Local Designer's Handbag Included in Oscar Nominees' Gift Bags

Meet Bethany Beach-based designer Julie Kypreos.

If you love something, trademark it.

At least, that’s what Julie Kypreos did when she combined her long-lasting love for anteaters and fashion. Now, she’s running her own handbag line, jules k, of quirky totes, satchels and clutches.

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Kypreos recently found out that one of her handbags will be included in the Distinctive Assets gift bags at the 89th Academy Awards. Oscar nominees in some of the major categories receive these gift bags, which are filled with items worth over $100,000 in total. Kypreos’s $370 handbag will be surrounded by diamonds and gold jewelry and free trips.

Kypreos credits her Oscars opportunity to a great deal of brand-recognition research and self-marketing. “99 percent of people would not search for anteater bags in a search engine,” she laughs.

Though her work has made it big in Hollywood, Kypreos remains committed to giving back to Delaware. She has involved Cape Henlopen High School students in the sewing and selling of her Cape Zipper pouches, and 65 percent of those pouches’ profits are being donated to the school’s Textile and Clothing program.

“It’s really exciting to go in there and show students how to start a business and how to market a product,” Kypreos says.”It gives them a sense of ownership.”

Devon Cooper, a dance teacher at XSquad in Selbyville, Del.,
wears jules k’s new bag.

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