We had the good fortune of connecting with Tina Frantz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tina, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I thought it would just be so easy to start a home-based business while tending to a newborn… this was the sadly mistaken thought process behind the launch of Tina Frantz Designs. While a seed had been germinating for my handbag brand for nearly seven years, and exploiting maternity as the window of opportunity to finally bring my business to life seemed appropriate at the time, I clearly had no idea what I was in store for with motherhood. Not a single woman in my life had warned me! Not any friends that had been through it, not my sister who had done it twice already, not even own my mother EVER gave so much as a whiff of forewarning, not a tiny hint of the hardship I would endure behind the veil of fuzzy pink and baby blue blankets. In all fairness to them, with time, one does forget as one slowly creeps out of the weeds and the joys begin to solidly outweigh the grievances. But between late night feedings, Urgent Care runs for mastitis, lactation consultations and contortionist feedings with a tiny tube being faked as my nipple, I did manage to bring my idea off the page and create the foundation for a sustainable handbag company. Sleeping no more than 4 hours at a time for nearly a year actually helped my designs. I was way too tired to self-edit. Ideas flowed from me like my breast milk did, and I taught myself to sew better and better with each 2am attempt. Now that my newborn is eight years old, I have ushered my brand through highs and lows, manufacturers and PR agents, overseas productions and all too many fiascos. It has seen more bumps and scrapes than my daughter has seen. It stood by like a left-out sibling when my son came along, and those that know me well know that I refer to my business as my middle child, because it is certainly the ONE WITH ALL THE PROBLEMS. But I have somehow managed to keep all three of my babies alive, and I couldn’t be more proud of who they have and will continue to become!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We are a sustainable, 100% repurposed, zero waste brand, and have endured many obstacles in order to keep it that way. Staying true to this mission is both our rasion d’etre and our achilles heel. If we’d abandoned this mission long ago so many things would be easier. But with a long view, we are building a business that offers some solution to a problem that isn’t going anywhere unless we make long view changes. Neither are we!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
A hike up Torrey Pines is a San Diego must. I’d also have to splurge and take them to dine at Market in Del Mar… by far the best meal I’ve had in San Diego!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My Shoutout goes straight to the community at large, and to the specific intentional individuals (you know who you are!!!) who have rallied behind us to assist us in our mission. The unexpected miracle I’ve met along the way is the unending supply of donated fabrics which we repurpose, in order to not only create some gorgeous hand candy, but also to divert it from becoming landfill and contributing to the environmental toll that our nasty fast fashion habit has created. WOOOHOOOOO!!!! Thanks community…we wouldn’t survive without you!

Website: www.TinaFrantzDesigns.com
Instagram: @tinafrantzdesigns
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TinaFrantzDesigns

Image Credits
Photo Credit for photo of me: Leah Johnhell, @lifeof thepartysd Photo Credit for lifestyle shoot Stacy Keck @stacykeck