Plans underway for a new textile factory on Wabasha's bluff top

Article by: CURT BROWN
Star Tribune Updated: January 30, 2014 - 11:38 PM

John Behrns and Kelly McDonald stood on the hilltop overlooking Wabasha near the location of a museum he owns that will be used for her new factory, which will employ dozens of people from the area.

 
WABASHA, MINN. - The idea for a new bluff-top textile factory bubbled to the surface on a pleasure boat ride on the Mississippi River last summer.

Kelly McDonald was looking to expand her start-up purse and apparel business, housed in an abandoned doctor’s office on a quaint downtown block of this river town.

John Behrns had just cleaned out his family’s defunct Arrowhead Bluffs Museum, an eclectic collection of Indian artifacts and hunting trophies that had been a popular stop for field trips and curious tourists up the hill overlooking Wabasha.

“We were out boating together when she mentioned she was looking for some warehouse space,” Behrns said. “I told her I had an empty museum on the bluff.”

A plan was launched: Behrns, a carpenter, would transform his family’s 40,000-square-foot museum into a factory with office lofts above a floor where sewing machines would crank out an array of American-made products ranging from handbags to doggy beds.

After what’s billed as a routine zoning approval, the AMUSA factory — short for America USA — is slated to open late next month, eventually employing as many as two dozen people from the area.

“If it all works out, it will be a great thing,” said Rollin Hall, Wabasha’s mayor. “Kelly McDonald certainly is an entrepreneur who has a vision to make American products and create some jobs.”

Returning to their roots

McDonald and Behrns both grew up among the picturesque river bluffs. Her grandfather was the area’s game warden for decades, while his forebears homesteaded and farmed up the hill.

Like many of their peers, they both left their small hometown, population 2,500, before they turned 21.

McDonald, 47, moved to Minneapolis at 17 and traveled the world as an insurance executive. “Tired of milking cows,” Behrns, now 53, took off at 20 and worked construction jobs in Canada, Alaska and Russia.

Both were drawn back to their southeastern Minnesota hometown by the pull of family and a desire to be near aging parents. They’re a contrasting pair. He’s a big-game hunter who wears Carhartt clothing; she’s a fashionista with an ever-present shih tzu dog named Romeo.

Behrns started his own residential construction business and helped run the family museum until visitor numbers waned. Most of the items were auctioned off after the doors were closed to the public in 2011.

‘You’ve got to do this here’

McDonald launched her business, KIS Fashions, after an eye doctor in 1990 used the wrong drops, accidentally and temporarily blinding her for more than a year. After a corneal transplant, she regained her eyesight — and noticed that all her sunglasses were scratched from sharing purse space with her keys.

She started designing handbags with distinct pockets for glasses and keys under the KIS logo, forging manufacturing relationships in China, India and Mexico. She added a clothing line of soft leisurewear made with bamboo fiber.

Her purses and pajamas are available on NBC’s online shopping site and she was ready to expand the business. But she resisted the lure of cheap labor overseas and decided to pursue U.S. manufacturing.

“I looked at space in St. Paul, California, Georgia and New York,” she said. “But everywhere I called, there was a fat cat on the other end of the line trying to line his pockets.”

She joined a Minnesota nonprofit called the Makers Coalition, a group intent on renewing America’s sewing heritage. Locals in Wabasha, meanwhile, turned up the heat.

“My old piano teacher, my neighbor with a family trucking company and the owner of a local embroidery business all told me: ‘You’ve got to do this here,’ ” she said.

She’s working with the Dunwoody Institute in Minneapolis to come to Wabasha for textile job training seminars and hopes to find displaced skilled workers from the Red Wing Shoe Co. up Hwy. 61. She’s also opening up design opportunities to fashion students on her website through competitions.

Her makeshift crew produced more than 60 handbags recently for the Shriners organization and, once the factory is up and running, she plans to funnel a portion of her profits to organizations that serve the visually impaired and mentally handicapped.

‘The community’s factory’

Jane Roemer is among the lifelong Wabasha residents excited about the prospects of a new factory. She’s an unemployed accountant who hopes to help McDonald.

“I really like Kelly’s passion,” she said, “and how part of the profits are going to charitable causes.”
Besides her own handbags and apparel, McDonald says the factory will be home to a local company, the Rover Mattress Co., that uses recycled materials to make dog beds. And a California T-shirt and scarf company has also expressed interest.

Behrns, who will be the factory’s landlord, hopes to cash in on a little patriotic fervor.

“Whenever I buy something, nine out of 10 times, I look where it was made and lean toward products manufactured in America,” he said.

Made in Wabasha, well, that would be even sweeter for the game warden’s granddaughter.

“I think he’d be real proud,” McDonald said. “What I’m building will live on long past my lifetime. It will be the community’s factory.”

Curt Brown • 612-673-4767

From left, Krista Olson, Sherry Hinkley, Cindy Fenstermacher and Jane Roemer worked on handbags made in a makeshift garment factory in downtown Wabasha. The handbags will soon be made at a new factory being built out of the old Arrowhead Bluffs Museum.

JOEL KOYAMA • jkoyama@startribune.com

Handbags made by Kelly McDonalds business KIS.

JOEL KOYAMA • jkoyama@startribune.com

Some of the collection in the museum is stored in a few rooms where Kelly McDonald's garment factory will be located in Wabasha. 

JOEL KOYAMA • jkoyama@startribune.com

Rochester, MN Post Bulletin

Posted December 20, 2013
by John Weiss
weiss@postbulletin.com

WABASHA — John Behrns was looking for a use for the main building of the now-closed Arrowhead Bluffs Museum on a bluff overlooking Wabasha.

Kelly McDonald was looking for a place to expand her small business, which she opened in a closed clinic in downtown Wabasha, so her handbags, women's accessories and other items can be made in the U.S.

The two are expected to come together in about a month when McDonald moves her AMUSA business to the former museum owned by Behrns and his parents, Les and Shirley Behrns. She wants to eventually employ about 20 people in the leased building.

John Behrns, who has done carpentry work around the world for many years, is now renovating much of the main museum building, which once held scores of full-body mounts of trophy wildlife, a large collection of firearms and an even larger collection of Indian artifacts.

He said he's known McDonald, who grew up in Wabasha, for many years. When they were out boating last summer, he mentioned that he had a lot of room at the museum, and the project was born, he said.

People are looking for American-made products, such as those done by KIS Fashions, another McDonald business, he said.

"There's a lot of patriotism, and they are willing to pay a little bit more for American stuff," he said. "It gives you a good feeling, that it's made in America."

McDonald said she once headed a Twin Cities insurance agency but was blinded for a year when and eye doctor put the wrong drops in her eyes. When she regained her sight, she found many of her sunglasses had been scratched by her keys because they were all jumbled in her purse.

She decided to make a couple of her own purses and found others wanted them, too. She eventually began having the purses made in China, Mexico and India. But when she was scheduled to fly to China with a designer, there were influenza and terrorism alerts.

"I just didn't feel right about taking her over there," she said.

She also didn't like that the glue used in China was banned in the U.S. because of its toxicity.

And then she found out about The Makers Coalition out of St. Paul that is working to "restore and build the industrial sewing heritage of America." She joined it and decided to reverse the outsourcing trend and bring the jobs back to America to make items for KIS.

When she mentioned the idea to local people, they encouraged her to open her business in Wabasha.
"This town needs the employment," she said. She formed AMUSA to make KIS products as well as those for other small companies.

McDonald said AMUSA can get specialized items out much faster and make changes more quickly than the Chinese plants, she said. For every 350 handbags she needs, she can hire six people for a month, she said. She said payroll is higher in America, but she can save on transportation and other costs.

McDonald believes others in America will see that and outsourcing could slow.

"I think it's going to get to the point where I think we are going to become competitive," she said. "We're not there yet."

But she thinks that time will come. As business owners, "we need to put our foot down," she said. "We need to bring the jobs back."



John Behrns and Kelly McDonald stand in the former main part of Arrowhead Bluffs Museum on a blufftop near Wabasha where McDonald will move her AMUSA business. Up to 30 people might work there making purses, women's accessories and other items.

Date: December 6th, 2013

AMUSA factory begins

When KIS® was asked if they could design a handbag for an impressive group of ladies, KIS® responded “we are honored, and this means a great deal to us”!

KIS® Fashions had been manufacturing overseas, until now.  It is important to KIS® to be able to create opportunities of employment here in America.  It is important to KIS® to do business with a factory that it “feels good” to do business with.

If KIS® were to send this project overseas, they would have to purchase hundreds of the same bag (minimum order requirements) and it would have taken 3 months.  That doesn’t work when you are making an exclusive design,  it doesn’t create employment in America and it doesn’t have the “feel good” element.

So, with the Jester project AMUSA (America USA)  is born.  AMUSA, LLC is a factory located in Wabasha, MN USA.  AMUSA will make all KIS® items and will work for other companies in the USA manufacturing their textile products.

The Jester - AMUSA's first project completed

Wabasha, MN, home of the ‘Grumpy Old Men’movies, and The National Eagle Center, is a lovely community along the Mississippi river and AMUSA is not only providing jobs and enhancing lives, it is giving back.

AMUSA, LLC will be giving 25% of it’s profits to Vision Loss Resources, a non-profit organization that provides valuable services to the visually and hearing impaired.  Another 25% of it’s profits are going to the local DAC, a non-profit organization that helps mentally handicapped individuals in Wabasha and surrounding communities.

Designer Creates Opportunity

Kelly McDonald of Wabasha, is the founder and designer of KIS Fashions.
McDonald who lost her sight in 1990 and was visually impaired until she recovered
from corneal transplant surgery later the following year,
creates handbag designs that she says are "innovative and functional.

Post Bulletin – Saturday October 26,2013
By Holly Galbus
news@postbulletin.com

WABASHA – A local handbag maker has found a unique way to make a splash:  It’s seeking designs from students across the country to create a product for the retail market.

Kelly McDonald, founder of KIS Fashions, has created Design4America, a national competition giving fashion design students the chance to submit an original design that could be sold at boutiques and other retail stores.

KIS Fashions, located at 205 West Second Street in Wabasha, sells handbags and women’s apparel at its shop and through its website, kisfashions.com.

McDonald was born and raised in Wabasha, and after working for 22 years in the insurance and hearing aid industries, moved back in 2006 to be closer to family and friends.

This past May, she opened KIS Fashions as well as AMUSA, a local factory to manufacture leather handbags, women’s apparel, and bedding and bath textiles. AMUSA already has its first order for 26 handbags and continues to work on samples of products for the upcoming season.

The AMUSA factory is in the KIS office but soon will be moving to a former museum building; it has three employees and hopes to grow to 20 by 2015.

In the future, McDonald hopes to manufacture products for companies similar to KIS Fashions.
Previously, McDonald worked with overseas factories to manufacture her products, but she wanted to bring her business to the U.S. She feels good about making the move to Wabasha, creating employment opportunities for local residents in sewing and assembly of her products. AMUSA will also be giving a percentage of its profits to both Vision Loss Resources and Wabasha County DAC, which assists mentally challenged individuals.

The Design4America competition began taking registrations this October. It is open to any current fashion design student or graduate in the last five years.

Through the submission process, students learn how an item proceeds from the design stage to the marketplace.

First, the student submits a photo or drawing of the original design in one of three categories: handbags, apparel, or bedding and bath. After consideration, the student may advance to the next step and create a sample and pattern of the design. Winning entries will eventually be sold online or in retail stores and boutiques, and may be featured on the home shopping channel, ShopHQ.

McDonald is excited about giving students this opportunity. “It is so rewarding to work with them – they are ingenious with their designs,” she said.

She sees her role as business partner to these budding young designers. “I am giving them a platform,” explained McDonald. “It can be difficult for new designers to get their ideas to the market.”

KIS Fashions began with a line of handbags, which McDonald designed to be both functional and luxurious.

The importance of these 2 concepts emerged from a challenging time in her life. Losing her sight in 1990, she realized the difficulty a woman who is visually impaired has in finding essentials in her handbag.

Also, the touch and feel of fabric became more important to her. This heighted sense of awareness led her later – after a corneal transplant restored her sight in 1991 – to design handbags with functionality and the comfortable feel of lambskin. She designed her handbags with numerous pockets to separate essentials like keys and sunglasses.

Style Mention

BRING IT
by Nancy Ngo

Wabasha-based KIS Fashions, specializing in handbags, accessories and loungewear, has launched a student design contest and is taking submissions in handbag, apparel and bedding categories from up-and coming students.

The winning entries will be made into samples that could be manufactured and sold in boutiques. The designs also could get a shout-out onShopHQ, formerly ShopNBC, where some KIS products already are sold.

Submissions are being taken with rolling deadlines through the end of January. For more information, visit kisfashions.com and click on the "Enter Design4America" contest link.

Thanks for mentioning us Nancy! Follow Nancy at twitter.com/nancyngotc and pinterest.com/nancyngotc.

Getting to know KIS

KIS Fashions LLC Founder and President,
Wabasha native, Kelly McDonald

Wabasha County Herold
By Regeena Roemer
Fashion Design Student

W-K grad tells of internship with local fashion merchandise company that believes in “Keeping It Simple”…and scrumptious, sexy, sleek, smart, sporty…

KIS is a company that creates beautiful leather handbags and women’s apparel. Instead of a label that makes someone feel like they’re better than anyone else, it’s a product line and a company that makes you feel great about yourself! The label, KIS, is not someone’s name or something that represents a group, it’s whatever the consumer/new owner makes of it. KIS stands for keep it…simple, scrumptious, sexy, sporty, special, sleek, smart, sassy, stylish, sophisticated, silly, and spectacular!

Fashion student, Regeena Roemer (left)

My name is Regeena Roemer, and I’m studying at the University of Wisconsin-Stout towards a degree in Apparel Design and Development. Over the summer, I had the wonderful opportunity getting to know Kelly McDonald, the founder and president of KIS Fashions LLC. Ms. McDonald is very determined, hard-working, and so much fun to be around! Kelly began her company out of an office in her home. She began by doing research online; reading product reviews to find out what women wanted, yet not getting from their apparel and handbags.
   

With every handbag comes a solution for more organization and function – this was the agenda for KIS and the handbag line. With other businesses that Kelly had been involved with, she said that from time to time, she would have doubts during the process. That was different with the forming of her fashion venture.

“Since the beginning of starting KIS, I never questioned my decision to move forward with KIS Fashions, LLC.” Kelly added, “I have felt a spiritual guidance every day and opportunities of small and tremendous significance have blessed us, coming with just what we need at just the right time.”

Kelly started with a number of different handbag designs, then researched factory options in different countries such as those in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, China, India and Italy to name a few. Samples were made and put into production. Yet there were still challenges building an infrastructure to address all needs, while operating with efficiency, and within a budget. That’s where networking came in.

KIS is headquartered in Wabasha. Kelly admitted, “There have been challenges being in a small town: fewer people to network with, difficulty finding warehouse and fulfillment resources, skilled labor.” And to boot, she was spending more time on the road traveling, which means less time spent in the office. But she added, “I don’t mind hard work and I love being here with my parents, so the decision was easy.”

Kelly was working with factories in China, negotiating prices for the new designs and getting ready to take the trip to review the finished samples when new information influenced her decision to take the company in a different direction. “The prices have gone up, the minimum order quantities were harder to negotiate, “and she said, “It just didn’t feel right. I want to create employment here in the USA.” Kelly researched American manufacturing, calling factories in New York, Georgia and California.

Although every American factory stated that KIS would need to double or triple their price points, KIS is proceeding with a factory in Chicago and with locally sourced talent. The factory, in addition to a skilled leather craftsman, will be doing the KIS handbag designs from the sampling to the production.

One of many KIS popular designs

Kelly McDonald/KIS Fashions, LLC are members of The Makers Coalition (www.themakerscoalition.org), a movement to bring manufacturing back to the United States. The Makers Coalition collaborates closely with Dunwoody College, which offers a cut-and-sew program that is training students into skilled factory workers. Since joining The Makers Coalition, Kelly’s dream to create a manufacturing facility that would benefit a greater good felt closer than ever.

In October of 1990, Kelly lost her sight within a day’s time. She became visually impaired until she received a corneal transplant the following year. The experience forever changed her outlook on life. Now, Kelly is on the board of Vision Loss Resources, a non-profit organization in Minneapolis that helps the visually and hearing impaired by offering programs and services that empower individuals to lead more normal lives. The Director of VLR approached KIS with the idea of their organization being involved with the manufacturing of KIS products. This idea is being explored with different professionals to see how this could work.

At the same time, Kelly is also looking at manufacturing in or around Wabasha. She says if this were to be the case, they would like to tie into the local DAC. Close personal friends to Ms. McDonald have been very active and passionate about their charities and involvement with organizations such as the DAC. Kelly has been touched and inspired by witnessing their involvement and passion and this also near and dear to her heart. KIS’ start with the local talent is just the first step towards a local factory which all can feel good doing business with.

Kelly has no intention of owning the factory, but she is willing to do all she can to help set up the facility and bring other companies in that would also like to have their products manufactured in the USA by such a “feel good” company. Remarkable, yes indeed, and KIS is taking it even further by cutting their profit margins to make manufacturing in the U.S. possible. She said, “We just have to work harder and be smarter, the hard work doesn’t scare me if I feel good about the business I am doing and the products we offer, it’s just the right thing to do!”

If you think this all sounds too good to be true, Kelly is also reaching out to America’s design students and working with Art Institutes of America. KIS is a case study for the students to learn about a company experience, and Kelly has served on a panel of judges reviewing Portfolio Presentations created by Retail Management Bachelors of Science Graduates, KIS understands that as designers, the students face a number of obstacles trying to turn their ideas into reality – from finding suppliers to drumming up PR. Consumers only have the option of buying mysteriously conceived designs by a company they may be familiar with but a designer that is unknown.

As of September, 2013 KIS is launching a program where all designs of handbags, apparel and bedding will be created by Fashion Design Students within the USA. KIS® Fashions, LLC is a company that is for Fashion Design Students and all of us, consumers.

Fashion Design Students currently enrolled or that have graduated within the past five years are encouraged to enter, submit a winning design and earn rewards for themselves and possibly their teachers. Consumers will be able to visit the KIS Website and get to see the winning entries and get to know the designers. As Kelly has been setting this program up, she has been consulting with a professional designer and me, a fashion design student. The professional designer commented that she wishes she had this opportunity when she was in school and I can’t thank Kelly enough for truly making my kindergarten dream come true.

Kelly says she loves win, win situations and knows this is what she is supposed to be doing. She said, “It feels like the right thing and I feel it is the beginning of something great.” McDonald is confident about the team she is putting together and the opportunities that await her growing brand including the chance to show off beautiful bags on ShopNBC. “When the new design inventory arrives, we will be on-air for 75 Million viewers to see, our story will be shared via media opportunities, student designers and our local manufacturing will be established and growing.”

When I went to university orientation at the very beginning of the summer my professor had made very clear the students that we needed to start gaining experience in the industry immediately, and figured out who we wanted to design for. My professor also asked who we wanted to design for and without hesitation, we all said we wanted to work for a famous designer that we looked up to. It wasn’t the answer she was looking for.

I know now what a better answer might be because of my opportunity at KIS. The best way to
prepare for a career in apparel design is to actually design, and Kelly had me doing just that. With every design, KIS always has a solution in mind, I learned so much through the process by making trend boards, creating a design, making the pattern, and sewing the sample handbag that would be sent off to the manufacturer.

By the end of my internship at KIS Fashions, I knew exactly what my professor meant by asking who we wanted to design for. Now I know I want to create products for someone who has a good outlook on life, good-willed intentions, and of course, an amazing company, like KIS Fashions.

So, keep your eyes on this company – KIS is creating great things to bring to market and wants to do good in the process.

If you wish to help KIS in their pursuits, feel free to reach out to KIS’ owner and founder, Kelly McDonald email: Kelly@kisfashions.com or 651-560-2140 – I was glad I did!

KIS products are currently being sold via the popular TV shopping network, ShopNBC, and retail shops and boutiques throughout the U.S. KIS products were being manufactured in Mexico and then China, but in July 2013, KIS started the process of basing manufacturing in the U.S.

Kelly moved back to her hometown of Wabasha to be near her aging parents. Employment opportunities for Kelly’s extensive business qualifications weren’t readily available so Kelly decided to start her own company and have fun with it. Ever since she was in middle school, Kelly would draw lips on scrap paper and notebook covers accompanied by the KISS line, “Keep it Simple Stupid.” These days, she believes everyone deserves a KIS…and there’s certainly nothing stupid about it!