HeyJaredHandbag Designer 101
From the Handbag Fairy Godmother, Emily Blumenthal, for the handbag obsessed covering handbag history, handbag collabs, and everything you need to know about designing, making, and marketing handbags. 👜
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
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- Sep 15, 2026
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- Jul 7, 2026
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The New Playbook: Strategic Statements Over Traditional Runways (opens the original)
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For decades, the standard playbook was simple: dress a model in 30+ apparel looks and let a handbag dangle from her arm down a 12-minute runway. That model is officially broken.A single, highly focused “strategic statement,” whether a slice-of-cake purse or a massive Rockefeller Center installation, gets far more eyeballs and media dominance than a $300k runway show ever could. Quick shoutout to , for calling out this trend, so credit goes where it is due.Here is how designers and brand strategi
Vegan Leather Alternatives. A Fruit Salad of Opportunities (opens the original)
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Sustainability and vegan materials are a key part of the waste discussion in today’s retail lifecycle. Handbags have a variety of vegan leather alternatives, and for your reference, I have organized them by source material, with notes on texture, performance, and what kind of bag each is best suited for. The list below is an excerpt from my next book, Handbag Designer 101: The Masterclass, coming out next year with Schiffer Publishing. (Also, very exciting news…)A Note on Sustainability vs. Vega
The Handbag Industry Is Shifting. Are you listening? (opens the original)
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The accessory landscape is undergoing a massive transformation. Between changing lifestyle habits, shifting retail channels, and the unraveling mythos around traditional luxury manufacturing, designing and selling handbags today requires a completely updated playbook.As the author of Handbag Designer 101 and founder of the Independent Handbag Designer Awards, I dive into the real mechanics of the industry every week on my podcast, Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brand
Is the Independent Designer in the Minor Leagues? (opens the original)
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Ever since ’s post about the “Anti-It Bag” and how her readers have proclaimed that they want something “hard to identify, well made, and not meant-to-wealth signal,” I must say something struck a chord. No, a nerve. This post has burned my brain, as I know the comparison is true labels versus those that aren’t so commercially at the level. But fancy me this. Those brands featured below, from where I sit with my community, are far from a bag that anyone in the handbag world couldn’t identify. <a
The Energy is Back: How IT BAG x NY NOW Delivered Big Sales & Pure Joy (opens the original)
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If you walked the floor at NY NOW this season, you felt it immediately: something fundamental has transformed, which I had discussed with Dorothy Belshaw, the new CEO and co-owner of NY NOW, on a recent episode of my podcast, Handbag Designer 101.This season was a complete turnaround. Under new management, NY NOW underwent a massive floor-wide refresh in structure, flow, and
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