A Chat With May’s Profile, Suzanne Vlietstra, president of Hobby Horse Clothing Co.

CS: What do you like most about the catalog business?
SV: Well, I’m pretty much flabbergasted that it works. To me it’s fun. Because I do kind of feel like Lillian Vernon sometimes. When I was a little kid I’d always send off for stuff from Boxtops and it was so exciting to get something. And I still mail checks out for stuff. I’m not that digital. And for me it’s a fun way to do commerce. We get a ton of consumer feedback — we call them “Hobby Love Letters.” I get them almost every single day with somebody saying, “Thank you for offering this product,” “Thank you for making plus-size show apparel.” Remember those demographics I gave you for our clients, not only are they getting older and richer, but they’re getting bigger. We do a pretty good job of accommodating that larger woman and helping her feel stylish in her sport.
We get a ton of consumer feedback. I’m very hooked in to what people are saying about us, even when they yell at me. And I find that it’s a lot of stimulation and verification. It’s really enjoyable. It’s very different than if you were just sending your stuff out to the stores. The consumers talk to us a ton. I love seeing our products help people compete in their sport. That’s really enjoyable.
And in fact I have a little fable on that. People ask me sometimes, like on an airplane or something, “What do you do?” And I look at them and I say, “I sell magic feathers.” And they go “Oh,” and kind of move away. Then usually people say, “Well, what do you mean?” And I say, “Well, I have a little manufacturing business and we make Western wear for people that compete in horse shows.” And it’s kind of like the Disney classic movie “Dumbo” where we know elephants can’t fly but Dumbo believes that if he held the magic feather that Timothy the Mouse gave him, if he held that magic feather he could fly. And the products that we make help the people that use them believe they can really compete and fly in their sport. And it’s very, very rewarding.