Sisters Kristen Creamer of Edmond, Okla. and Kim Marable of Springfield, Mo., are the types that most budding entrepreneurs tend to envy.They make it look way too easy.Just over a year ago, the sisters merely were frustrated moms looking for hair accessories for their 1-year-old daughters that didn't resemble oversize, '80s-inspired bows.They also wanted something that wouldn't slip in baby hair, which tends to be fine and silky.After months of searching through baby boutiques in their respective states, Creamer and Marable did what any capable mothers would do: they decided to make their own.Now their "hip clips with a grip," also known as Ribbies Clippies, are popping up in 500 Target Corp. stores this week as part of the company's Parent Inventor Program."It was our dream to have this go into Target," said Creamer, 37.But they didn't expect to get there so quickly. The sisters agree it can only be a testament to their product.The idea was ignited by a summer trip to Michigan in 2006. There, the two sisters spotted grosgrain ribbons at a local fabric store and decided it was time to take matters into their own hands."(Our daughters) were in that kind of in-between bang stage, so we knew that we were going to be needing hairclips," said Marable, 36. "But we had always just found the same type over and over."They immediately turned to the Internet and found more than 75 patterns of ribbon that were stylish, cute and, most importantly, marketable."It was right then that I realized we could build an Internet business out of it," Marable said.And that's exactly what they did.Geared toward babies and toddlers, Ribbies Clippies - the name was a product of brainstorming - would simply be grosgrain ribbon-covered hair clips that used a nonslip foam strip to grip fine hair."Other hairclips will use the velvet or the Velcro, and those don't work nearly as well," Creamer said. "They make them a lot bulkier. Because we don't have that bulkiness on the bottom, they slide right in compared to our competitors'."Recruiting the help of Marable's husband, Rob, the sisters designed a Web site, www.ribbiesclippies.com, and by the fall, they were officially "mompreneurs."While Creamer managed sales and accounting from her kitchen table, Marable oversaw manufacturing, shipping and marketing in Missouri. On the weekends, the sisters would take turns commuting to each others' home to make up to 200 clips in a weekend.Word quickly spread among moms who visited online message boards and baby sites, and by spring of 2007, orders were exceeding the amount the two sisters could produce."There's a lot of moms that write these national reviews that get a lot of traffic," Marable said. "I didn't know how much traffic they got, but that was most of our sales, and then once we got orders from these customers, we had a huge reorder."About that time, a manufacturer in China got word about the sisters' success and asked whether they would be interested in outsourcing the assembly of their clips.Happy to spend their weekends in other ways, they accepted.But none of that success compares to their latest venture: being approached by Target and asked to participate in its Parent Inventor Program, which allows parent inventors to test their products in stores and possibly become a permanent fixture on store shelves.Ribbies Clippies' 12-week rotation began Sunday, and the sisters already have positive reviews."We've already gotten e-mails saying we're in a really good spot, and they're selling well," Marable said.Creamer said she visited the Target at 5400 N May Ave. and noticed they were almost sold out."I called my mom and was like, 'Mom, they're here!'" she said. "She came up with her camera and took pictures."Target does not comment on participants in the Parent Inventor Program, company spokeswoman Brandy Doyle said.A Ribbies four-pack retails at Target for $9.99 in the baby section.Ribbies also are featured in about 50 baby boutiques across the country and in Canada, Europe and Asia and available online for $6 a pair.Looking over the past year, neither sister - nor their husbands - can believe the success of Ribbies Clippies."We thought (Target) would be a perfect deal, but we just didn't think they'd come to us as quickly as they did or come to us at all," Creamer said. "This has been totally unexpected, but I've loved every minute of it."(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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