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Entrepreneur Plays Ball with the Professionals J.J. Matis hits a home run with sports backpacks and totes
	by Judith A. Proffer Five years ago, lifelong Dodgers fan J.J. Matis was rummaging through the shelves and bins of the Top of the Park Store in search of the perfect something to tote her game viewing paraphernalia: pom pom’s, foam fingers, peanuts, water bottle, binoculars and radio. The young fashionista was none too pleased with the traditional backpacks and duffle-style bags she encountered, so she tapped into the amateur seamstress within and set out to craft a one-of-a-kind bag that resembled an actual baseball. “Immediately I was inundated,” she says of her makeshift white vinyl and red shoe lace bag - held together with Velcro. “At my seat, in the concession line, in the ladies room. Everywhere I walked around the stadium, questions followed. I was overwhelmed with ‘where did you get that adorable bag?’ All the ushers were approaching me, telling me I should show the bag to the Dodger merchandising department. While cheering on my team, I had an instinct, feeling, gut reaction that I may created an item that other fans will be willing to depart with their hard earned money to purchase.”
In her last year of graduate school at California Lutheran University with a final project looming for Marketing Emphasis, Matis threw caution to the wind, turning to her baseball-shaped backpack. “If I had know that every day, every major sports team is inundated with product submissions, I probably wouldn’t have even tried. But I was naive, and that worked in my favor.” She took a Polaroid of the bag, wrote a one page letter, paper clipped it all together and sent it to Mike Nygren, the director of Dodger marketing. Nygren called Matis the next day - telling her if she created a business plan, completed the application to the MLB office in New York and produced samples, he would place an order. “Mike Nygren encouraged me, guided me and advised me through the entire lengthy process with the leagues and teams,” she says. Matis received licensing authorization just two weeks after she received her MBA in marketing. Today twenty Major League baseball teams carry her products, along with the Lakers, Clippers and Kings. And sports enthusiasts Cameron Diaz, Dyan Cannon, Jack Nicholson, Penny Marshall, Sean Green and Tommy Lasorda have swept up bags and totes in support of their favorite teams. And regular folks snap up her line too - the ball-shaped and graffiti bags (splashed with team and city names, hearts and “I” tumbled in a readable fashion) sell out as quickly as she can deliver them to Team L.A. (At a recent Lakers game, I spotted more than one on the arm of a zealous Lakers fan.) They’re like portable cheerleaders. And fans of baseball, basketball and hockey love them. With entrepreneurial roots, a passion for sports that dates back to as long as she can remember and a fashion sense that would find her happily working at a sewing machine as a teen, it seems Matis - a vivacious thirtysomething - was destined to find success in a world that combined business, fashion and sports. Her grandfathers were successful business owners - one a jeweler (Les K. Jewelers) with notoriety. Her mother owned beauty salons. Her father owned a travel agency. Matis started taking creative matters into her own hands as early as Middle School. “First I made a polka dot tote bag, featuring my initials. Now the market is saturated with various initial bags. Next, I made a dress and a shirt. From that point on, I began to alter just about all of the clothing, bags and accessories I wore. And whether it was mending things, altering or creating original designs, I always received compliments on my early creations.” The ambitious Matis began her career working in the marketing departments for the Los Angeles Raiders and EMI Music. “After five years, I learned that the corporate setting didn’t appeal to me.” While Matis is the driving force behind J.J. Creations, the grassroots operation brings family together in a big way. Her father is the CEO of the company, a business advisor and primary investor. Her mother is an investor and fashion consultant. Her brother is her photographer and IT contact. She credits her grandmother, aunts, cousins and friends for tremendous moral support. “My family and friends have played an integral part of the success of my company,” she says. “They are my best marketing reps because they provide the most immediate feedback each season.” A far cry from that whipped together first bag, Matis is now manufacturing en masse at her factory in China. A February trip to the Far East consummated her alliance with King Power Enterprises, in preparation for the 2004 MLB season. Thinking globally, she also acts locally, flexing her philanthropic muscles whenever time permits. She recently raised over $1,000 for the Lakers Youth Foundation with an autographed Lakers bag, while an autographed Dodgers bag scored $300 for the Dodgers Dream Foundation. She works closely with the Scleroderma Foundation and seeks out mentoring opportunities, hoping to inspire other budding entrepreneurs. And she is taking her fashion accessories reach beyond sports, with flag shaped backpacks and bags in the Senate Gift Shops in Washington D.C. and backpacks with a nod to musical acts No Doubt and The Grateful Dead. “Running a company, in my opinion, has to do with passion and filling a need of your customer,” she says. “I work so much to keep things going. Every day something good and bad develops. The best experience happens over and over when I get direct feedback in person or online from individuals who purchase my creations. It feels good to be acknowledged by strangers because something I created makes them feel good.” For more information and to see the complete line of bags and backpacks, visit jjmatis.com. Nancy Gregory contributed to this article, a portion of which appeared in the Studio City Sun last fall. [Sherman Oaks Sun]

Entrepreneur Plays Ball with the Professionals
J.J. Matis hits a home run with sports backpacks and totes

by Judith A. Proffer

Five years ago, lifelong Dodgers fan J.J. Matis was rummaging through the shelves and bins of the Top of the Park Store in search of the perfect something to tote her game viewing paraphernalia: pom pom’s, foam fingers, peanuts, water bottle, binoculars and radio. The young fashionista was none too pleased with the traditional backpacks and duffle-style bags she encountered, so she tapped into the amateur seamstress within and set out to craft a one-of-a-kind bag that resembled an actual baseball.

“Immediately I was inundated,” she says of her makeshift white vinyl and red shoe lace bag - held together with Velcro. “At my seat, in the concession line, in the ladies room. Everywhere I walked around the stadium, questions followed. I was overwhelmed with ‘where did you get that adorable bag?’ All the ushers were approaching me, telling me I should show the bag to the Dodger merchandising department. While cheering on my team, I had an instinct, feeling, gut reaction that I may created an item that other fans will be willing to depart with their hard earned money to purchase.”

In her last year of graduate school at California Lutheran University with a final project looming for Marketing Emphasis, Matis threw caution to the wind, turning to her baseball-shaped backpack. “If I had know that every day, every major sports team is inundated with product submissions, I probably wouldn’t have even tried. But I was naive, and that worked in my favor.” She took a Polaroid of the bag, wrote a one page letter, paper clipped it all together and sent it to Mike Nygren, the director of Dodger marketing. Nygren called Matis the next day - telling her if she created a business plan, completed the application to the MLB office in New York and produced samples, he would place an order. “Mike Nygren encouraged me, guided me and advised me through the entire lengthy process with the leagues and teams,” she says. Matis received licensing authorization just two weeks after she received her MBA in marketing.

Today twenty Major League baseball teams carry her products, along with the Lakers, Clippers and Kings. And sports enthusiasts Cameron Diaz, Dyan Cannon, Jack Nicholson, Penny Marshall, Sean Green and Tommy Lasorda have swept up bags and totes in support of their favorite teams. And regular folks snap up her line too - the ball-shaped and graffiti bags (splashed with team and city names, hearts and “I” tumbled in a readable fashion) sell out as quickly as she can deliver them to Team L.A. (At a recent Lakers game, I spotted more than one on the arm of a zealous Lakers fan.) They’re like portable cheerleaders. And fans of baseball, basketball and hockey love them.

With entrepreneurial roots, a passion for sports that dates back to as long as she can remember and a fashion sense that would find her happily working at a sewing machine as a teen, it seems Matis - a vivacious thirtysomething - was destined to find success in a world that combined business, fashion and sports. Her grandfathers were successful business owners - one a jeweler (Les K. Jewelers) with notoriety. Her mother owned beauty salons. Her father owned a travel agency. Matis started taking creative matters into her own hands as early as Middle School. “First I made a polka dot tote bag, featuring my initials. Now the market is saturated with various initial bags. Next, I made a dress and a shirt. From that point on, I began to alter just about all of the clothing, bags and accessories I wore. And whether it was mending things, altering or creating original designs, I always received compliments on my early creations.”

The ambitious Matis began her career working in the marketing departments for the Los Angeles Raiders and EMI Music. “After five years, I learned that the corporate setting didn’t appeal to me.” While Matis is the driving force behind J.J. Creations, the grassroots operation brings family together in a big way. Her father is the CEO of the company, a business advisor and primary investor. Her mother is an investor and fashion consultant. Her brother is her photographer and IT contact. She credits her grandmother, aunts, cousins and friends for tremendous moral support. “My family and friends have played an integral part of the success of my company,” she says. “They are my best marketing reps because they provide the most immediate feedback each season.”

A far cry from that whipped together first bag, Matis is now manufacturing en masse at her factory in China. A February trip to the Far East consummated her alliance with King Power Enterprises, in preparation for the 2004 MLB season. Thinking globally, she also acts locally, flexing her philanthropic muscles whenever time permits. She recently raised over $1,000 for the Lakers Youth Foundation with an autographed Lakers bag, while an autographed Dodgers bag scored $300 for the Dodgers Dream Foundation. She works closely with the Scleroderma Foundation and seeks out mentoring opportunities, hoping to inspire other budding entrepreneurs.

And she is taking her fashion accessories reach beyond sports, with flag shaped backpacks and bags in the Senate Gift Shops in Washington D.C. and backpacks with a nod to musical acts No Doubt and The Grateful Dead.

“Running a company, in my opinion, has to do with passion and filling a need of your customer,” she says. “I work so much to keep things going. Every day something good and bad develops. The best experience happens over and over when I get direct feedback in person or online from individuals who purchase my creations. It feels good to be acknowledged by strangers because something I created makes them feel good.”

For more information and to see the complete line of bags and backpacks, visit jjmatis.com.

Nancy Gregory contributed to this article, a portion of which appeared in the Studio City Sun last fall.

[Sherman Oaks Sun]

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