From a production standpoint, the greatest challenge is dealing with long timetables and Chinese manufacturing. Stettner preferred to do business in the U.S., but finding a company that produced bags with "sliders" was difficult.

Have you become a disenchanted traveler? Do you loathe the site of a simple baggy? No longer will your style suffer.

Kitty Stettner, the creator of the GlamBag travel bag for the fashion-savvy traveler, had a similar distaste for the stuffed sandwich bags.     

In PD&D’s latest Inside Design interview, Stettner discusses the evolution of GlamBags.

PD&D: When did you first conceptualize GlamBags?

Kitty Stettner: As a frequent traveler, I was going through the airline security process of shifting my 3 oz liquids from chic make-up bag to plastic sandwich bag, and realized that there was a definite need for something stylish.

PD&D: When was the first time you realized there was a market demand for a product like GlamBags?

Kitty Stettner: After my initial idea, we randomly polled women, friends and family, and realized that the majority of women prefer to upgrade to a fashionable bag. Many women liked the idea of using GlamBags as a quick fix accessory for other needs, such as gift & hostess bags, snack bags and jewelry bag organizers (they keep the tarnish away).

PD&D: When you decided to move forward with your idea, what steps did you take to make sure GlamBags would be more than a concept and become a consumer product?

Kitty Stettner: After receiving a thumbs-up from the numerous women that we interviewed, I decided to move ahead and begin production. With our first shipment, we opted to focus on social media to introduce GlamBags to the public. Since GlamBags are a fairly new entity (they were officially launched Q4 2009), we are still tweaking our social media and PR to push GlamBags from concept into mainstream as a consumer product. We’ve had many articles written on our novel accessory, and have sold bags to both consumers and retailers.

PD&D: How difficult was the product design process?

Kitty Stettner: Because plastic bags are already manufactured, the process was fairly simple. We increased the weight of the bag, changed the bag size and had an advertising firm fashion GlamBags with the design and colors that we desired.

PD&D: What were you greatest challenges in bringing your product to market?

Kitty Stettner: From a marketing standpoint, the greatest challenge is making women aware of the fact that GlamBags exist. We rely on our website (www.kikic.com), Facebook, Twitter and PR to spread the word. From a production standpoint, the greatest challenge is dealing with the long timetables and Chinese manufacturing. We preferred to do business in the U.S., but finding a company that produced bags with “sliders” was difficult.

PD&D: How did you control costs throughout the design and manufacturing process?

Kitty Stettner: We put GlamBags out to bid to highly reputable manufacturing firms.

PD&D: What is your take on the patent process?

Kitty Stettner: Long and arduos. GlamBags are patent-pending.

PD&D: What market research did you do to ensure that the GlamBags would be fashion-savvy?

Kitty Stettner: We base our designs on the colors and trends of the season that GlamBags become available. Our next GlamBag style, due in March, is for the fall/winter market and is a metallic gold and black design.

PD&D: How long will GlamBags last?

Kitty Stettner: That really depends on the use. For travel, I always get at leastfour uses out of GlamBags. If the bags are used for food, or wet swimsuits, one use is typical. Then I recycle them.

PD&D: How do you personally use GlamBags?

Kitty Stettner: I am probably the biggest advocate of GlamBags because I use this stylish accessory for just about everything: travel for my cosmetics and liquids, a protective beach cover-up for my iPod, a coupon bag for my handbag, a bag for messy sunscreens, a loose change bag in my car and a bag for sweaty stuff after a workout. My husband uses it as a golf bag organizer for tees, sunscreens, ball markers and divot repair tools.

PD&D: What are your market expectations for your new product?

Kitty Stettner: I would like to see GlamBags go mainstream as a fashionable alternative to the plastic sandwich bags we all use today. I would like to see GlamBags utilized for numerous uses like those mentioned above,not only as a stylish bag for TSA airport security.

PD&D: What new products might be on the horizon from Kiki*C?

Kitty Stettner: We plan to design a line for men and babies.

For more information, check out http://www.kikic.com/glambags.