Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch
Slide Nr 1Starting in Southeast Asia, venturing all the way through Ghana, the Netherlands and Brazil, and landing in Los Angeles, these emerging designers are filling the world of fashion with stunning, timeless bags. At the same time, they’re not just producing stylish accessories, but also minimising their impact on the planet and maximising their positive impact on the talented people and cultures behind every design. Whether it’s their beneficial practices, quality out-of-the-box products or meaningful missions, these up-and-coming handbag brands are worth watching.
0/10
Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch.
Slide Nr 2Kayu – After growing up in Southeast Asia, Kayu creator Jamie Lin founded the brand as a way to stay connected to her roots, as well as to preserve the crafts of indigenous communities in the region. Over the past few years, Kayu’s mission has remained the same: to follow ethical and fair production practices that result in high-quality, timeless accessories. They use and upcycle organic materials such as biodegradable hand-stripped and dyed straw, vegetable tanned leather and textile scraps, working not only with local handcrafters from the Philippines, but also with artisans in Ecuador, a family-owned factory in Greece and immigrants living in California.
1/10
Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch.
Slide Nr 3Soli & Sun – “Uplifting your everyday style while also uplifting the lives of female Filipino artisans.” – that’s what Soli & Sun was created to do. Inspired by the T’boli tribe of Lake Sebu, founder Clare Hynes designs all of the company’s handbags and pouches, which are then handcrafted by a small workshop team in South Cotabato, Philippines, using traditional Filipino weaving and textiles. These female artisans are known for working with a traditional fabric called T’nalak, which Clare includes in most of her designs. Of course, they receive a percentage of Soli & Sun’s sales to help them make a living and keep their traditional craft alive.
2/10
Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch.
Slide Nr 4AAKS – Considered an ‘emerging designer from Africa’ by Vogue Italia, Ghanaian founder Akosua Afriyie-Kumi created AAKS to rescue the culture and craftsmanship of her home country, making sure all bags and pouches reflect joy and creativity through their colours and details. Every product, each with a unique design, silhouette and story behind it, undergoes a clean and ethical manufacturing process, using ecologically harvested raffia. And because Afriyie-Kumi’s brand is about a lot more than just colourful bags, they’re committed to providing fair working opportunities not only to artisans in Ghana, but also to refugee artisans in Burkina Faso.
3/10
Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch.
Slide Nr 5Labienhecha – Heading to southern Europe and a small workshop in Malaga, you’ll find the female-led team of Labienhecha, a Spanish brand inspired by women and the Mediterranean. Their aim is to keep their craft local and eco-friendly, while offering women timeless pieces without breaking the bank; their products range from EUR 19.95 to 220. Their fresh, minimalist bags are all named after a special woman in the designers’ lives, and they’re all made from recycled leather, vegetable tanned eco-leather (biodegradable and nontoxic) or organic cotton. The brand’s mindset even caught the attention of French retailer Galeries Lafayette, which included them in their sustainable collection for the ‘Go For Good’ movement.
4/10
Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch.
Slide Nr 6Glob – If LA-based Glob has their way, the days of single-use plastic are numbered. Putting that waste to good use, each of their products is made with 4 to 10 recycled plastic bottles. And the sustainable approach goes far beyond manufacturing – they incorporate the ethos into their shipping and packing, using compostable mailers and staying away from other types of non-recyclable poly bags. And not only is their mindset good for the environment, but practical for the user, too – each bag folds into a pouch, and when unfolded, the bag’s pouch becomes a pocket for your credit cards, phone, keys, etc. What’s more, each month Glob will donate 1% of sales to CoalitionWILD, an organisation helping young people access the tools, support, education and platforms needed in order to lead change for the planet.
5/10
Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch.
Slide Nr 7Kassl – Founded in 2018, this Dutch-based, German-inspired brand has coined the concept of ‘luxurious meets unpolished’. With clean, straight cuts, high-quality materials and references to utility wear, they design products that fit every style, gender, generation and era. According to Bart Ramakers, one of Kassl’s founders, their “bags are made to be worn and used: they become more beautiful the longer they are worn.” The iconic puffy pillow bags, which were actually born by accident while one of the designers was playing with padded fabrics, are made using only cotton-blend offcuts from production and have become the recognisable stamp of the brand.
6/10
Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch.
Slide Nr 8ROOP – While working in a fabric shop, Natasha Fernandes Anjo took some cut-offs to create her first bag. Some trial and error later, ROOP was launched with its iconic Furoshiki bag, named after the traditional Japanese art of wrapping gifts in fabric. As Fernandes describes it, ROOP is a vegan accessories brand that uses only deadstock, remnant or vintage fabrics. Everything is handmade to order by her and her assistant in Manchester. ROOP’s philosophy is to create long-lasting accessories for people who want to bring some verve to their outfits, all while reducing waste along the way.
7/10
Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch.
Slide Nr 9Hope Made – Instead of following trends, cofounders Sara Milanes and Adriana Ceballos joined forces for an innovative approach: surprising bags that also help solve social issues in Colombia. They work with artisans from the Sierra Nevada Arhuaco tribe to preserve the cultural heritage and improve the quality of life for indigenous communities and master craftsmen from South America. And in their mission to change the way people consume fashion, they also create one-of-a-kind designs: their 100% virgin wool bags take about 1 month to produce, and go through a different weaving technique every time, meaning each bag has a different meaning and thought process.
8/10
Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch.
Slide Nr 10Nannacay – Nannacay – from the Aymara word for sisterhood – has the brand slogan “creative hands transforming lives”. The collection includes vibrant bags that have been handwoven by a single craftsman using Brazilian or Ecuadorian recycled fibres. Nannacay provides economic opportunities for a collective of 305 families of artisans in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil by implementing training and workshops on skill development and financial management. More than 1,000 human lives are impacted positively within the network, and all of the bags help support the preservation of traditional handwoven crafts in these communities.
9/10
Style
10 Emerging Handbag Designers To Watch.
Slide Nr 11Naturea Sacra – Founded and designed in Milan, and handmade in Turkey, this contemporary brand elevates the handbag game, taking inspiration from nature and sculpture and focusing their mission in environmental and social causes. For every bag, Turkish artisans use consciously sourced materials and vegetable tanning techniques to create the iconic geometric shape. For the handles, they use natural resin, which, due to its hand-moulded effect, gives each bag a unique look – translating into completely original results with every piece. To learn more about their story and products, read our interview with the brand’s creators here.
10/10
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.