About DMD Bags
Earning her degree in Fashion Merchandising from the University of Southern Mississippi, Deirdre Arrington McGehee began her love affair with fabrics. Excelling in her clothing and textiles classes with ease gave her the realization that she has found her passion. With dreams in her head and sketchbooks in her hands, she moved to Florida to pursue a career in designing.
Deirdre began with beach wear then eventually landing a job with a swimwear company where she was head designer. Soon came the idea: Creating custom swimwear! What a rewarding experience that was, and for 25 years this was her heart and soul. Though, there comes a time in life when one has to make a change; for Deirdre, it was a hard decision to stop her thriving swimwear business. She soon after realized making that decision was the best because she was making bags. Most importantly, women of all ages were buying her bags.
With this she saw a new market, a new vision, and a new passion. Her first original bag line in 2008 featured the "Pillow Bag" used for carrying a bed pillow while traveling. This one item was the beginning of a new career for her. The popularity of her unique designs grew with rapid pace as she added pouches, sunglasses cases, and another invention called the Vanity Bag. Never buying patterns but actually creating the products from trial and error and also out of a need that she had, "I feel like if it's something I could use, then other women would too.", Said by Deirdre when referring to all the many diverse items in her line and she will never copy anything anyone else is doing. " I think that is cheating. I’ve never taken anyone else’s idea and made it my own. I take tremendous pride in being original, and I feel like my clients appreciate my product more for that."
Deirdre ended her long swimwear career without batting an eye and continued her bag business doing home shows and basically selling out of the back end of her car and setting up at any events nearby. A great deal of determination and hard work brought much reward as now her line is sought after by many boutiques and fine specialty stores. Trying to keep up with the pace is a challenge but thrilling says the designer.
Her humble beginnings of sewing patchwork fabrics together to make purses has evolved into a beautiful line of handbags and travel bags with a style that is unique to Deirdre McGehee Designs. She also states, " This gift is a blessing from God, Kind of a way for Him to show me He loved me when I was going through a really rough time. it was, and will always be, therapy!"
Always changing and evolving and adding new products is the goal of DMD. Design, quality, and expert craftsmanship are some things of the vast characteristics that you can expect from a DMD bag! After 26 years of meticulous sewing that is required in making custom swimwear, one learns to pay extreme attention to details.
It is easy to spot a "Deirdre" bag as some of her friends still call them and say that it's their addiction! Deirdre is so happy with all the success of her bag business, "Oh you have no idea what’s in my head!”, she continues,” There's still so much more to come! Just let me catch my breath!"