A Year with T|W Tote: The newest professional, luxury tote on the market

One year ago on December 13th, Thomas and Wynter LLC launched the T|W Tote. We've accomplished so much in such a short time, and we're still learning and expanding our business.

What we've accomplished

In just the past year, we've had a significant amount of national news. In June, Good Morning America AND Sister Circle featured us on Father's Day segments. You can find both of those videos and more information here.

In this first year, we've had nine national news features on television and twelve features on blogs or in magazines, including GQ and International Business Review!

We've also expanded our tote line to include three new options: Mero Black with a Cognac interior, the Mero Black Mini, and Guinep which you can read more about here.

We hope to release 2 new colors soon, and we're working on more colors for you all. (We may even have an upcoming post for you to vote on your favorite colors, so sign up for our newsletter to stay tuned for that.)

Lastly, our team has expanded from four members to eight, so we have more manpower to bring us success and help us grow.

The learning process

At Tech Day NYC, we were able to greatly expand our network. These new contacts gave us a lot of advice and guidance. We will continue to learn about better practices for inventory, accounting, sampling, and other aspects.

Sometimes you try a method that works for you, but you later find out there's an easier and better way to do it. Or sometimes (many times) there's a lot of trial and error involved. Entrepreneurship is tough!

We've had to bob and weave around obstacles that came our way, and react accordingly. We've truly developed our instincts in this past year. Our gut feelings let us know whether we should or shouldn't do something (and it's much stronger when we shouldn't), so we always make sure to listen. 

We've also learned that working together tests our friendship. Working on this product has helped us understand how to communicate better.

Being in business with someone brings out who they are, and you have to decide if you're in or out with them. Shallon and I have learned to manage, and we'll continue to grow our company together.

What we want to do going forward

This year, we're sponsoring the membership of a young scholar who is looking to get into a STEM program. We hope to sponsor more students and give back to the community and to minorities.

We'll continue to expand our company and our T|W Tote product line, so keep an eye out and grow with us!