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BIG BOY Bones
A fashion designer’s business goes to the dogs.
 
One of the challenges facing a sustainable entrepreneur is creativity.  What do you do when, say, you’re a fashion designer creating unique handmade handbags out of recycled fabrics and a friend gives you a big bundle of beautiful, discontinued samples rescued from a trip to a landfill – samples too small for purses?
            Beanies?  Tea cozies?                      
            Samantha Abedin is a Dallas-based designer who learned to sew from her grandmother, and creates one-of-a-kind handbags from high-end fabric samples, or from heirloom material swatches for pieces designed in remembrance of loved ones.  Inspiration struck when her schnauzer Snoopy was diagnosed with diabetes. “It just hit me – dog bones.” 
            The first Big Boy Bone was made to comfort Snoopy – he liked it so much the second one was made for his sidekick Yahoo, a terrier who usually destroys any toy in a matter of minutes. It lasted a month, an amazing feat, and a fashion line was born.  Snoopy, who inspired it, became the CEO.
 
Boning up.
 A good CEO listens to advice.  Samantha suggested making the line as green as possible, and Snoopy agreed.  (Okay, he didn’t disagree.)  The bones are durable and made with recycled quality fabrics – their owners may bury them, but they don’t wind up in landfills. 
They come in a plethora of designs – Safari Collection, Parlor Collection, Uptown Collection, and In the Garden Collection. (“Red in Bloom” looks a little like marbled sirloin, at first glance.)  They’re in nine stores, and have been featured in events and auctions by celebrity trainers like Tamar Gellar and Cesar.  (Yep – that Cesar.)
Snoopy, in the meantime, is doing great with the help of his vet – the business world seems to have given him a new leash on life.  (Rim shot.)  Can he keep up with his
newfound fame?  Will he fall prey to Sudden CEO Syndrome – secret accounts in the Bahamas, a certain blonde Afghan that he visits in a downtown Dallas condo?
“He can handle it,” Samantha says.  “He’s a Big Boy.”

BIG BOY BONES, for big boys (or girls), at  www.bigboybones.com
Custom recycled handbags at www.samanthaabedin.com
(214) 738-6486  samantha@bigboybones.com