Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Making of Hayden-Harnett Collection in USA



Took this video from Hayden-Harnett's blog. Pretty good video about making handbags in the USA.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Why Does Be & D Manufacture in the US?

Be&D is a manufacturer of handbags founded in 2004 by Be Inthavong and Steve Dumain. According to them, they believe strongly in the hands-on tradition of storied European luxury houses and have re-created this same practice in their Garment District design studio. They personally train their sewers, teaching them the intricacies that define Be & D and work alongside them to ensure that every piece is created with the strictest attention to detail and quality. This capability to manufacture in-house and locally helps for a shorter speed-to-market, also giving the company the ability to fill re-orders often in less than 2–3 weeks. The atelier also allows for bespoke services to private clients and special-orders for wholesale customers. And that's why Be&D bags are made in the US.

Friday, June 10, 2011

"We're An American Brand" - From Hayden-Harnett's Blog

We've copied this from Hayden-Harnett's blog.

We're an American brand: Introducing Hayden Harnett Collection

A huge and very warm hello to our customers, retailers, and fans!

I am very excited to announce the launch of Hayden-Harnett Collection. Five of our bestselling and essential styles that epitomize the high quality, functionality, and classic-with-an-edge/works-with-everything style that we are best known for.

Each HH Collection handbag is made in the USA in small production runs from locally sourced materials: the softest and most luxurious buttery cow leathers tanned in upstate New York, brass hardware from domestic sources, heavy and durable authentic waxwear canvas from american mills, and organic cotton canvas linings. Even the special hangtags and dustcovers for Collection are produced locally from American materials.

In creating Collection, we’ve updated and refabricated some of our classics: the Ibiza flight tote, Barnard crossbody, Havana hobo, and the lovely Biblio bag. We’re launching the Milton messenger satchel, a highly anticipated unisex style that finally met with ben’s “I’ll wear it” approval after six years of trying to create the perfect messenger. Both the new Milton satchel and the Ibiza flight tote in heavy waxwear canvas are unisex styles- hurrah, HH style for the guys.

Being a small and very dedicated American fine leather goods brand, we are passionate about our first entirely made and sourced in the USA collection and feel that it represents the very best of what Hayden-Harnett offers— quality, creativity, functionality, and great style for both men and women.

Producing locally in Brooklyn with domestic materials allows us a very fast turnaround for product as well as a very high level of quality control. It's a great feeling to help keep U.S. leathercraft alive and to make such stylish strides to support America's economy.

I hope that everyone enjoys the new collection as much as we do!
Toni (& Ben)

Best Designer Handbags Made in the USA

We're looking for suggestions on your favorite domestically manufactured designer handbags. Do you have a favorite bag made in the USA that you think is stylish and of high-quality? Leave us a comment and tell us what you think are the best designer handbags made in USA.

Right now we have a list of handbag brands made in USA, a great essay on how handbags are made in USA, and a page to visit to support handbags made in USA. If you want to help us in our mission to promote US made handbags, you should click on some of our sponsors as well.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Because if Nobody Sees this Page, Handbags Might Not be Made in USA ;-)

What are the best handbags in the US? If you want to buy a new handbag and want to see the list of available US suppliers of handbags, as well as to see who are the best American brands we have it all. We show you how to make, buy and care for your US made handbag!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Coach - What Was an American Brand

Coach was founded in 1941 as the Gail Manufacturing Company. It began with six leather workers who made wallets and handbags under various names. In 1946, Miles Cahn and his wife Lillian joined the company and soon they had taken over. In 1957 the Coach brand of wallets and other small leather goods was introduced. In the 1960s, Cahn discovered a complex method for making leather strong, soft, and durable. Coach women's handbags were made out of sturdy cowhide. Other handbags were of thin leather pasted over cardboard material that was used to make other handbags at the time. Coach earned a reputation as an American brand making stellar quality products.

With Lillian's suggestion, Miles had made the women's handbags a little less expensive. This put them in a perfect niche of price and quality that quickly grew their company. In the 1980s, Coach was sold to the Sara Lee corporation. Coach Inc. opened many stores, and by the 1990s was making much of its products overseas. Now, while Coach retains the appearance of being an American brand, it produces most of its collection in China, and sells to the masses through many stores and presences at lower priced retailers. Coach bags have lost a lot of their luster as they proliferate everywhere, and at the lower end their bags have sacrificed much of their quality, and attention to detail. Not much better than their knock-offs in many cases.

Who are the brands that will fill the shoes of Coach which lasted so long as an emblem of quality and style? Maybe someone from our list of American Brands.

Where Can I Buy Handbags Made in USA

One of the reasons we started this blog is there was no reliable list of handbags made in America. Most of the lists we found were a scattershot sampling of strange local websites featuring kind of fugly items. Yes we said it, fugly. Honestly, we wanted to make a resource where people could find true designer bags that were fashionable and made in America.

We recommend you purchase straight from the designer. You can buy American Made Handbags directly from Be & D, Corrente, and Hayden-Harnett. You can also search for and shop for these brands on eBay, Amazon.com, Nordstrom, and Shopbop.com. Also, why not stop by your local flea or designer market to find up and coming designers?

Visit our continually updated List of Handbag Brands Made in USA and don't forget to suggest new brands!

Handbags NOT Made in USA - Rebecca Minkoff

In our first post, we outlined a cautionary tale. This was a story of a young designer expanding quickly and leaving their US manufacturers in order to make more units overseas. One contemporary designer who used to manufacture in New York, but who then took all her production to China is Rebecca Minkoff. Her bags are very popular, but as she has grown she has angered many of her core fans, and has experienced a serious dilution of her brand quality, style, and customer loyalty.

Rebecca Minkoff bags are stylish, and liked by celebrities. They can now be found all over the place, including most of the large discounters, frequently on sample sale websites, and in Macy's where an even more cut-rate version of her handbags can be found languishing on the main floor. She started with her Morning After Bag, a style with a clever name and instant popularity. Unfortunately, having branched out too much without innovating in design, and mass producing more and more products in China, her brand has started to lose its appeal.

Here is one discussion thread talking about how Rebecca Minkoff has lost her groove. We think one of the main reasons she has lost her way is because Rebecca Minkoff handbags are NOT made in USA.

Handbags Made in USA are Stylish and Popular

Thanks to the proliferation of cheap fashion through the likes of Forever 21, H&M and even Gilt Groupe, one might be led to believe that the cutting edge of fashion products aren't made in the USA. The image is that you can only get either super expensive bags handmade by students just out of FIT, or really boring handbags made by local craftsman and suitable to be sold at flea markets and on roadsides, or in catalogs for old people. This is not true! You don't have to buy cheap and flashy products at Forever 21 or spend thousands on designer handbags from France or Italy. In that latter case, they're probably made by Chinese workers in dormitories anyway.

American brands are hip, affordable, and can be found in the pages of fashion magazines and on celebrities. Just check out the home pages of Be & D and Hayden-Harnett to see just how fun and exciting American made handbags are. Celebrities like Blake Lively, Taylor Momsen, Britney Spears, Jena Malone and Sarah Drew all can be seen sporting handbags by Brooklyn designer Hayden-Harnett. And Teen Vogue, InStyle, Lucky, Nylon and more feature them.

Handbags Made in USA don't Have to be Expensive

A lot of times, people think that just because something is made overseas that it's a lot cheaper. It's true that in many countries labor costs are much lower than in the United States. It's also true that many of the other costs are smaller too. But, because of the way most fashion companies operate, all these low costs wind up with an expensive product anyway. Botkier, Rebecca Minkoff, Coach and more. All these handbag companies manufacture in China. Marc by Marc Jacobs. Manufactured in Indonesia.

Why are these bags costing the same or even more than quality handbags made in America by companies like Be & D, Corrente and Hayden-Harnett? It's because these companies often sell many of their bags to discounters just to meet minimums and increase volume. The discounters want to sell the bags at huge discounts off retail. Gilt Groupe and other sample sale sites have made the problem even worse. On top of that, traditional department stores build in all kinds of markup into the bags. Finally, the companies charge an extra premium just because.

Many American made handbags are great values. On top of that, you can feel good because you're supporting the American economy all the way down the line.

Buying Handbags Made in the USA is Good for the Environment

When you purchase a handbag that was manufactured overseas, you're contributing to a lot of pollution that is harmful for the Earth's environment. There are a lot of reasons it's much better to purchase a handbag made in the USA, and one of them is that it's better for the environment.

Handbags Made in the USA don't have far to go to you. Often they're made in New York or Los Angeles. A handbag made in Italy or China has to be brought on an airplane or by vessel thousands of miles from across the ocean. Additionally, many of the parts for the handbag assembled overseas may come from different areas. In order to make higher quality bags, designers prefer Italian or South American leathers. These have to be shipped by air cargo to China. Other parts are brought overland by truck from remote regions. This contributes greatly to greenhouse gas emission.

Furthermore, items made overseas are made using inefficient machinery that is often powered by burning coal.

Think you're helping the environment by opting for PVC over real leather? Think again. PVC is a petroleum product, and a source of great industrial pollution.

By buying handbags made in the USA, you're reducing greenhouse gas emissions and can feel good about your decision.

Handbags Made in USA Blog - Welcome

A lot of the things we buy these days used to be made in America. There's a lot of reasons that this has changed over the years, but it has weakened our economy, and has moved our focus away from timeless durable goods to styles that are quick, cheap, and flimsy. This blog is about designer handbags made in the US. It features information about US made handbags so that you can be encouraged to look into designer bags made here in the US.

Many small independent designers make a few handbags at a time here in the US. As their business grows, they look to reduce the prices, and to sell thousands of bags to department and other chain stores. The quality goes down. The prices don't go down, but profit for the stores goes up. Gradually the designers lose focus, and what made them so great in the first place starts to fade.

Some designers have stayed manufactured in the United States, however. Others have actually returned their production to the US after years manufacturing overseas. Traditional American brands like Coach and Dooney & Bourke no longer make most of their handbags here, but rely on cheap labor overseas. It's time for a new crop of American brands to rise to the challenge!

In the meantime, we hope you will consider our List of Handbag Brands Made in USA.