DESIGNED FOR TODAY’S ACTIVE,FASHION-FORWARD LIFESTYLE The SportsChic inspiration simply presented itself one morning at my tennis clinic where I was amazed at the disarray of designer bags, sports bags, and sundries spilling out on the sideline benches and chairs. When I asked team mates, “Why the two bags?” most replied, “I don’t have the time or the place to put my wallet, phone and handbag essentials in this sports bag, and why would I want to?” OK, design a bag for use both on and off the court…then why not use neoprene to line the bag to keep cold things cold and hot things hot? Then when presenting the first sample, the AHA moment arrived - this is not a tennis bag, this is a lifestyle bag for gym, work, party, beach, baby, tennis, picnic, carry on, overnight…anyway you want to SportsChic! ABOUT THE DESIGNER Karin Shoup has been in design all her life. After graduating from Pratt Institute she worked in graphic design at Estee Lauder and American Express in New York before moving to Paris to work for Carre Noir, one of the leading consumer package design firms in Europe. While in Paris, she also launched her first product line of perfume called Chaos. Upon returning to the US, Karin moved into product management, first helping to launch the IBM Thinkpad laptop and then manage the launch of the first consumer laptop in the world, the Compaq Presario. Recently she decided to make the move full circle from technology back to fashion and design.