Larisa Lapshina - I have time for everything!

Article author Natalia Voichenko

The material is taken from the magazine "I love" Riga

"Let's try on a hat, shall we? Look how beautiful! But this one is even better, let's try it on! Larisa Lapshina smiles as she watches the stubborn baby kick back from her persistent mother. Larisa takes out a magic mirror "ladybug" and the child, looking at himself, suddenly sees that he has turned into a berry, sun or flower - such colorful and funny hats are very popular with children, and especially little fashionistas. Larisa Lapshina's brand is called Happy Hats - "Happy Hats", and Larisa believes that her hats, which she loves to knit so much, will definitely be worn for a long time, cheer up and be inherited!

Larisa knits hats quickly: she watched TV, cooked dinner and did not notice how two hats were already ready. And, despite the fact that there is a crisis in the yard, her hats are sold out well, so you can’t relax, especially since Larisa Lapshina recently entered the Russian market, and there are already completely different scales. “There they tell me, well, bring about three hundred hats for a start,” Larisa smiles. - “So, what is the crisis here, we have to work!”

But Larisa’s business began with a simple hobby - she always liked knitting, and even while studying at the Riga Aviation Institute at the Faculty of Radioelectronics, student Lapshina managed to knit a sweater for her younger brother at lectures. After graduating from the institute and getting married, Larisa gave birth to a child and, like many mothers, "settled" at home, raising her daughter Alina. Once, when she knitted an original blouse for her daughter, her husband advised Larisa to take the same blouse to the store for sale.

Not counting on anything in particular, Larisa went to a children's goods store and they took her blouse, and offered to carry more. But, having knitted a couple more sweaters, Larisa suddenly realized that the time and material costs for blouses are large, and you can’t set a high price - there are still extra charges in stores. Then the idea came to her mind to switch to children's hats, because there were a lot of clothes in stores, but it was a problem for parents to choose an elegant headdress for their child. Since then, Larisa has been true to her choice. Her business is already 15 years old, and she increasingly meets children in her hats on the streets, getting great pleasure from this.

Larisa Lapshina is an individual entrepreneur, her Happy hats can be bought in stores and ordered directly by looking at the models on her website, or at website of the Russian representative brand "HAPPY HATS"

And also in the group "In contact" or Facebook.

Of course, lucky hats can also be bought at fairs.

It so happened that opening your own store turned out to be unprofitable, but at fairs, many people are already specifically looking for her counter with cheerful colors of children's hats. Of course, for girls, the choice of hats and berets is much wider, but Larisa met the numerous requests of mothers of little tomboys, and blue and green caps for boys appeared among her hats. According to Larisa, a child should feel special from childhood, he should grow up in harmony and beauty, which means that by dressing their child beautifully, parents themselves, without noticing it, bring up good taste in him, which will definitely come in handy in life.

Larisa invents models for her wonderful hats herself, and she sees an interesting combination of colors in the world around us. Here the sun is interestingly reflected on the fabric, and what a beautiful ladybug on the green grass, and how beautifully the fountain streams shimmer ... The world comes to Larisa through a kaleidoscope of flowers, and the children's world is generally an inexhaustible source for imagination - let's add funny horns to this hat , on this one - our strawberries, and on this beauty - flowers. Through her hats, Larisa plays with children, and in her hats gnomes, suns, berries and just cute and charming people live in our world.

But when Larisa six years ago applied to the Jurmala City Council to sell her hats on Jomas Street, she was told that the Latvian mentality does not accept brightness, so bring something white and linen. This is already now, in the summer on Jomas, the same deputies from the Duma come up to Larisa and ask for something more fun for their children. Apparently, times have changed... Larisa likes to work in Jurmala - there are a lot of people here in the summer, a lot of communication, and besides, it's nice when Russian stars buy hats for their children during "Jurmalaina" or "New Wave" - ​​it means the quality of Happy Hats really good. Larisa Lapshina's hats are really popular - children go to fashion shows in them, a children's ensemble with Olga Pirags sings in bright berets from Lapshina, and up to 400 hats are bought from Larisa during the summer season.

How to make your hand-made business successful? Larisa Lapshina, based on her experience, advises:

- Do not spare money for investing in business, the time will come and they will pay off. Make a catalog and promote your products in every possible way without compromising on quality.

- Rely on the help of loved ones. Larisa knows from experience that it would be very difficult for her without the help of her husband, who will take her to the fair and make a stand and help with carrying. Larisa's mother, when she is in Latvia, helps her with knitting, and her daughters, who are now 17 and 12 years old, either sew beads on hats or ribbons.

- Keep track of which products sell best and focus on them. But at the same time it is necessary to think about the creation of new collections.

- Do not wait for all the items from the collection to be sold, but go ahead, create a reserve for yourself. Even Larisa, whose Happy Hats are already known in Latvia, does not sell out all her hats. At the end of the season, Larisa does not put a discount on products, but simply takes unsold hats from the store - thus, she has a reserve of unsold items. A needlewoman can even present such an unsold hat at the fair to some child whose parents cannot afford to buy a new thing - after all, the price of such a hat can be from 7 to 18 lats. The joy of parents and the baby itself is more valuable than any money!

- Reach out to your customers. Many of Larisa's clients order winter hats from her in the summer, and some even send her photos of children's jackets or coats to make the hat look the same.

- Do not worry if you see your models among the products of other masters. Many people stare at Lapshina's hats, but Larisa is sure that even if her model is taken as a model, it is simply impossible to repeat the color scheme, which means that each hat will be unique!