38 www.Char l e s tonWomenPodcas t . com | www.ReadCW. com | www. Ins t ag ram. com /Char l e s tonWomen Not long ago, in a city not far away, Amy Driggers was living a perfectly normal life, until one day, she decided to make high-quality leather handbags. Everything she ever knew would soon change. She called her brand “Taxidermy,” and to the outside world, she became an overnight success with celebrity clients, storefronts in Charleston and Texas and placement in Dillard’s department stores. But this isn’t a fairy tale. This is real life, and it took passion, creativity and a lot of hard work to create success beyond Driggers’ wildest dreams. Originally from Vero Beach, Fla., Driggers and her husband started their life together in Washington, DC, after graduating from Clemson University. Driggers’ first “real job” was working the graveyard shift at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which, as she said, “paid like a nonprofit.” She took a daytime retail job at a familyowned fur company to make ends meet, working long hours on very little sleep. Driggers moved up the ranks in retail, becoming a store manager and helping to launch a wholesale business. She learned to source materials, manufacture products and market new items. It was arduous and exhausting work. She wasn’t happy. Her life began to change with a simple question from Driggers’ sister. Driggers recalled, “She asked me, ‘What do you actually want to do with your life?’ I told her, ‘I want to make an exotic leather handbag company and call it Taxidermy.’ I just blurted it out. I guess I’d been thinking about it for a while.” The handbag part made immediate sense. Driggers loved handbags, especially luxurious ones. “I always thought of high-end designer handbags as a trophy,” she said. “If I did something well, or if I hit a goal I’d been trying to reach, I’d save up and buy a really nice bag. I felt so proud, carrying it around. And the idea of a trophy is what led to the name Taxidermy.” The deer head logo quickly followed, and Driggers was off to the races—or on the hunt, so to speak. First Driggers ordered samples from a small factory in Indonesia. She knew the type of leather she wanted to start with — python leather, very luxurious — and the style: a classic tote with an upscale structure. The Mackie — named for Driggers’ mother-in-law — was born. “They sent me a black python sample which I still carry to this day,” said Driggers. “I had an old deer head pin that I stuck through the front of the bag, and I carried it with me in a high-end mall. All these women who could buy whatever they wanted would ask me about it.” Driggers designed a simple website to launch Taxidermy. It was on-demand at first: bags were manufactured per order, allowing for easy customization. The original 3-D logo was flattened to avoid snagging on customers’ clothing fabrics, and orders began to trickle in. Driggers’ marketing prowess and Instagram presence helped make her new company visible, but it wasn’t until she received a DM from a well-known New York City fashion stylist and Emmy award-winning costume designer that things really took off. At first, Driggers didn’t know what she was looking at when she received a request for a bag from Zerina Akers. She might have ignored it. Many self-proclaimed Instagram “influencers” will DM small businesses, requesting freebies in return for their “influence.” This was different, though. Akers had over 240k Trophy Bags and Fairy Tales Meet Taxidermy’s Amy Driggers MEET TAXIDERMY ’ S AMY DRIGGERS Charleston Women in Business
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