In The News

BSWANKY owner Gretchen Bauer personally delivered face masks to Venice Regional Hospital to be distributed to the Hospital Volunteers of Venice. Bauer is also teaming up with Venice Regional to raffle off an exclusive limited edition handbag to raise funds for scholarships, grants and medical equipment.

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BSWANKY is stepping up to challenges presented by the coronavirus lockdown. They’re partnering with FareShare Sussex, our community’s largest hunger relief organisation, to give back 20% of all sales to fight hunger and tackle food waste.

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BSWANKY has partnered with the local nonprofit PARC to help raise funds for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in an effort to help those in need during the Coronavirus crisis.

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Gretchen Bauer, Founder and CEO of BSWANKY, fuses her passion for design with a passion to B The Difference, yielding unique and luxurious accessories happily handcrafted in Sarasota, Florida.

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BSWANKY is teaming up with All Faiths Food Bank to raise money for hunger relief during the coronavirus crisis by turning handbag sales into meals for the Sarasota community.

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BSWANKY is making the move from handbags to face masks amid the coronavirus epidemic. Using scrub material & elastic, BSWANKY employees are making reusable masks from their homes to donate to local organizations.

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Purses and philanthropy meet as Sarasota based luxury–brand BSWANKY teams with All Faiths Food Bank to help during the coronavirus pandemic, donating 10% of handbag sales to help feed.

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Baseball, designer bags and mental health. The ladies at Sarasota’s Bswanky’s shop will host their 'Baseball & Being the Difference' event. Proceeds from the event will go to benefit Suncoast non-profit We Are Team Jake

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Founder and CEO Gretchen Bauer started BSWANKY with a goal to responsibly manufacture products that empower women and give back. The Sarasota-based brand designs and produces its luxury bags out of its own workshop, a space that also houses a studio and concept store.

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Sarasota Luxury Handbag Manufacturer BSWANKY teamed up with author-artist Cherie Fruehan to create a give-back purse that benefits Enterprising Latinas.

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Style savvy backpacks are all the rage, especially among on-the-go moms. BSWANKY’s backpacks, created by Radnor native Gretchen Bauer, are emerging as a Main Line must-have. “Everyone from classmates to former design clients to former Radnor teachers have purchased BSWANKY bags,” Bauer reports.

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It’s a sanctuary where you might expect to find a sweatshop. This Sarasota business is redefining the treatment of immigrant women.

And it’s all in their name, BSWANKY. CEO Gretchen Bauer lives by the company’s motto, ‘B the Difference.’

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Bauer saw that the five women in San Antonio could make a bag, but the cramped conditions where they worked sounded to her like a sweatshop. She wanted to create a work environment with comfort and dignity and help make a difference in their lives.

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Gretchen Bauer is a local woman with global dreams to shake up the fashion industry. After moving to Sarasota six years ago, Gretchen made a home for herself and her family on the Suncoast. Shortly after, she launched her business, BSWANKY, with a conscious mission — giving women opportunity to create sustainable, trendy handbags through ethical practices. 

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When Gretchen Bauer moved from Philadelphia to Sarasota seven years ago, she planned to maintain a successful home design business. Instead, thanks to a chance meeting, she launched BSWANKY, a line of upscale handbags manufactured in Sarasota by immigrant women working in ethical conditions.

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Peggy Kronus, a member of the Sisterhood for Good women's giving circle of Lakewood Ranch, was asked why a handful of members had come to Sarasota to support BSWANKY business owner Gretchen Bauer during the Party in the USA luncheon March 25.

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I spent an hour with members of the Sisterhood for Good women's giving circle on Monday at their outing at BSWANKY (custom handbags) in Sarasota.

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“This business literally fell into my lap when I became aware of women in San Antonio manufacturing handbags and being grossly underpaid and undervalued,” Gretchen Bauer Founder and CEO of BSWANKY describes. “I immediately flew out and partnered with them, purchased their machinery and together we started making leather handbags.”

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Business Observer - Sarasota-based BSWANKY isn’t just a handbag manufacturer. Founder and CEO Gretchen Bauer considers the company to be in three industries: manufacturing, design and retail.

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Gretchen Bauer is an unlikely novice manufacturing entrepreneur. She spent 20 years in interior design in suburban Philadelphia, working in some of the Main Line’s toniest mansions. “It was fabulous,” she says. “It was a great business. I never had to advertise.”

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