Alex And Ani Teaming with Bank of America

Rhode Island produced up to 75% of the world's costume jewelry. Up and through 1979 we were the jewelry capital of America. So it was heartbreaking because I watched an industry fall to pieces. I absolutely swore that I would never let that happen to my family's factory. The first thing I ever made, actually it's right there -- it's the cocktail rings. I went to New York with my five cocktail rings as a collection. One of the showrooms realized I had a factory and realized I had some talent, and that's a winning combination. I got my first order and it just started taking off. We are known for our tag line which is Made in America with love. And we've gone from 23 jobs in twenty ten to over a thousand jobs in just a few years. Plating companies, chain companies, stone companies. The amount of people that have been touched by what's been created here - it's been amazing. We've impacted three to four thousand jobs because of all the supply chains being here in the United States. One of the things that I love about working with Carolyn and Giovanni is that they're bringing that manufacturing base back to Rhode Island. Giovanni brought in Bank of America and they believed in us. They understood our needs and they helped propel everything. We provide Alex and Ani with credit facilities that allow them to grow to purchase more inventory to expand into international markets. We can be creative, we can be successful in what we do but it will mean nothing unless we make a difference. Charity by Design is the heart and soul of Alex and Ani. We work with different organizations and charities and we create charms and different motifs and they get a percentage of all those sales. I'm all about things that are valued in life for the better good for everybody. If this company represents that then I did something that I absolutely wanted to do -- and I'm really grateful.