KERSTIN'S HANDICRAFT

Intelligent golf bag design made in Germany: black or white, as staff tour bag or carry bag.

Next Stop:
Down Under
Kerstin Kellermann speaks five languages and stitches in all 6,900.Because the German start-upper has customers all over the world.

BY NINA KAIKUSCH

BERGISCH GLADBACH. “It is relatively easy to communicate with customers by e-mail,” Kerstin Kellermann laughs. No wonder, considering that the young entrepreneur from Germany has a fluent command of five languages. The Internet opens up the whole world to the university-educated businesswoman. “I started at eBay, which is really a great platform for reaching international customers,” she relates about her introduction to the market last year. The young lady has already captured markets in 14 countries; six of her customers are even golfers in faraway Peking. “Especially the Italians are enthusiastic, followed by the Scottish and the British. Men are still in the majority here, but this summer we will introduce two lady bags.” However, the special touch – whether for women or men, businesses or private customers – is the same:  custom stitched staff tour bags, made in Germany.

Cool bags for cool customers: skull and crossbones design with Swarowski stones.

Intelligent design bags
Stitching a leather or nylon bag is generally no easy task, but Kellermann “has thought up a solution”: the somewhat smaller polyethylene staff tour bags (which fit on almost any trolley) are going into series production, but the front element can be removed for customized stitching in the machine. “When you specialize, you gain a tremendous amount of know-how.”

Sport sponsoring for Alex
The ideas all come from amateur golfers, such as the idea for the sponsoring project, which sponsors a bag with a cool design of a German flag for the 14-year-old “Hcp+4” player Alexander Lauer. The current top seller in the online direct marketing line is clearly the white bag for the Apple generation. “I want to become a global player and attain an international presence. A separate Kellermann golf category at eBay would be super,” Kellermann laughs.

Copyright: Golf Week / Nina Kalkusch