Initials Inc.

Initials Inc. started with a diaper bag. Britney Vickery, a new mom, could not find anyone nearby to put her son’s name on his bag. Her husband Darren asked, “Why don’t you do it?” She bought an embroidery machine, set up a folding table in a spare bedroom and began monogramming for friends and neighbors, many of whom wanted to sell the products too.

Her sister Ivy Hall was doing the same thing hundreds of miles away in Texas. The company’s own story says each sister began with “one simple embroidery machine” and a home business. They launched Initials Inc. as a party-plan company in early 2005 and joined the Direct Selling Association. The home base was Clarkesville, in north Georgia. Fox Business reported in 2013 that the company had grown from its first ten sellers to about 10,000 nationwide.

Growth was quick in the early 2010s. AccessWDUN reported in September 2014 that Inc. magazine ranked Initials Inc. 930th on its list of the fastest-growing private companies, after revenue grew 484% from 2010 to 2013, and that it had made the list three years in a row. By 2020 the company had moved its shop to a new website and said it had sellers “in all 50 states.” Vickery led it as CEO and founder until the end.

Initials Inc. sold bags and home goods that could carry a name. The old Direct Sales Aid profile called the Sassy 180 the signature product: a classic, roomy handbag in solid neutrals or bright prints that owners dressed up with ribbons and scarves.

• Handbags and totes: the Sassy 180, the Flapper crossbody, open totes and carry-alls.
• Cooler and thermal bags: lunch boxes, food carriers and cool totes for picnics and sports days.
• Travel: carry-all travel bags for weekends away.
• Kids: backpacks and baby gear in bright prints.
• Home and office organizing: bag organizers, kitchen sets and command-center organizers.
• Later extras: wallets, pillows, throws, garden flags, beanies, bracelets and water bottles.

Personalization was free, and that was the point. A shopper chose a monogram style, a font and a thread color, or had a child’s name or a short phrase stitched on. When the business ended, Vickery named its “top selling totes, food carriers and coolers” as the products that defined it.

Sellers went by several titles over the years. The company called them Independent Creative Partners around 2011, consultants by 2015 and Independent Representatives by 2020. They sold at home parties, which the company described as party-plan selling, as well as one-to-one and through a personal website. It was a classic direct sales model with team commissions, the kind sometimes called multi-level selling.

Starter Kit

The old Direct Sales Aid profile listed a $100 starter kit with more than $400 of merchandise: 11 products, catalogs, party invitations, order forms, recruiting brochures and a fabric ring, plus a personal replicated website. In 2020 the company’s join page put the kit at $99 plus shipping and tax. It also offered a Host & Join program, which let a hostess put her free hostess rewards toward a kit and start for $0. Later seasons offered a choice of rep kit options.

Pay

In 2020 the join page advertised a base 25% commission on personal sales, rising to as much as 35%, plus 10% on the sales of personally sponsored Representatives. Pay arrived weekly, every Friday, which the company called “FriYAY for Weekly Pay.” To stay active a Representative had to sell $250 a year. The company said most Representatives worked 8 to 10 hours a month; that was its own description, not an income figure.

Hostess rewards

Hosts earned free products and half-price items when a party qualified. The old Direct Sales Aid profile recorded the tiers: a $250 party earned $25 in free products, and a $1,000 party earned $200 in free products and four items at 50% off.

On June 10, 2022, Initials Inc. and Tastefully Simple, a food direct seller based in Alexandria, Minnesota, announced a business relationship. The joint press release said the two companies would offer “delicious food and fabulous style exclusively under the Tastefully Simple brand moving forward.” Britney Vickery joined Tastefully Simple as Chief Business Development Officer to help move Initials Representatives to “their new home at Tastefully Simple.” The release said plainly: “The Initials Inc. brand will be dissolved over the coming months.” The Echo Press in Alexandria reported that the deal brought Tastefully Simple nearly 2,000 more independent sales reps.

“This is an exciting day for the Initials Inc. family as we link arms with another industry leader, Tastefully Simple, to bring even more success to our independent sales Representatives.”

Britney Vickery, founder and CEO, Initials Inc. — joint press release with Tastefully Simple (initials-inc.com), June 2022

Tastefully Simple said it would launch several new soft goods in its fall-winter catalog on August 8, 2022. Its founder and CEO, Jill Blashack Strahan, called the Initials sales Representatives “incredibly strong business owners and a fabulous culture fit.” The Initials online shop kept running into the autumn of 2022. By spring 2023 initials-inc.com showed nothing but the press release, and on October 2, 2026 the address returned a “not found” error.

Today Initials Inc. has no shop, no catalog and no seller program of its own. Tastefully Simple still sells through independent sellers. Initials bags turn up second hand on resale sites, monograms included. This Initials Inc. profile stays on Direct Sales Aid as a record of the company.