A Focus on Emerging Lines and Niche Makers

Fine Lines, a gift, fashion and home décor agency operating in the Western U.S. for over 30 years, has launched a new online showroom division, EGG. With a growing roster of emerging lines, niche makers and established lines that haven’t had local representation, EGG was developed to help buyers discover and shop fresh, new lines for their stores.

The purpose of EGG is to be a discovery site as well as an ordering platform explained Mara Tracy, marketing director at Fine Lines. “Although it is B2B, the EGG site is as familiar and easy to use as any retail shopping site and we made sure that buyers could discover and browse the lines and products on EGG without needing to fill out a registration form first,” she said. 

Gift Shop Plus chatted with Fine Lines Marketing Director, Mara Tracy, about how EGG was born.

How did EGG come to fruition?

MT: We often come across smaller, emerging lines that really excite us and that we want to connect with the retailers that we work with. When Fine Lines was a smaller agency, we were able to successfully represent large, well-established vendors along with much smaller, niche lines. Very small lines can get lost in a line package as large as Fine Lines’. On EGG, a one-item line like the DADO disco ball planter is a shining star.

What does EGG stand for?  

MT: Newness. Creation. Possibility. An egg is really the ultimate symbol of creativity and every product and line is very much a creative endeavor. As are the stores we sell to!

What are the requirements for vendors to be represented on EGG?  

MT: There are the usual requirements of professionalism, reliability, and quality. We’re connecting these lines with an account base of buyers that typically buy many lines from us and that we’ve known for years, and we stand behind the lines we represent. 

It’s an eclectic assortment, but every line on EGG is one that we’ve sought out and many were discovered because we bought their goods at retail for personal use! In other words, it’s something we would buy and stock in our own store. That’s really the common denominator.

How does Fine Lines find these makers?

MT: Some are discovered in local maker markets. Some come to us by word of mouth via another maker. And some are found in unexpected places – like Waveland Tea for example, who I tracked down after their branding was featured in Dieline, a packaging design blog that I follow. It turned out the tea was as great as the packaging! We keep an eye on Kickstarter too, for new and interesting products that are about to launch.

What can buyers expect from EGG?

MT: EGG is a part of Fine Lines, a rep group. Which means there’s a personal touch and literally a person behind every transaction. We review and manage every order before it is sent to the vendor and we are always there to chat and assist buyers that are shopping on EGG. For more information, visit www.eggishere.com.