Baskets-n-Bags In The Media
Looks Can Be Deceiving
Overlooked Business Has A Worldwide Reach
By Jim Hilley, The Las Cruces Bulletin
It seems unlikely, but tucked inside an easily overlooked door in an unobtrusive building on South Solano Drive is a company that has hundreds of thousands of items shipped internationally each month. It´s a business that keeps thousands of people around the world employed and, on top of this, it is committed to green principals and fair trade practices.
The first impression one gets after walking in the door of Baskets-n-Bags at 1494 S. Solano Drive is that it´s another import/export boutique, but that impression is way off the mark.
"We are mostly wholesale," owner Geetha Pai said, "but some people come in and buy things."
The primary business of Basket-n-Bags is wholesaling handmade packaging and promotional items to a wide variety of businesses around the United States, Canada and Great Britain, among others.
"We produce things out of India, Bali and Mexico," Pai said. "All of the things are made by women, not in a factory. A lot of things are done at home. We give them a design and they do it."
Those "things" are a dazzling variety of items mostly made of natural materials such as burlap, decorated with everything from cow horn to coffee beans. Folding boxes, wine bottle bags, greeting cards, candle holders, gift bags, picture frames, cup holders — even piñatas. Almost all of the items can be monogrammed with a company logo, an event or a name — handscreened of course. "Machines take away jobs," Pai said.
It is definitely not an ordinary boutique. "If people walk in and want to buy, they expect to be waited on, we don't do that," Pai said. "I have two more big rooms full of stuff people might have seen in a catalogue, but it is all leftovers. When people do a quantity, say 5,000, we will do 25 over so we get extra. If people want to buy, it´s okay, but otherwise we will use it for samples or donate it to school fundraisers."
A tour of Baskets-n-Bags reveals row after row of shelving stuffed to the rafters with the items the company has produced. Pai points out the greeting cards. "Look at the flowers on the cards," she said. "They are real flowers, each one is different. What we do is not spit out of a machine, whether it is for Christmas or an anniversary, we do it for you."
Pai pulled out an apron. "Look, our strings our adjustable, most of our things are laminated to be waterproof, I like to do practical things," she said.
Pai said most of her business is developed through trade shows. She said she attends seven or eight shows a year.
"If people need 500 of something, I ask what´s the theme, what´s the budget and what do you want with that budget? You tell us what you want and that´s what we do. But don't ask for it next week, I can't do that," she said.
"I've done things for Bellagio's in Las Vegas, for Pete Domenici, even Harrods of London."
Baskets-n-Bags does not generally get involved in shipping their items. "If something is made in Mexico and has to be delivered in New York, why should it come here? It is shipped direct, we could never handle that here," she said.
Pai's business is guided by her philosophical principles. "We are a green company, even the flax in our burlap is grown in Calcutta or Bangladesh," she said. "Nearly everything we do is either biodegradable or recycled, and we believe in fair trade practices — you won't find anything from (sweatshops in) China."
Part of that philosophy is helping provide employment for women in Third-World countries. Pai couldn't give an exact number of women who produce items for Baskets-n- Bags, but she said it is "close to 2,000."
Another guiding principal for Pai is practicality. She points at a shelf full of piñatas. "Guess how many piñatas I sold to United Parcel Service for their anniversary? Nine thousand, and I made seven cents on each one," she said. "But my piñatas are different. Most of them are made to be destroyed by kids and thrown away, but mine, you open them up and there´s a box inside, you can put stuff in it."
Overlooked Business Has A Worldwide Reach
By Jim Hilley, The Las Cruces Bulletin
It seems unlikely, but tucked inside an easily overlooked door in an unobtrusive building on South Solano Drive is a company that has hundreds of thousands of items shipped internationally each month. It´s a business that keeps thousands of people around the world employed and, on top of this, it is committed to green principals and fair trade practices.
The first impression one gets after walking in the door of Baskets-n-Bags at 1494 S. Solano Drive is that it´s another import/export boutique, but that impression is way off the mark.
"We are mostly wholesale," owner Geetha Pai said, "but some people come in and buy things."
The primary business of Basket-n-Bags is wholesaling handmade packaging and promotional items to a wide variety of businesses around the United States, Canada and Great Britain, among others.
"We produce things out of India, Bali and Mexico," Pai said. "All of the things are made by women, not in a factory. A lot of things are done at home. We give them a design and they do it."
Those "things" are a dazzling variety of items mostly made of natural materials such as burlap, decorated with everything from cow horn to coffee beans. Folding boxes, wine bottle bags, greeting cards, candle holders, gift bags, picture frames, cup holders — even piñatas. Almost all of the items can be monogrammed with a company logo, an event or a name — handscreened of course. "Machines take away jobs," Pai said.
It is definitely not an ordinary boutique. "If people walk in and want to buy, they expect to be waited on, we don't do that," Pai said. "I have two more big rooms full of stuff people might have seen in a catalogue, but it is all leftovers. When people do a quantity, say 5,000, we will do 25 over so we get extra. If people want to buy, it´s okay, but otherwise we will use it for samples or donate it to school fundraisers."
A tour of Baskets-n-Bags reveals row after row of shelving stuffed to the rafters with the items the company has produced. Pai points out the greeting cards. "Look at the flowers on the cards," she said. "They are real flowers, each one is different. What we do is not spit out of a machine, whether it is for Christmas or an anniversary, we do it for you."
Pai pulled out an apron. "Look, our strings our adjustable, most of our things are laminated to be waterproof, I like to do practical things," she said.
Pai said most of her business is developed through trade shows. She said she attends seven or eight shows a year.
"If people need 500 of something, I ask what´s the theme, what´s the budget and what do you want with that budget? You tell us what you want and that´s what we do. But don't ask for it next week, I can't do that," she said.
"I've done things for Bellagio's in Las Vegas, for Pete Domenici, even Harrods of London."
Baskets-n-Bags does not generally get involved in shipping their items. "If something is made in Mexico and has to be delivered in New York, why should it come here? It is shipped direct, we could never handle that here," she said.
Pai's business is guided by her philosophical principles. "We are a green company, even the flax in our burlap is grown in Calcutta or Bangladesh," she said. "Nearly everything we do is either biodegradable or recycled, and we believe in fair trade practices — you won't find anything from (sweatshops in) China."
Part of that philosophy is helping provide employment for women in Third-World countries. Pai couldn't give an exact number of women who produce items for Baskets-n- Bags, but she said it is "close to 2,000."
Another guiding principal for Pai is practicality. She points at a shelf full of piñatas. "Guess how many piñatas I sold to United Parcel Service for their anniversary? Nine thousand, and I made seven cents on each one," she said. "But my piñatas are different. Most of them are made to be destroyed by kids and thrown away, but mine, you open them up and there´s a box inside, you can put stuff in it."