A zippy business

Getting up in the middle of the night to change a diaper is bad enough, let alone changing messy sheets. But two local women have a 30-second solution that will get you and baby back to bed in no time. Zip Sheets were created by 35-year-old Amy Harris (pictured on left) in 1999, after a late-night awakening from her daughter. The Zip Sheets crib set includes a mattress cover that encases the crib mattress. The top of the mattress cover is made of ProCare, a hospital-grade material that acts as a barrier between the mattress and a “Piddle Pad.” The top sheet is attached with Velcro, which makes it easy to remove and wash. Karen Smith is Harris’ new partner who recently joined the company. Harris refers to Smith as a “bulldog when it comes to selling; she can sell anything to anyone.” With a Web site that launched Nov. 15 (www.zipsheets.com), these two women will need more than 30 seconds to keep up with crib sheet orders.

What’s the next step?

Harris: Our Web site just launched, so our next step is to do a couple of trade shows. We’re going to do some kind of guerilla marketing, working in the confines of Northern California and then regionally and then nationally within two to five years. We’ll make our mistakes locally and slowly build infrastructure to support our orders and our company growth. In order to take it to the next level we will do trade shows and one-on-one selling to local retailers.

Are you going to expand into products for the elderly?

Harris: Well, that’s our next step. Our goal is to start off with the crib sheet because we’ve already been doing them for so long. And then transition into a twin size for bed-wetting. And then into the adult market for assisted living and hospital applications.

Smith: I thought it was an awesome idea and I had never heard of anything like this. It definitely has marketing potential, and that’s why I’m on board.

How is the public hearing about your product?

Smith: Customer referrals. Talk about “Oh yeah, you should get this great product.” So we want to bring it to the next level. We want to bring it to the retailers and the consumers—not just friends and family.

Harris: We have, on our Web site, a lot of testimonials from people saying, “I only buy these gifts.” It’s been a lot of word of mouth. Our friends and our family have been great about it.

What’s been the biggest challenge?

Harris: Setting up the manufacturing has been the biggest challenge. We have been working with someone in San Francisco, which isn’t really panning out for us. So, we’re going to take it to a manufacturer in Dallas. But I think at this point we’ve got the product pretty dialed in.

When this becomes a bigger production, will you stay based in Chico?

Harris: Definitely, yes. We both have families here. I’m really tied to the community, as [is] Karen. There’s no other place we would rather be.