Designer turns hobby into business

By: Holly Kramer, Staff Writer

Mark Coffey/Sun photo In a spare bedroom in her Overland Park apartment, Cindy Lero puts the finishing touches on a purse. Lero designs, creates and sells handbags.

Following a passion that started with home economics sewing classes, Cindy Lero, Overland Park, has launched a Web site to sell her handmade purses.

Lero’s site, www.elitestreet bags.com, offers handbags with designs such as black and white zebra stripes, embroidered silk, western motif and earth tones.

“I’ve been sewing forever but I started making handbags last year; everybody said I should start making bags,” Lero said.

Inspiration also came from a relative, Lero said.

“I also had an aunt when I was little who did a lot of sewing and I just thought it was so cool that she could just take a piece of fabric and make it into something really beautiful,” Lero said.

Lero has worked as a paralegal at the Eppright Law Office for five years. Starting an online business took some planning, she said.

“I’m working a full-time job and wanting to do this,” Lero said. “I’ve got to work smart and not hard. I can’t be schlepping bags all over the city to try to get people to sell them.  Marketing is the hard part.”

Launching the Web site made sense, Lero said.

“Everybody’s on the Web,” she said. “Everybody is always shopping on the Web, and I thought that it would be a way of having a storefront without having the overhead of a store.”

Lero described her handbags as “classical and contemporary.” Designing a bag takes time, she said.

“(Designing) takes longer than what you would think,” Lero said. “You have to shop for the stuff, so that takes time. Then cutting the fabric and you have to work not only with the design of the bag, but the design of the fabric. Cutting out takes time, the sewing is kind of the easy part.”

Style and convenience are her main goals, Lero said.

“I like to include a cosmetic pocket, cell phone pocket, and a place for keys,” Lero said. “The inside of the Elite Street Bags looks just as gorgeous as the outside.”

She enjoys using a variety of fabrics.

“I really like working with the fabric,” Lero said. “And the designing part of it, putting together all the colors, textures and the embellishments is fun.”

Lero said she can do custom orders for people who want to choose different fabrics, designs or bag sizes.

Her creations will be on display June 19 at the Doubletree Hotel, 10100 College Blvd., Overland Park.

For details, call 710-9904.

Contact Holly Kramer at 385-6068 or hollykramer@sun publications.com.