The spirit of Elvis is being kept alive and well around the world, thanks in part to a Nanaimo company that will appear on CBC’s Dragons’ Den’s 20th anniversary broadcast next week.
Eleanor von Boetticher, founder of Pro Elvis Jumpsuits, is one of a handful of the show’s alumni businesses that will be profiled during the broadcast Thursday, Oct. 16, at 8 p.m.
Von Boetticher appeared on the fifth episode of the show’s fourth season in 2009 when Pro Elvis Jumpsuits was just a fledgling company looking for an angel investor or a dragon to help it get off the ground.
Instead of taking part ownership of the company, dragon Brett Wilson offered a loan, which gave von Boetticher the boost her company needed. Today the company has seven employees who help create costumes for Elvis impersonators around the world.
“In those beginning couple of years it was just me, and then, after Dragon’s Den, we started hiring people and preparing to expand,” von Boetticher said.
The loan helped the company buy the materials to expand into a ready-to-wear line of costumes, which allowed it to increase production beyond the custom-fitted suits which took longer to produce.
“The demand was definitely there and one of the major obstacles for people was having to wait months to get a costume made as opposed to weeks,” she said.
On any given day, the company, which still makes and ships all of its products in Nanaimo, will ship to Australia, Asia and elsewhere, but more than half of its business still comes from south of the border.
With success comes complexity.
“With the volume that we’re doing now it’s always a challenge to keep track of everything. There’s major logistics in terms of keeping supplies on hand, shipping, keeping track of customer likes and dislikes and fit and everything,” von Boetticher said.
U.S. impose tariffs add a “whole other layer” she has to navigate.
“It’s changed the whole shipping landscape to the States for us. So it’s not just us learning, but it’s also keeping the customers informed, as well, of what’s happening,” she said. “It’s definitely time-consuming and costing us right now, but hopefully, as things sort of settle down and people learn and when we learn what this landscape is about, it should sort itself out.”
Nearly 50 years after his death, Elvis Presley’s popularity remains strong as does the desire to impersonate him. Von Boetticher said the King’s fan base remains loyal and there is a huge worldwide following for his impersonators.
“Our customers have fans who go and see every single one of their shows and it’s not just a fan base for Elvis, these Elvis tribute artists have a fan base just for them as well,” she said. “You see in the Port Theatre there’s regular Elvis shows that keep on coming through and they fill the theatre.”
The annual Penticton Elvis Festival packs in thousands of fans and professional and non-professional Elvis tribute artists from around the world.
“I was just on the phone this morning with a new customer who works at the Little Elvis Chapel in Vegas,” she said. “We’ve outfitted most of the people who work through there, but yeah, getting married by Elvis in Vegas is still a big thing.”
Von Boetticher said it's her understanding that CBC's segment on Elvis Pro Jumpsuits will be about seven to eight minutes long. A production crew came to Nanaimo in June to film her family and footage from around Nanaimo.
“They were interested because the kids were babies when we first were on the show and now they’re grown up, so there’s lots of family shots on Westwood Lake, so we’ll see a little bit of Nanaimo."
Von Boetticher said launching a business is no small task and she’s eager to show Nanaimo and Canada what the company has accomplished since its first Dragons’ Den appearance more than 15 years ago.
“I’m really grateful in all the ways Nanaimo has given us a home … There’s just so many other small creative enterprises in the city here that have contributed to what we do over the years, as well, and I feel like Nanaimo’s really fostered this business and helped us grow,” von Boetticher said.
