Anne Skoch & Anne Cate: College Student Entrepreneur Highlight

Anne Skoch is a graduate of Kent State University's entrepreneurship program and has been an entrepreneur since the age of 13 when she started selling handbags that she sewed herself.  

After graduating in 2016, Anne utilized what she learned at Kent State to start Anne Cate, a made in America accessory brand and manufacturer specializing in creating skyline silhouette purses and other simplistic accessories. 

About the Anne Cate Brand

Anne Cate’s products can be described as a Made In America accessories brand that is inspired by Anne’s love for traveling, which can be seen in each skyline design. 

Anne’s signature skyline collection features over 100 different skylines. The collection consists of iconic city skylines such as New York City and Paris but also gives a nod to classic college town skylines from universities like Miami of Ohio, and Ohio State University. 

Outside of just purses, Anne Cate also makes crossbody bags, totes, mini purses, mini wallets, and pillows. Along with her products for customers, Anne Cate also creates gift packages and accessories for bridal showers and wedding parties.

Anne Cate's Unique Manufacturing Process

Unlike many other clothing and accessory brands, Anne Skoch doesn’t have any of Anne Cate’s products outsourced to any clothing manufacturers. 

Instead, each Anne Cate product is handcrafted and hand-sewn in small batches at Anne's manufacturing studio in Cleveland. 

This allows Anne to ensure that each product is created using ethically sourced, high-quality materials. These two things are important to Anne and are some of the characteristics that have made Anne Cate such a successful product. 

---

What Inspires Anne

Anne is inspired simply by her product and the feelings that her product evokes in people, saying “The things I make can bring joy to people." Anne comments on this further saying “We have created products that have meaning to people”. Anne recognizes that her products, in particular the Anne Kate skyline purses, evoke a certain feeling of joy and connection in people. 

And that purse starts to mean more to someone, as it represents a place that a person loves and captures the energy and adventure that can be found in that city.

Anne's Advice to Entrepreneurs

Anne’s advice to entrepreneurs focuses on the issues they may face in the early stages of the development of their company. Anne reflects on her own early experiences, recommending entrepreneurs to “ be open to evolution." 

“Change and evolution is very important especially in the early stages of a company."

Anne wants beginning entrepreneurs to know that there will be issues in the early stages of creating a company, but if you allow an idea to evolve, you can benefit greatly in the long run. ​

---

If you are interested in finding out more about Anne’s story, watch her episode in season one of EEC’s Dream It Do It Series. Find out more about Anne Cate, including new products and gift guides. ​