(Note: This story appears in the March 2022 issue of ED Magazine)
In nearly 40 years of working at Minor Creations, Steve Carpenter couldn’t recall anything close to the deluge of business his company was hit with spring 2021.
At a production meeting, Steve Carpenter had sales, shipping and production staffs pose ideas about how to best deal with the booming business demand Minor Creations was facing — and had been facing since March 2021.
“I just sat there and I said, ‘I don’t have any idea,” recalls Carpenter with a chuckle. “I’m not the kind of person to sit there and say ‘I don’t know.’ I usually have an answer. It was so much business. All we could do was pick a spot and start there — do the best we can.”
Carpenter, who runs Minor Creations along with his sister Julia Minor Story, has been involved with the company since its founding in 1983. They produce styles for adult entertainers, bikini bar workers and those who just want to have fun at home.
And in nearly 40 years of business, Carpenter can’t ever recall such a frenzied demand for dancewear than March of last year.
“I was extremely surprised — it was like a landslide of business” Carpenter says about the demand. “I figured it would last three-four weeks and then demand would taper off, but it didn’t let up the entire year. The way we dealt with it was priority on our best styles first.”
Those best styles include the G106, a basic thong from Sinema Separates that is a reliable mover for Minor Creations and comes in 19 different colors with more on the way. From Bling Factory, there is also the B300, a bra and thong set with rhinestones and the B315, a sequined thong and tri-top set with a matching sequined money bag.
These reliable sellers are in addition to new styles that Minor Creations puts out every week on Wednesday on their website that are continuously changing.
“I would say our new styles every Wednesday are a very important part of our business,” Carpenter says. “We literally have customers that sit at their computer and wait for the styles to go live in the afternoon and start ordering right away. They know as busy as we’ve been, those styles will be produced for that particular week and will sell out right away — when they sell out, they’re gone. We’re done with it and onto the next week with new styles again. That’s an important part of business. It’s an opportunity for our customers to keep their racks fresh — we get reports from customers that sell to people who are anticipating the new weekly styles.
“Honestly, last year, everything was selling. It’s hard to pick out something that was the best,” Carpenter adds.
It’s a far cry from the company’s humble beginnings in Julia and Steve’s mother’s basement.
“You’re talking about going from a basement to a full-size enterprise,” Carpenter says. “I don’t know how to put that into words. To be honest, there was no master plan — we just kept producing.”
And producing, and producing — no matter how busy the company got.
Minor Creations is primarily a wholesaler, and sells to individual stores, people who travel from club to club and housemoms. They also sell to clubs with stores attached or adjacent to the establishment that want to supply their store and/or club.
“We’re here to help clubs,” Carpenter says. “The clubs doing well are the ones where entertainers look good. We’re there to help club owners/operators make sure their dancers look good. It helps everybody: club owners, girls make money, tip outs are higher.”
“What I’ve learned is to be aggressive, go full-throttle and keep the production going and let the inventory build up,” Carpenter reflects. “I can tell you right now, come May or June, we’re going to have a landslide of business again. We’ll be ready.”
For more information, visit minorcreations.com or call (1-800) 255-1595.
