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J.J. likes holding the bag One-woman company succeeds with backpacks
	By Jim McLain Ventura County Star writer Friday April 6, 2001
She certainly doesn't look the part, but around Dodger Stadium and the Staples Center, J.J. Matis is known as "the Bag Lady." A bright, energetic and tenacious woman, Matis is a fixture at the Dodgers' and Lakers' home games. Usually, she can be found telling a questioner that a distinctive ball-shaped Dodgers or Lakers backpack like her's can be purchased at the team's gift shop. If asked, she'll also quote the price: $50 at the Dodgers' Top of the Park store; $55 at Team L.A. in the Staples Center. Matis, 30, is the founder of J.J. Creations Inc., a one-woman company that made what baseball fans could call a rare triple play and basketball buffs a game-winning three-pointer. Its merchandise is on sale in stores and catalogs operated by two of the country's best-known and most-successful sports franchises and, starting in May, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Museum Shop in Cooperstown, N.Y. For a business that started as a graduate school project at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, that's not too bad. Of course, it doesn't hurt that some high-profile people like the merchandise. Tommy Lasorda, the Dodgers' bombastic former manager and current vice president, filled his backpack with trading pins and took it to Sydney, Australia, when he coached the U.S. baseball team to a gold medal in last year's Olympics. When longtime Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully got his, he summoned Matis to the radio-TV booth for a hug and told her his wife would love the gift. Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn and Jack Nicholson, the team's most prominent fan, also have her backpacks. But impressive as all that may sound, J.J. Creations -- J.J. is for Jaime Jennifer, Matis's first and middle names -- has hit a wall. To produce samples and effectively market its line to the 58 other big-league baseball and basketball teams and to a host of football, hockey, soccer and college clubs where her ideas seem to have big-bucks potential, Matis figures she'll need $1 million. She doesn't yet know where she'll get it. Matis was studying for her MBA in marketing at CLU when she used old shoe laces, cheap vinyl, some cotton and a logo patch torn from an old shirt to craft her first Dodgers baseball-shaped backpack in 1998. Six days after getting her degree in May, Major League Baseball Properties granted license No. 4046, allowing sale of Matis's merchandise at Dodger Stadium and, she hopes, eventually the 29 other major league ball parks. The National Basketball Association came through with similar potentially lucrative licensing in November. "A lot of the companies that people make up in grad school are just that, a project in school," said Matis, who lives with her dad in Sherman Oaks. "But this particular one just is somehow translating into the business world." It hasn't happen quickly. Matis had to produce four more versions of her backpack before coming up with one the Dodgers would consider. Once they agreed to sell it, Major League Baseball Properties took seven months to approve her products and business plan and grant the required licensing. In sports merchandising, where major corporations such as New Era spend millions of dollars in intense competition to get products to market, a self-financed individual with an idea is seldom taken seriously. Mike Nygren, the Dodgers' merchandising director, said people inquire almost every day, but he believes Matis is the first individual to get something into Dodger Stadium's two stores and 17 souvenir kiosks. Her products -- Matis also has purses and tote bags -- were impressive, Nygren said, because they are unique, stylish and obviously well-made. Matis also impressed him. "She showed real initiative dragging it in here every week saying please do something, please do something!" Nygren said. "She was persistent, and I admire that because she obviously has a belief in her products." Since introducing them in July, the Dodgers have sold more than 500 of Matis's backpacks. That's impressive, Nygren said, because the item is among the costliest of the nearly 2,000 the Dodgers sell and appeals mostly to women. Inspired by lifelong passions for fashion and sports, Matis also has designed lines around footballs, hockey pucks, soccer balls, bowling balls, volleyballs and others. On a few models, she uses fiber optics to light up logos and team names. All of them catch people's eyes, she said, and sell themselves. "For three years I walked around wearing them. That's how I knew I had something hot," she said. "People came up to me in the parking lot, in the hallways, in the bathroom, at the concession stands asking where I got the bag. It kept happening to me, and now it's happening to people who have my bags." The Dodgers recently placed their fifth order with J.J. Creations, the Lakers their third. The backpacks, are made in small quantities in Lake View Terrace. Matis figures she could increase her minimal profit and substantially cut the bags' cost with overseas production in 10,000-unit lots. But she'd need to sign many more teams for that, a marketing effort that could run to $1 million. "What J.J. has is very creative, but that's not where it stops. It's got to go beyond that," said business professor Ron Hagler, director of CLU's MBA program and an adviser to Matis. "She's in the toughest part of this right now." Hagler suggested Matis apply to present her business plan at the Central Coast Venture Forum, an investors' symposium to be held in Santa Barbara on May 17. If she is among the 30 accepted, he thinks Matis has a fair chance of getting the capital she needs. Among Matis's cheerleaders is Cyndi Galland, director of retail buying at the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Museum Shop. "She did this as a school project. That's the part that I find intriguing," Galland said. "Her idea is fun and whimsical, and I guess I'm thinking that it might make a great back-to-school product for kids, too." -- Jim McLain's e-mail address is jmclain@insidevc.com. [Ventura County Star, April 2001]

J.J. likes holding the bag
One-woman company succeeds with backpacks

By Jim McLain Ventura County Star writer Friday April 6, 2001

She certainly doesn't look the part, but around Dodger Stadium and the Staples Center, J.J. Matis is known as "the Bag Lady." A bright, energetic and tenacious woman, Matis is a fixture at the Dodgers' and Lakers' home games. Usually, she can be found telling a questioner that a distinctive ball-shaped Dodgers or Lakers backpack like her's can be purchased at the team's gift shop. If asked, she'll also quote the price: $50 at the Dodgers' Top of the Park store; $55 at Team L.A. in the Staples Center.

Matis, 30, is the founder of J.J. Creations Inc., a one-woman company that made what baseball fans could call a rare triple play and basketball buffs a game-winning three-pointer. Its merchandise is on sale in stores and catalogs operated by two of the country's best-known and most-successful sports franchises and, starting in May, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Museum Shop in Cooperstown, N.Y. For a business that started as a graduate school project at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, that's not too bad. Of course, it doesn't hurt that some high-profile people like the merchandise.

Tommy Lasorda, the Dodgers' bombastic former manager and current vice president, filled his backpack with trading pins and took it to Sydney, Australia, when he coached the U.S. baseball team to a gold medal in last year's Olympics. When longtime Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully got his, he summoned Matis to the radio-TV booth for a hug and told her his wife would love the gift. Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn and Jack Nicholson, the team's most prominent fan, also have her backpacks.

But impressive as all that may sound, J.J. Creations -- J.J. is for Jaime Jennifer, Matis's first and middle names -- has hit a wall. To produce samples and effectively market its line to the 58 other big-league baseball and basketball teams and to a host of football, hockey, soccer and college clubs where her ideas seem to have big-bucks potential, Matis figures she'll need $1 million. She doesn't yet know where she'll get it.

Matis was studying for her MBA in marketing at CLU when she used old shoe laces, cheap vinyl, some cotton and a logo patch torn from an old shirt to craft her first Dodgers baseball-shaped backpack in 1998. Six days after getting her degree in May, Major League Baseball Properties granted license No. 4046, allowing sale of Matis's merchandise at Dodger Stadium and, she hopes, eventually the 29 other major league ball parks. The National Basketball Association came through with similar potentially lucrative licensing in November.

"A lot of the companies that people make up in grad school are just that, a project in school," said Matis, who lives with her dad in Sherman Oaks. "But this particular one just is somehow translating into the business world."

It hasn't happen quickly. Matis had to produce four more versions of her backpack before coming up with one the Dodgers would consider. Once they agreed to sell it, Major League Baseball Properties took seven months to approve her products and business plan and grant the required licensing.

In sports merchandising, where major corporations such as New Era spend millions of dollars in intense competition to get products to market, a self-financed individual with an idea is seldom taken seriously.

Mike Nygren, the Dodgers' merchandising director, said people inquire almost every day, but he believes Matis is the first individual to get something into Dodger Stadium's two stores and 17 souvenir kiosks. Her products -- Matis also has purses and tote bags -- were impressive, Nygren said, because they are unique, stylish and obviously well-made. Matis also impressed him.

"She showed real initiative dragging it in here every week saying please do something, please do something!" Nygren said. "She was persistent, and I admire that because she obviously has a belief in her products."

Since introducing them in July, the Dodgers have sold more than 500 of Matis's backpacks. That's impressive, Nygren said, because the item is among the costliest of the nearly 2,000 the Dodgers sell and appeals mostly to women.

Inspired by lifelong passions for fashion and sports, Matis also has designed lines around footballs, hockey pucks, soccer balls, bowling balls, volleyballs and others. On a few models, she uses fiber optics to light up logos and team names. All of them catch people's eyes, she said, and sell themselves.

"For three years I walked around wearing them. That's how I knew I had something hot," she said. "People came up to me in the parking lot, in the hallways, in the bathroom, at the concession stands asking where I got the bag. It kept happening to me, and now it's happening to people who have my bags."

The Dodgers recently placed their fifth order with J.J. Creations, the Lakers their third. The backpacks, are made in small quantities in Lake View Terrace. Matis figures she could increase her minimal profit and substantially cut the bags' cost with overseas production in 10,000-unit lots. But she'd need to sign many more teams for that, a marketing effort that could run to $1 million.

"What J.J. has is very creative, but that's not where it stops. It's got to go beyond that," said business professor Ron Hagler, director of CLU's MBA program and an adviser to Matis. "She's in the toughest part of this right now."

Hagler suggested Matis apply to present her business plan at the Central Coast Venture Forum, an investors' symposium to be held in Santa Barbara on May 17. If she is among the 30 accepted, he thinks Matis has a fair chance of getting the capital she needs.

Among Matis's cheerleaders is Cyndi Galland, director of retail buying at the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Museum Shop.

"She did this as a school project. That's the part that I find intriguing," Galland said. "Her idea is fun and whimsical, and I guess I'm thinking that it might make a great back-to-school product for kids, too."

-- Jim McLain's e-mail address is jmclain@insidevc.com.

[Ventura County Star, April 2001]

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