news-record.com

BURLINGTON — The production area of this textile manufacturing company is a swath of concrete and brick walls and red, blue, hot pink, black and yellow fabric.

Until last year, the palette at Fuller Specialty was entirely monochromatic. Their product: mostly mesh sports jerseys and gym bags.

Then Sue Catherine discovered the company on the Internet and introduced it to "Preppy Paisley" and "Spring Fling" -- fabrics with crazy paisley and geometric patterns in bright colors. Now, the company makes products such as lunch bags, aprons and reversible headbands designed by Catherine.

She could not have imagined two years ago that the lunch bags she made for her children would evolve into this: a business that she and her sister-in-law and business partner call CaddySac.

Their products are sold in more than 60 stores and 16 states -- numbers that continue to grow almost weekly.

But the thing that gives Catherine the most pride: Her products are made entirely in North Carolina. She designs them, with advice from family and friends. Then they are produced by this Burlington textile company, a third-generation, family-owned business that prides itself on quality and customer service, values that Catherine also shares.

* * * * *

At Fuller Specialty, CaddySac fabrics stand out like an orchid in a field of clover.

And like her fabrics, Catherine also stands out here.

In this room of pony-tailed women, whose work attire is mostly jeans and T-shirts, Catherine arrives on this day wearing a magenta floral skirt and matching cardigan over a white polo shirt. Her pedicured feet are clad in canary sandals with kitten heels. Her green eyes flash with enthusiasm as she goes over fabric samples and upcoming orders with owner Mark Fuller.

"Sue has definitely added some color to the operation in more than one way," he says.

He teases her, saying she needs to warn them that she's coming so that they can down an energy drink beforehand -- "Just to keep up with the conversation," Fuller says.

Catherine gets ideas often and jokes that she "hates to hear the word no."

To which Fuller replies: "Her poor husband."

Clients such as Catherine make up about 20 to 25 percent of Fuller's business, which has allowed him to add several workers.

"If she gets bigger, I am going to have to hire somebody," Fuller says.

That's because it takes more time to make CaddySac items. In a day, one of his seamstresses might be able to produce up to 250 athletic bags, compared to just 25 to 30 CaddySac totes. Each item is handmade one at a time. Fuller marks the patterns to let the seamstresses know where the pockets and logos should go. They might show him new products for approval until they gain familiarity with them.

"We can't compete with import prices, but they can't compete with our quality," Fuller likes to say.

Catherine observes Olivia Jimenez sewing one of her newest items: a reversible headband. She says a few words to her in Spanish, and the women smile at each other.

"It means a lot to me to come in here and see people making our products and meeting them," Catherine says.

And the whirring sewing machines?

"The machines are music to my ears. I love it," Catherine says. "It means production and North Carolina labor."

* * * * *

Catherine, a blond, 44-year-old Chapel Hill native with a Southern accent, loves that she has been called "the Vera Bradley of the South."

The U.S.-based Bradley Designs is best known for making quilted luggage, handbags and accessories in soft, bright patterns.

Catherine, whose grandmother taught her to sew when she was a little girl, would love for CaddySac one day to achieve Vera Bradley status. When she was just 8, Catherine received her first sewing machine: a plastic Singer machine that she used to make Barbie clothes.

Although she majored in communications at UNCG, Catherine still wanted to create things. As a young girl, her hobbies included photography, painting and art projects, activities she continues to enjoy now. The hallway of her Irving Park home showcases black-and-white photos she took of her children, Cameron and twins Casey and Charlie. She frames and displays their artwork, too. A mosaic table she made is in the dining room. And pottery she and the kids made is on display in a kitchen cabinet.

When Catherine and her husband, Chuck, were newlyweds, they couldn't afford a decorator or professionally made draperies. So, she took sewing classes at a Charlotte community college to learn how to make bedding, draperies, even clothing. Chuck Catherine compares their 19-year marriage to one long episode of the "I Love Lucy Show."

The medical sales manager once returned home to find their front door painted purple. Sue called it "eggplant." He demanded she change it.

"I'm the boring, conservative husband, and she's the creative, flamboyant personality," he says.

Once, Sue Catherine tried to make draperies. She had her project spread across their bed. And forgot to remove the pins. When Chuck Catherine hopped into bed, the pins jabbed him everywhere. It was as if he were a human voodoo doll.

One of Sue Catherine's friends, who nicknamed Chuck "Captain Starch" because of his strict, no-nonsense Marine training, laughed and said, "Boy, I bet Captain Starch blew a fuse!"

* * * * *

CaddySac started with a lunch bag.

Catherine, who packs her children's school lunches, struggled to find totes that could accommodate what they eat. It was easier to find lunch bags for her younger children -- boxed juices, sandwiches and crackers are more compact. But finding a bag large enough for Cameron's salads and water bottles was more difficult. Most lunch totes weren't large enough for the round containers Catherine uses. And they were rarely tall enough to add a water bottle.

In her kitchen, Catherine traced the bottom of the containers she uses onto swatches of fabric. Then she stacked a water bottle on top of it to gauge the height she needed. She used a water-proof lining and added a small pocket for an ice pack to keep things cool. She added another pocket in the front for snack money. Catherine made her first lunch bags on a sewing machine in her dining room.

Cameron, 14, takes her lunch to school most days. Brown paper bags aren't easy to carry. Or very attractive. And lunch boxes?

"Like, in high school, carrying a lunch box -- you look like a nerd," says the rising sophomore at Page High School.

Cameron likes that her mom's lunch totes don't look like lunch bags. Except for Charlie's plaid tote, the patterns are bright and feminine. Sometimes Casey and Cameron use their bags to store toiletries for sleepovers or even as a purse. All of the Catherine children take their CaddySac bags to the pool because the lining keeps items dry. And Catherine uses busy patterns to hide stains.

"They always look clean," she says.

The bags started to attract attention from teachers, classmates and moms who wanted one, too.

But ask Cameron when her mother's business really got started, and she'll say it was after her sister Casey's slumber party in the summer of 2007. Casey's friends and their mothers admired the lunch bags so much that Catherine agreed to make one for each of them.

They selected fabrics, and Catherine promised to have them completed when school started.

"I had no idea it was such an exciting thing (to start the new school year with a new lunch bag)," Catherine says.

And before she knew it, Catherine was making more lunch bags for people.

* * * * *

When it was evident Catherine could sell enough products to launch a business, she wanted a business partner.

So, she turned to her sister-in-law Angela Senior. Senior and her husband have run their own business, a Wilmington-based national call center, since 1987. Catherine believed that with her creativity and Senior's business sense, they could be successful.

The prospect of starting a new venture appealed to Senior.

"I loved the product, for one, and the excitement and passion from Sue -- you just get swept away by it," Senior says.

The women grew their business slowly, investing their own money. They researched and test-marketed products to ensure they didn't produce a lot of items that wouldn't sell. They slowly added more CaddySac products: the gymsac, totes, reusable shopping bags, aprons, and reversible belts and headbands -- all with the signature bright, busy patterns and groovy names such as "Retro Girl," "Wavy Chic" and "Flower Power."

"We took things slowly to better the product," Senior says. "We're really happy with the quality (of what we offer)."

The name CaddySac evolved from a backyard brainstorming session over wine. It was catchy and sounds like the 1980 hit movie "Caddyshack," starring Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield.

For a time, the Catherines' dining room doubled as a sewing room. Catherine's work spilled over to the nearby mudroom where the children often do their homework. Then Chuck Catherine -- Captain Starch -- told her CaddySac was taking over their house.

So, she moved the operation to the 10-by-20-foot garden shed in their backyard. Surrounded by the family bicycles and Chuck Catherine's fishing rods overhead, Catherine sewed products until midnight, blowing fuses on those nights she had to run the heater, lights and her sewing machine.

"I blew fuses left and right," Catherine says, smiling.

Now, she has an office at the Nussbaum Center. And although her products are manufactured and shipped from the factory in Burlington, the Catherine children still sometimes help her with mailings or product samples for shows. Casey recently turned down a walk with the family dog to help her mom cut 150 fabric samples. She was encouraged to help by a monetary incentive: $20.

* * * * *

Catherine recently wore one of her favorite items while setting up a display at Pandora's Books in Lexington: a "Preppy Paisley" apron.

She likes CaddySac aprons, saying she's "bringing sexy back to the kitchen."

One day, she says, she would love to see the aprons in upscale gourmet supermarkets or kitchen supply stores.

The CaddySac possibilities and opportunities continue to grow almost daily. Catherine enthusiastically ticks off projects in the works or on the horizon.

There was some interest in launching a line of bedding, following a fabric show she and Senior attended in Atlanta.

Some golf shops are interested in carrying the small tote bags. Golfers could use them to carry their shoes, and the small interior pockets could hold golf balls. Then there's that name: "CaddySac."

Their products also will be featured at a Florida surf expo targeting resort-area gift shop owners. When surf designers Roxy and Billabong launch their new swimwear in a fashion show, the models will carry CaddySac totes down the runway.

It could bring more CaddySac clients. And that's just fine with Fuller because it means he can hire another person.

CaddySac's success still surprises Chuck Catherine, who has seen his wife take on many numerous crafts projects through the years. But he's also proud of her.

"I really like the fact that in this difficult economy, it's helping employ people in North Carolina ... when so many industries are moving manufacturing offshore," he says.

Contact Tina Firesheets at 373-3498 or tina.firesheets@news-record.com