Pugster

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Pugster, Inc.

Type	Private
Founded	2001
Headquarters	Pasadena, California, United States
Industry	Fashion jewelry
Products	Italian charms
Employees	20
Slogan	Jewelry At The Speed of Life
Website	www.pugster.com

[Pinky]

Pugster, Inc is an online fashion jewelry company specializing in Italian charms. Pugster offers a line of accessories including brooches, beaded bracelets, rings, necklaces, pendants, stainless steel earrings, body jewelry, Italian charms and Murano glass jewelry. The company primarily offers finished products but also customizes designs for wholesale and retail customers.

Acting as manufacturer, importer, distributor, retailer and wholesaler, Pugster operates entirely in-house. Pugster’s name is inspired by the owner’s pet pug Pinky. Present daily in the Pasadena offices, Pinky remains the company mascot and spirit of Pugster.

[edit] Products

ITALIAN CHARMS

Italian charm bracelets were introduced by Italian jewelers. When the trend spread from Europe to the United States, a market was created for more affordable charms and fashion jewelry.

Pugster offers a line of more than 15,000 Italian charms. Each charm is crafted with a gold plated piece, backed by high grade stainless steel.

Pugster offers many different kinds of Italian charms including, enamel-painted charms, photo charms, laser charms, X2 enamel charms, deluxe-link charms, mega charms, super charms and authentic licensed charms.

Hand-painted charms are individually crafted using enamel paints and epoxy coating. Greater detail in design is possible depending on the depth of the enamel used on the charm. Photo charms feature an actual photographic image, and may be customized with a favorite family photo. Laser charms feature letters, numbers, names and phrases, etched onto the stainless steel face.

Pugster developed the X2 charm, which features double thick enamel. This depth allows for fine detail in design and is suitable for complicated scenes and character images. Each charm in a series features a scene from a story or fairytale.

Pugster has also obtained licensing agreements in order to offer authentic licensed charms featuring characters and official trademarked logos. This collection includes Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Pepsi, Curious George, Happy Bunny and Disney.

Italian charms are offered in standard 9 mm sizes and are compatible across brands and manufacturers. Individually selected charms link together to create a bracelet, keychain or cell phone accessory. They are also available in the Mega charm size of 18 mm, which can link two charm bracelets or create a bold bracelet made up entirely of this larger sized charm. Pugster also offers Superlink and Doublelink Italian charms, with shapes twice the length as the standard charm, with the standard height.

MURANO GLASS JEWELRY

Pugster also offers Italian Murano glass jewelry. This highly stylized, brightly colored blown glass gets its name from the island of Murano, Italy. Here, small works of art have been produced for centuries. Pugster offers the finest in Murano glass pendants, necklaces, earrings and bracelets as well as jewelry made from famous Murano beads.

FASHION JEWELRY

Pugster recently announced a new line of fashion jewelry. They expanded their line beginning with stylish brooches and 925 sterling silver fashion rings. They've also added a new line of necklaces and pendants including cubic zirconium and zodiac styles. New fun jewelry includes stainless steel fashion earrings and FIMO clay hair clips.

[edit] History

In 2001, the founder of Pugster was making her living by selling wholesale fashion jewelry to retailers. Success came with the old-fashioned approach of knocking on doors with samples of her wares. The wholesale business grew and grew. With leftover products crowding her garage, she embarked on what proved to be the ultimate in spring cleaning. She followed her husband’s advice and posted her products online at eBay – and she watched them disappear. With business booming, her husband decided to leave his job as a software engineer to join in her efforts. With a career history in technology he was able to offer his knowledge to the growing operation. At this time, Pugster was listing 300 new auctions per day. Selling retail and wholesale, the founders decided to build their business with a volume selling model - increasing volume rather than prices. Pugster’s products range in price starting as low as 99 cents. This model of business has allowed the company to maintain profitability while the average charm price has actually dropped in the last two years.

Since its founding in 2002, the privately held company moved to Pasadena, California and continued to expand to more than 20 employees. In 2005, Pugster reached a milestone: they received 1 million positive feedback comments on eBay. Since then, they have gained wider publicity and recognition when they were invited to participate in the 2005 Billboard Music Awards Backstage Creations VIP room. Pugster products were offered as part of a gift bag to celebrity presenters and performers at this nationally televised award show.