photo : Karin Kovalsky

Meyers is the creator of Closet Fetish, a line of stylish boxes and wooden hangers intended to help messy closets look sleek and organized. The colorful cardboard boxes have windows in front to display photos or contents lists.

"I always taped pictures of my shoes on the outside of their shoeboxes. ...and I thought to myself, 'Wouldn't it be great if somebody actually made shoeboxes so everything in your closet would actually stack?'" says Meyers.

Closet Fetish started as a directed-study project for a Hawaii Pacific University media strategy course. Meyer's instructor, assistant professor Joanne Gula says, "Sommer was quite the go-getter. She came up with this idea and I encouraged her to go for it. She showed me colors, prints, etc. and she just did it. ...She was unstoppable."

In May 2005 Closet Fetish became a reality and Meyers began to promote it by collecting magazines and sending flyers to every name and address she could find in the mastheads.

Luckily some landed in the right mailboxes.

Shop Magazine was the first to call. Soon after, Closet Fetish was featured in In Style, and most recently as one of Oprah's favorite things in O Magazine.

SHOW IT OFF: Founder Sommer Meyers helps messy closets look sleek and stylish

In less than a year, Closet Fetish sold $125,000 in boxes and hangers. Celebrity clients are its bread and butter, says Meyers, and 90 percent of its clientele are from the Mainland. Locally, Closet Fetish is sold at Red Pineapple in Victoria Ward Centre and Sandal Tree in Ala Moana Center.

The $15 boxes come in one standard size in six different colors. One of the most popular is Stiletto Red. The boxes bring in the most revenue, but Baby Fetish Hangers ($4 a piece) are becoming more popular.

Calls may keep pouring in from celebrities such as Halle Berry and Nicole Richie but, in the end, Meyers is just happy she got an A on her directed-study project and that Closet Fetish appears to be an early success.