For William Ripley Martin and Joan Martin, the co-founders of Brahmin Leather Works Inc., the challenges were many.
It took getting fired for the Martins to realize their dream.
In “Dizzy Hill: The Brahmin Story,” William Martin shares his struggles to overcome severe dyslexia, school failure and being fired from his job at Trafalgar, a producer of leather goods, to create Brahmin, the designer handbag company, after years working in the shoe industry.
The Martins founded Brahmin in 1982 out of their home in Hingham, with Joan as designer, but they are known on the SouthCoast for their luxury handbags and accessories sold at their Fairhaven Factory Outlet at 77 Alden Road. Their spring sales are legendary.
According to the Brahmin website, all their products are designed in Massachusetts using luxury leathers from Italy and around the world.
Bamboo toothbrushes to luxury handbags:12 products manufactured in the New Bedford area
From being fired to finding success
William shares his story of personal growth in his memoir written in collaboration with his brother, James Martin, a former operations executive in the food industry. Dorrance Publishing describes the book as “the journey of a learning-disabled, troubled kid from failure to success.”
Nordstrom was the only national department store that carried Trafalgar products as a sales and marketing strategy when he worked there, and the Martins learned from this.
Their big break was reaching an agreement with a buyer for the Marshall Fields department store for a large order of their Brahmin handbags. Their handbags were displayed in the show windows of the Marshall Fields’ flagship store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Neiman Marcus in Dallas followed.
High-end handbags:At Brahmin Tent Sale, purse snatching is the norm
From Taunton to New Bedford
After opening a factory in Taunton, the Martins ultimately decided to move and found a home in Padanaram. When circumstances led them to relocate the business once again, they opened a new factory in an old mill building on Conduit Street in New Bedford.
They were in New Bedford for six years before moving to the factory in Fairhaven where the company could grow. They bought the 22,000-square-foot building in 1994, and it became their design, operations and manufacturing headquarters.
They also credit their son, Scott, for heading up the company, but it has since been sold by the Martins.
