R. Riveter bag company employs military spouses seeking work opportunities
Two Army wives who struggled to find jobs as they moved every few years decided to make their own — creating a handbag company based out of North Carolina in 2011. In the spirit of World War II icon Rosie the Riveter, Lisa Bradley and Cameron Cruse named their company R. Riveter.
"You're moving every two to three years on average and employees see right through it," Cruse told CBS News. "When I met Lisa, she was going through the same exact thing I was."
"It was going to be military spouses that had to make it for military spouses," Bradley added.
The company began in Cruse's attic, relying on a sewing machine bought with a credit card. The duo said the goal from the beginning was to get other military spouses involved.
"We always wanted to have a national network," Cruse said. "We knew that somebody had to stand up and create the thing that we were searching for."
The leather and canvas handmade bags retail, on average, for a couple hundred dollars. They're sown by military spouses like Jennifer Gentry.
"It was the perfect job for me," Gentry told CBS News.
R. Riveter tapped into remote work a decade before most of the U.S. From home, Gentry sews from a kit of pre-cut materials — a job tailor-made for nomadic military life.
"Nothing changes," she said. "I pack up my stuff. I pack up my sewing machine, and as soon as I get to the next duty station, I unpack it and I just change my address and keep going."
There are 24 workers, which the company calls riveters, across 15 states, with a Florida factory assembling the individually sewn pieces.
R. Riveter's sales gradually grew, and the co-founders were even invited to appear on "Shark Tank" in 2016. Mark Cuban invested $100,000 into the company.
"We sold more handbags in one night than we did the whole previous 12 months," Bradley said after their appearance on the hit TV show.
They say sales jumped 1,700% the next year, and in 2017, Inc. Magazine named R. Riveter one of America's fastest-growing companies.
R. Riveter sells about 24,000 bags annually, with 80% purchased online. The company also creates "heritage bags," which are made from a family member's military uniform.
"We will make you your own custom bag out of that material, full of memories, that typically ends up in the closet in the back of the room," Cruse said.