the two businesses with the most sales resumed business, both selling tote bags, co-founder of Prints and Patterns freshman Maya Yatziv said. 

The founders of both businesses are in the same principles of business class and are friends, co-founder of Prints and Patterns freshman Chloe Dahl said. Geofferey said, because of this, they have a playful rivalry between their businesses, which helps them strive to do better.

“We are both supportive of each other and we were making money for the business class,” Dahl said. “We just happen to be selling the same things.”

Geofferey said she got the idea to start Totes&Stuff from a friend who is now a sophomore in college.

“She had a thrifting shop that she opened through Instagram and that allowed her to get a business scholarship in college,” Geofferey said. “I also thought it would be a good little side hustle to get money.”

Freshman and co-founder Perennial Ong was the one who planted the seed for Prints and Patterns, Dahl said.

“We landed on embroidery because Perennial did cross stitching,” Dahl said. “We tried to find something unique that not everyone could do so that we could supply it to people.”

Originally, Prints and Patterns sold tote bags, 3D prints and some crochet scrunchies during the Maker’s Fair, but they have started to sell more specific products for their reopening, Yatziv said. “Now we are selling custom-made stickers, embroidered or painted tote bags and art,” Yatziv said. “At the moment our target audience is Homestead craft people.”

Totes&Stuff paint and stamp their products while Prints and Patterns embroiders them, Yatziv added. Yatziv said the stamps give Totes&Stuff a more consistent quality and less creativeness with their tote bags. Though Prints and Patterns tote bags are less uniform, the uniqueness of each differentiates them from Totes&Stuff, Dahl said.

“Embroidery [takes] a lot of time,” Dahl said. “It takes hours going back and forth in the same place and making sure everything is neat and done. We also have additional things like embroidered handles and other elements to add to and enhance the tote bag.”

Both businesses are also trying to shift to larger audiences, Yatziv said. Geofferey said Totes&Stuff is exploring new ways to sell their products to aid their expansion.

“What we are working on right now is going to an actual market, maybe a farmer’s market or a handmade crafts market, getting a spot and then actually trying to sell there,” Geofferey said. “We are also planning on figuring out a delivery system so we can [sell] our products [to] people who live further away.”

Yatziv said she would like to continue running Prints and Patterns for as long as possible as it has grown into a newfound passion.

“There was a lot of adrenaline and rush in preparing for [Maker’s Fair] and selling things,” Yatziv said. “That kind of adrenaline just went on, [It’s] something you want to experience again, the fun of selling and providing things for people.”

Likewise, Dahl said the rivalry between Prints and Patterns and Totes&Stuff helps her stay motivated.

“We are working towards a common goal of just being the best,” Dahl said.