Gift & Home - August 2010

this year. We got our first shipment in, and we sent e-mails to everybody and anybody we knew and we asked them to send an e-mail to everybody they knew, and that’s what led us to the Dallas Market contest. Somebody saw our soft launch and thought that we would be perfect for The Next Best Thing contest.

What inspired the Clothes and Go clothing carrier?

Julie explains: “Well, it was re-
ally personal experience. We have
moved quite a bit. We like to build
home and sell it and then move,
and then build again. And we fig-
ured there had to be something bet-
ter [for moving clothes] than those
big moving boxes, wardrobe boxes
or hanging rods in the back of the
car. Any Myra always helped me.

And one day we put our heads to-
gether and said there has to be a
better way than this. A way to keep
your clothes on hangers and move
them. And so we started thinking
out loud, and tried some concepts.
And my husband had some manu-
facturing contacts and we experi-
mented and said “Hey, maybe we
are on to something.”
Myra adds, “And also, between
the two of us, we had six kids who
went to college, and we were the
ones who had to pack the clothes,
had entered their nationwide con-
test for The Next Big Thing, and we
were honored to be chosen as one
of the three finalists, and with that
came the opportunity to exhibit at
the Dallas Market show. We liter-
ally drove our application to the
market on the final day that it was
due. We’re lucky we live in Dallas.
“They had over 100 applicants,
so it is something the market is ex-
cited about with Dallas promoting
new products.”

Cindy Morris, chief operating officer, and Bill Winsor, president and CEO, Dallas Market Center, presented Myra Prescott and Julie Tobolowsky with a check for $5000 as part of being named The Next Big Thing Winners at the Dallas Market Center show in June.

Check out the video at www.clothesandgo.com unpack them and hang them up, and which was no fun by the sixth kid. So we figured there surely had to be something that would make our life easier.

Do You Have The
Next Big Thing?

The Next Big Thing contest is for anyone who has “The Next Big Thing” –– an artist, product designer, entrepreneur, or your next door neighbor. The finished product should be unique and innovative with an outstanding design and concept. Applications can be downloaded at www.dallasmar-ketcenter.com by clicking on “The Next Big Thing” and should be submitted via e-mail to thenextbigth-ing@dmcmail.com or mailed to The Next Big Thing; c/o Dallas Market Center; 2100 Stemmons Freeway, MS 120; Dallas, Texas; 75207.

Three finalists will be selected by a panel of judges from trade and consumer publications as well as Dallas Market Center representatives. The finalists will receive airfare and hotel to the upcoming Dallas Total Home & Gift Market FINDS Temp Show to show their product in a complimentary exhibit space ( 10’ x 10’ booth).

This opportunity allows for “The Next Big Thing” finalists to be seen by more than 50,000 market center attendees during the show. The judges will select a winner based on the finalists’ product, trade space presentation, and production plan.