Issie Lapowsky | Inc. magazine

A Cosmetics Bag That Stays (and Looks) Cool

The story behind the IcyBag.

 

Courtesy company

The "aha" moment: On her wedding day, in the summer of 2002, Kathy Cohen reached into her makeup bag to freshen up and found a red, slimy mess of melted lipstick. Cohen, then a human resources executive at a university, got the idea for a bag designed to chill cosmetics on the go.

R&D: A year later, Cohen, who had left her job after having a baby, sketched a design for a prototype, which her mother-in-law sewed. Cohen tested several frozen gel inserts to find the most durable one and hired a local seamstress to create an initial batch of bags made of insulated nylon and featuring an interior pouch for the insert.

Hitting the market: Cohen sold the first batch of bags at a trade show in 2006 and hired a manufacturer in China. Since then, her Clinton, Connecticut, company, IcyBag, has sold about 10,000 bags for $15 to $20 each at small retailers, on QVC, and at IcyBag.com. Cohen plans to roll out more styles next summer.

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Issie Lapowsky is a reporter at Inc. magazine. She has covered lifestyle and entertainment for the New York Daily News, and her work has been published in BlackBook magazine and The Brooklyn Rail. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.