Mainebiz

V O L . X X V N O. X V I 66 Fact Book / Doing Business in Maine I n recent years, it has grown significantly and now has 25 East Coast stores, though it still retains its headquarters in a rustic waterfront building on Custom House Wharf in Portland's Old Port neighborhood. Prices range from $45 for a nautical chart bucket bag to $150 for most totes and up to $225 for more specialized bags. Stores are in water- side towns like Camden, Rockland and Bar Harbor; Provincetown and Oak Bluffs, Mass; Annapolis, Md.; and Vero Beach, Fla. Mainebiz caught up with Oakes and Shissler to ask about where the company is headed today. An edited transcript follows. Mainebiz: Is being based in Maine important to your brand? Don Oakes: Our connection to Maine is an incred- ibly important part of our brand. In fact, when we began our retail expansion out of state in 2014, we were redesigning our logo to incorporate "Maine" as part of it. Maine has a well-known and powerful brand throughout the U.S. and beyond, and we are proud to attach ourselves to it and to associate Sea Bags with Maine in the minds of our customers. Our location in Portland on the working water- front of Custom House Wharf is a huge part of our history and identity. So much of what we have accomplished is based on the authenticity of our brand and Portland, Maine, speaks to that authen- ticity to our employees and customers. Beth Shissler: e company was formed out of a desire to create jobs in Maine and specifically to bring back jobs in the cut-and-sew industry as so many of those jobs had gone offshore. Maine has a rich history of producing amazing products — and a work ethic and culture to go with it. We are dedicated to not only being headquartered here in Maine but to supporting other Maine businesses as well. Last year 55% of our annual spend was deliberately spent in Maine for materials, space and services. MB: Has the cost of your material (used sailcloth) gone up as the demand for Sea Bags grows? DO: at's a great question. We acquire most of our used sails through our Sail Trade Program where we P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY A brand connected to Maine — and the water B y P e t e r V a n a l l e n Sea Bags, which is based in Portland, makes and retails a variety of tote bags made with repurposed sail cloth. It was founded by Hannah Kubiak in 1999, and incorporated when Beth Shissler became a partner in 2006. She is now president and the CEO is Don Oakes, who was in marketing at L.L.Bean. Sea Bags CEO Don Oakes, President Beth Shissler (middle) and Vice President of Operations Sokunthy Yean at the flagship retail shop and headquarters on Custom House Wharf in Portland. Sea Bags, which has 145 employees and 25 stores, produces tote bags from repurposed sail cloth. I N N OVAT I O N / R & D

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