Luxury Tennis Jewelry Anyone?
SAN DIEGO (
) -- Playing tennis doesn't require the right luxury jewelry as an accessory.
But as anyone familiar with tennis knows, what tennis players wear on the court gets nearly as much attention as what celebrities wear down the red carpet.
"Attire on the tennis court is extremely important. There's tons of coverage of what players are going to be wearing. And a lot of women are playing in jewelry," tennis jewelry designer Hazel Nussbaum says.
It's just one of the reasons Nussbaum, 34, a brand manager and marketing professional by trade, said goodbye to her high-paying corporate lifestyle at
Unilever
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after 10 years and launched luxury tennis jewelry company
Love Tennis by Hazel
in May 2012.
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The move was inspired by several things, including Nussbaum's own search for appealing tennis jewelry.
"I wanted to buy something nice for myself. And I couldn't find anything. Everything was cheap or gaudy and ugly, in my opinion," Nussbaum continues.
Her solution was to begin designing her own tennis jewelry. Just last week Nussbaum launched the "London Collection," her third line of designs, to celebrate Wimbledon 2013. The collection includes tennis bracelets, necklaces and earrings designed by Nussbaum and handcrafted in sterling silver, gold or platinum.
Before London, there was Paris and New York. Each of her collections are inspired by, and named after, the location of a grand slam tennis event.
"I really look at what the cities represent. Each tournament feels very different. I try to design jewelry to elicit the feel of that particular stadium," Nussbaum continues. "New York is a loud, bold crowd, so that collection is bit more bold and unapologetic. Paris is all about fashion. Everything there is more refined, more simple and elegant."
So what about London? How does one interpret the feel of that event in the form of tennis jewelry?
"London is the home of the royals. I tried to make refined pieces and included pearls," Nussbaum explains.
Next up for the New York-based designer and self-described tennis fanatic is Melbourne, an event she says has a much different feel than the previous grand slams for which she has designed jewelry. Melbourne she refers to as more masculine and male-oriented. Her vision for the jewelry in that collection is more brash, cutting edge and innovative.
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But just because the jewelry is inspired by tennis doesn't mean it can only be worn while playing. Just the opposite. The jewelry is designed to be functionally relevant on the court and also worn off the court.
Nussbaum's jewelry is available at the International Tennis Hall of Fame and a few other stores. But the young entrepreneur does 98% of her business online, actively managing her online presence to drive business and awareness.
"The key factor contributing to my success, the No. 1 thing, is managing
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search -- because people are looking for tennis jewelry online, and that was my opportunity to capitalize on those people searching," Nussbaum says. "I'm really blown away by how successful it has been -- over six figures in six months. It was a huge risk, and it's scary every single day. I am completely by myself. I have no investors or partners. I invested my bank account in this business. But I've been lucky. It was 100% cash-flow positive in the first year."