Blanketing the Rose Bowl Market

Two years ago, Cindy Jones was selling novelty blankets out of her Ventura garage. Hawking the lap throws to friends and family brought in extra money and was a way for Jones and her fiance, Mark Bronner, to collaborate on a project.

Today, the world is her market, and Jones is the envy of blanket sellers because she has the rights to sell a souvenir Rose Bowl throw, a potentially lucrative contract that may pay off big starting today.

Yet despite the hard work and luck that helped her win licensing rights from Tournament of Roses officials, the neophyte businesswoman said she isn’t sure whether she will make a profit.

It all depends on how many throws she sells, Jones said. Because her business is so small, Jones will take a loss if she fails to sell all 1,000 of the specially designed blankets, she said. So far, fans have bought 300. The rest, she hopes, will move on game day.

“It’s a gamble,” said Jones, 38, who launched Cindy’s Throws in 1993 with Bronner. “It’s a lot of work. It’s like we’re going through the college education we never had.”

Jones does not weave the throws herself. But she did meet with North Carolina weavers to design the blanket, a process that took three weeks. And she approved the final product, Jones said.

But she could not get the throws completed in time to fill an order for 500 made by Chicago department store giant Marshall Field’s. That was a blow, but it did not deter her, Jones said.

Pregame sales among Northwestern University fans have been brisk, but rival USC fans are less enthused, she said. For one thing, a Rose Bowl appearance is practically a once-in-a-lifetime event for the perennial doormat team at Northwestern. And Southern California’s typically gorgeous New Year’s Day weather doesn’t put USC fans in the mood for blankets, she said.

Forecasters were predicting sunny skies and warm temperatures for today’s scheduled kickoff at 1:50 p.m.

“People don’t really think of blankets when it’s 80 degrees out,” she said. “But actually they’re also great to sit on.”

Ellen Kelm, a 1948 graduate of Northwestern University, said the throw caught her eye when she saw it in a special mailer sent to 94,000 alumni. She said she has a small collection of Northwestern memorabilia, but had never before seen a blanket with the school’s name on it.

It seemed like a good way to stay warm in her Milwaukee home, where daytime temperatures are hovering around 28 degrees, she said.

“I was thinking of just getting a sweatshirt,” Kelm said. “But I’m almost 70 years old and a throw to wrap around me just sounded enticing on winter evenings.”

The road to the Rose Bowl began last year for Jones, when a man ordered 250 football-themed throws from her tiny, home-based company. When the man backed out at the last minute, Jones was desperate.

So she headed down to the Rose Bowl and met with Terry Demerel, licensing director for the Tournament of Roses. Demerel offered to let Jones sell the throws at a festival that takes place outside the stadium for the three days leading up to the Rose Bowl.

Then Demerel invited Jones to design a souvenir throw for today’s Rose Bowl, with a promise that she would get the exclusive licensing rights to sell it. Things picked up in November, when the teams that would be competing in the Rose Bowl were decided.

Jones flew to Evanston, Ill., to meet with Northwestern University officials and obtained their license as well. University officials loved the design, she said, and promised to send out a mailer to former students advertising the 46-by-67-inch blanket.

USC officials also gave their consent, Jones said, and she was in business. But that doesn’t mean it will be successful, she said.

“It has been a learning experience,” said Jones, who has never operated a business before.

“People told us we were nuts. But you just have to hit the pavement and start getting things done.”

Donna Lapsker of New Lennox, Ill., is one Northwestern fan who is glad to have the throw, which retails for $98.95. It was a Christmas gift for her husband, Jeffry, a dentist who graduated from Northwestern in 1985.

“My husband has an array of sweatshirts. He’s big on his college memorabilia,” said Lapsker, 40. “But the throw was something different. This is just something for his easy chair.”