We just received a call from Zina Eva, the designer of the bag line. She was very gracious and apologized for any inappropriate behavior from the PR company and stated she has fired them. I feel sorry for her as she had no clue what the PR company was doing to us. Zina also said that everyone has different tastes in bags, some people love her bags, some don't- and she is okay with that. But that does not mean we should be subjected to harassment of any kind.
We'd like to thank Zina for her message and applaud her for graciously apologizing for the behavior of the PR firm (and like we said, we didn't plan on mentioning the line on our site at all, it was the dozen of hate emails from the PR girl that prompted us to post this).
Now, the matter is closed and we will not discuss it any further. A big thank you to all of our friends for their support.
Wow, that is big of her. Usually it's the designer that goes nuts and the PR firm who has to handle the mess.
Maybe Zina should do her own PR?!?!
i am glad zina apologized, and i sincerely hope you never have to experience something like this again. i am sorry that you had to even go through this at all.
I'm not sure what all happened here. However , I have met Zina Eva before at NM Palm Beach and she is very down to earth and just a kind hearted warm soul hoping to venture out and show the world her awesome handbags. I wish her the best and I'm sure she will do great!!!
That was gracious of Zina Eva, and she is one smart cookie to boot!
Who is this PR firm? I'd like to make sure HOBO International, who i design for, never uses them!!
This girl will most likely, and should, lose her job. Bad decisin considering how many Important) people you girls know in this business ~ she probably will have a tough time getting hired again by someone else.
Love you guys!! Hey, would you maybe ever want to feature a HOBO bag?? :) They are all real 100% leather, uber-useful with tons of pockets and compartments on the inside, and so trend-right.
I'm pretty sure based on personal experiences with the designer that Zina Eva is and always has been her own PR person. I actually googled her line of handbags hearing that she has become somewhat successful thinking "good for her" even though I myself have never been a fan of the product. I came across your blog and all the related comments. I had to speak up and let you know that I think your original post and assessment were "dead on" and the resulting apologies were backpeddling brown-nosing.
You do realise how much publicity you've given them as there are now some 39 comments on your previous post. Having been a fashion editor for ten years now, for some of the best, including Vogue, this is certainly not the last altercation you can expect to have with a crazy publicist. I've dealt with ones who badmouthed me to each other but sent me the email instead, I've had ones send parcels for market layouts to other publications then harass my staff for returns, I've had ones call me the 'c' word when I declined to feature their products (yes, in writing) and had their managing directors then side with their staffers. I've even had a designer recall a dress she made for me then refuse to return my money and follow it up with a series of increasingly abusive emails. Welcome to the world of fashion. As with any other business, there are crazy people. The best publicity for them is no publicity. At least that's how I've handled it at Vogue and other places.