Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

What It Really Takes to Launch a Handbag Brand đź’Ľđź‘ś| Emily Blumenthal & Nancy Forman

• Emily Blumenthal • Season 1

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Think launching a handbag brand is as easy as designing a pretty product? Think again. In this episode of Handbag Designer 101, we’re joined by industry expert Nancy Forman, whose decades of experience—from Bloomingdale’s to Accessory Think Tank—have made her a trusted voice in fashion strategy, manufacturing, and merchandising.

Nancy doesn’t sugarcoat it. Today’s market demands much more than a great idea—it requires a plan, a factory, and a deep understanding of your customer before you even produce your first bag. From hidden development costs to managing trade show expectations, her insights are a must-hear for any serious designer.

đź’ˇ Key Takeaways
 đź‘ś Beyond the Sketch: Why product development starts long before design—and how skipping steps can sink your brand.
🌍 Small Runs, Big Potential: How Nancy’s Romanian factory allows brands to produce as few as 3–6 bags per style.
♻️ Smart Sustainability: Why leather vs. non-leather isn’t so black and white—and how to think critically about eco claims.

Whether you’re launching your first line or refining your supply chain, this conversation will shift your mindset and sharpen your strategy.

🎧 Listen now.

Our Guest: Nancy Forman is a veteran merchant, fashion consultant, and founder of Accessory Think Tank. She helps emerging brands build smart, scalable businesses through hands-on product development, manufacturing expertise, and retail insight.

Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.

Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com. 

Youtube: / Handbagdesigner101-ihda | Instagram:/ Handbagdesigner

TikTok: / Handbagdesigner | Twitter: / Handbagdesigner

SPEAKER_02:

It used to be easy to create a bag. I mean, you and I both know we lived it, take a brand, fix it up, change it around, and it can be a million or eight million dollars or in three years. Right. Raw consumer demands and the retailer, ever more so the consumer, a real clear understanding of the brand, its values, its positioning, its reason for being, its consumer social responsibility.

SPEAKER_00:

Hi, and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast with your host, Emily Blumenthal, Handbag Industry Expert, and the Handbag Perry Godmother. Each week we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love, from the iconic brands and top designers, the creativity, craftsmanship, and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector, or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the handbag designer 101 podcast. We have Nancy Foreman with us today from the Accessory Think Tank. Nancy, how far do we go back? How many years with the Z?

SPEAKER_02:

I had heard of you and your success in the initial handbag award creation. How many years ago was that? Oh my god, 2007. So I met you in nine or 10 when my clients were beginning to win awards.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I had wanted to meet you.

SPEAKER_01:

That's so funny. So you were a merchant by trade. I mean, I've had you speak at my class. We've done talks before, but just for the sake of this podcast and our new listeners, what's your background? I love hearing this because it so speaks to why you are so good at what you do.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you, Emily. And really, it's a thrill to be talking with you. I always learn a lot and you're quite inspiring. So thank you for having me. To share as succinctly as possible, I am a merchant. It will always be ingrained in who I am personally and professionally. I started my career with Blending Nails and was with Nails for 14 years in merchandising and buying. And that set the tone for myself recognizing my great love of product and my talent and skill in understanding the marketplace, the competitive landscape and merchandising. So I am self-taught on the design aspect over the course of about 17 years, yet still always apply my thinking as a merchant and a very, very valid understanding of the competitive landscape, both in the aspect of how a consumer thinks, to how a buyer thinks, to how to maximize existing and future opportunities.

SPEAKER_01:

What do you think the biggest mistake the designers we've worked with? Like, what do you think some of those things going in? Because I have a laundry list of those.

SPEAKER_02:

Managing expectations in regard to how to literally start from point A to B to C, understanding the challenges of development and costs by country, meaning I can produce in New York or Los Angeles and essentially oversee it and do it in more real time. Yet, what are those costs and how will that affect my total cost before I can go overseas and potentially create something and then have a thousand or two thousand units in a warehouse? So, one, this initial understanding of expectation of product development, and also the real understanding of managing expectation of growth. As over and over again, I have seen brands who get to the fin what they think the finish line is, which is product development, end up at a trade show before they're ready, which is a very big investment, don't have the success that they want and close their business.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I mean, you and I both have seen people who have hired experts, whatever they are, because there are plenty of people out there that do what you and I both do. Well, I don't do what you do, so I just want to make that very clear because you're a one of one, Nancy. Nobody does what you do as well as you in terms of product development trend and so forth. But they take someone or someone takes them on and promises them the sun, moon, and stars, charges them an offensive amount, and then they have, you know, one bag for our conversation's sake, one bag to show for it. And then they come to you with like, well, I don't have much money, but I have this one bag and I spent 20,000 developing one bag. Why am I not in sacks? And it's like, oh damn, like I could tell you a thousand reasons why you're not in sacks because there's a hundred thousand people just like you. Number one. Number two, you've blown through your money. Number three, product development costs money, whether you do it on your own or you do it with someone like you, right? And number four, understanding your customer designing into that price point, understanding where they shop, why they shop, what their needs are from ethnographically speaking, socioeconomically, geographically, all of that. But to develop a product that people will actually want and need, it's a process and it requires a lot of research. And then as far as I'm concerned, that research is free. It's free. Like you can do this research without spending a lot of money comparatively to how much you spend developing said product. Would you agree?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. And also there's a way to approach research in a very strategic way. And also recognizing it is as a merchant, I would say it begins and ends with products. Yet as a consultant and also living every single aspect of brand creation through sales strategy, the looking at the competitive language goes really goes beyond what shapes, what colors, but also really looking at supply chain transparency, consumer social responsibility, where the materials come from, how they're made, how it makes them, right? So it's way more intense in regards to a comprehensive understanding of brand strategy and creation. So that's also how I've evolved. I mean, we talk about power and shape all day long. The reality is that a brand today has the opportunity to also navigate and create through a very comprehensive strategy of consumer social responsibility and supply chain material and who's making it, right? And I say that I have created a small batch women-owned strategy to help navigate for startups so that they don't go out of business.

SPEAKER_01:

What key points would you suggest in terms of strategy that you've developed a or templatized? What would you start with? Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

In regards to the strategy, which I suggest for any brand, and I I feel like this is a method that we put together and it has been well received and recognized. Is over and over again a brand will come to me and say, What bags are we making? Right. What jewelry are we making? What decorative home are we making? First and foremost, we step back and we understand the essence and soul and thesis of the brand positioning.

SPEAKER_01:

The DNA. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. It used to be easy to create a bag. I mean, you and I both know we lived it, take a brand, fix it up, change it around, and it can be a million or eight million dollars or in three years. Right. Right. Raw consumer demands and the retailer, ever more so the consumer, a real clear understanding of the brand, its values, its positioning, its reason for being, its consumer social responsibility. And as I've said minutes back, supply chain transparency and that the product is made ethically, right? You know, over and over alternative brands that move away from leather, just because it is not leather does not mean that it's best of environmental approach to development. The other thing I found is that there are many brands who say we're sustainable. Yeah. No one is 100% sustainable in progress to really communicate that way. And in creating this brand ethos or blueprint, it keeps every department on the same page. Because we are startups, we don't have the luxury of having an organization in a building where we can meet each week or every day to talk about where we're going, from visual to Instagram to website to logo to font system. So this deck keeps all the independent contractors on the same page. And very often that is a catalyst in opening the door to really inspire manufacturing partners or future partners who want to get behind the brand. So that's one thing. And then also as you ask in regards to what are the biggest mistakes, as you touched on, it's this managing expectation. And if I hire this person and pay them this much money for a logo or a website or an Instagram strategy or social media or a product for that matter. And it I really think that it is a process of a clock. And all the arms, the movement of each of the times or sections are your partnerships that move together, and that everybody should be committed to the outcome of the brand. Yeah. Right. And it's recognition, not hiring a partner or a strategist or a logo designer who wants their community and is not involved because a brand, especially when it launches, there has to be a team that is proactive to the fact that maybe the colors are off. Maybe the logo needs to be resized. Maybe the product is too expensive. Maybe the Instagram is not working. Have to have a team that is committed after you launch.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, a couple things. One, I call that basement to Beyonce. That's my hashtag. That they get a little bit of attention or designers pay someone. And automatically the assumption is that this person is going to be the panacea of my brand, right? Dollar in a dream. I have an idea. I'm a creator. I'm a designer. Now I've employed someone who's basically going to convert these thoughts, dreams, hopes, and sketches and turn me into a viable brand. So I can tell people I'm a real designer sold at retail. So that's one. We both know that that's fallacy at its best. Number two, not everybody has the luxury or the wherewithal to find an ANSI. So, you know, to do all that on their own, we want to kind of decrypt how and what that looks like. So if I'm a handbag designer and I've created my first bag and I've paid$5,000 at a minimum for a local manufacturer per se, domestic, to create my first sample, what do you, as a merchant, do with that from there? Like if someone comes to you and say, okay, that 5K is pretty extreme. I always say 5K because nobody gets their first back, right? And if you go to these manufacturers for sampling, it's the lowest hanging fruit of customer where you could say, What do you not like? What do you want changed? And lo and behold, you get charged again and again and again and again. So the sample might not be, but by the time you're done, you've dropped a minimum of 5K, right? Another point is an NDA non-disclosure agreement. It is always a tell for new designers or people who are a little bit too green and it can come back and bite them in terms of being put at the bottom of the production list or being charged that much more, is giving an NDA to a retailer, giving an NDA to a manufacturer, giving an NDA to a sample maker. Because in this day and age, you have to show what you've done in order to get discovered, notice, conversation. And if you're showing up as a quote unquote nobody with an NDA, damn, I know I can like put you at the bottom of my production list because you don't know, or I can charge you that much more because you don't know. And as a retailer or a buyer, I'm not gonna even take your call because I don't know you and I don't care.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I think an NDA with a retailer is something that I I've seen it.

SPEAKER_01:

I have.

SPEAKER_02:

When it comes to an NDA, I think it's the approach. There's nothing wrong with an NDA being signed, and it's just a reminder for all of us. And I think it's the approach with which the NDA is delivered and communicated because that's fair, frankly, because my clients uh have NDA signed all the time, and it's really the delivery and communication. Um listen, I understand your level of expertise. It's just uh you're uh an industry reminder, and most often the manufacturer who is in place is used to it. I will say I have seen not within the US, but overseas, literally submitted something to a major manufacturer and saw it was a design I developed, literally by design, yeah, completely knock off with an NVA, you know. So it's gotta be done right often, you know, 99%, no problem. But I don't have an issue with it in regards to your question on manufacturing. Yeah, it's all about budget and time and experience. Yeah. So a brand or designer needs to have that in-person experience to create their products and 5k is within the budget, so be it. You know, there are ordinary manufacturers in New York. I know throughout the world by looking in a bag about how much it's going to cost in sample, production, MLQ, landing, right? Yeah. So ultimately, also if backing up the brand or the client, the designer really understands in advance before the facts are made, taking a look at the Rubik's cube of strategy, right? Yeah. And that again is also what should be done before product is made. Yeah. Looking at the options and the pros and cons and things. Sometimes the 5K is the right choice because of time is money, right? You know, frustration. Yeah. So you really have to look at that as a tool to make the decision. Because we develop that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there's so much to cover right now. But even in terms of sustainability, are you working with brands that are still wanting leather? Because I work with actually recently within my handbag designer incubator, designers that were hell bent on keeping leather and having customers understand the beauty, the joy, the seatfield touch, that tangibility factor of a leather bag. How do you approach that versus, you know, from a sustainable element of saying, no, no, no, no, no, you know, like let's make sure that because you can't guarantee that the peace goods are dead stock. You can't, nor should you in some capacity or cases, you know. How do you integrate that into the assortment?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, one, I believe that there's incredible beauty in art personal aspects and, in a sense, approach to well-lived products that come from leather.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I have such incredible relationships with so many tanneries and owners of tanneries. So understanding their positioning, how they manufacture their tening processes. So agree completely that there is a place for leather, and then there is a place for alternative materials. And the reason for those reflects the positioning and ethos of who the brand is, what they stand for, where they want to land and where they want to make it. Right. Exactly. There's no one answer. And frankly, there is there are incredible strategies and implementations happening at both ways, alternative materials and with leathers. Everybody wants to be better. You know, obviously, if it's a designer who is truly, truly committed to the authenticity of all beings, right, then they're not going to use leather. Right. And there's a place for both.

SPEAKER_01:

If you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and you didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you. If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you. I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the handbag designer 101 masterclass. Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture, and market a handbag brand. Broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes. For the past 20 years, I've been teaching at the top fashion universities in New York City, wrote the handbag designer Bible, founded the handbag boards, and created the only handbag designer podcast. I'm going to show you like I have countless brands to create in this in-depth course, from sketch to sample to sale. Whether you're just starting out and don't even know where to start or begin, or if you had a brand and need some strategic direction, the handbag designer 101 Masterclass is just for you. So let's get started and you'll be the creator of the next it bag. Join me, Emily Blumenthal, in the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. So be sure to sign up at Emily Blumenthal.com slash masterclass and type in the code I'mCast to get 10% off your masterclass today. And do you have thoughts on China? No China. Like I know so many brands right now are just using their China factories for sampling, but not production.

SPEAKER_02:

I have found and find because we produce throughout the United States and India, different parts of India and China, Italy, Romania, Portugal, and more, that every country has its roads. And also has their ability for domestic production. I will tell you that China were such incredible relationships and partnerships, both in production and material development and jewelry and decorative home in China and then in Europe. So, you know, it really comes down to again, where does the brand want to be in regards to price, quality, and MLQ, right? Because there is no reason to develop in China if you're not going to produce there. I mean, to your point, you have people sampling. Well, the hand work is extraordinary. Yeah. Right. Yet there's a lot of credible, the biggest handman factory in the world is in Vietnam, right? You know, the reality is is that the MLQ is what a thousand, three thousand. So we can't do that. But you know, again, we produce in Seoul, Korea, all over. You know, and frankly, I also feel and do this that in order to be informed from the beginning, one of the first things to do is also look and say, again, if I produce it here, is this where it's going to land in regards to MIQ price quality and timing versus here? And it may be that I start here, right? Yet when I am producing, I'm paying a higher price. Yet I know that my goal is to hit this retail. So I want it to be so it sells. My margins are smaller. I want my volume, I already know where I can go. So that if retailer X says, Emily, we absolutely love what you're doing. Your prices are too high, and you don't already know where you can go. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

What's MOQ? Just to be clear. Okay. And in terms of landed price, now there's a variety of pricing, right? There's freight on board, which is FOB, there's land of duty paid, which is landed, LDP. With your designers, how do you typically do the pricing when you're saying landed? So how would you think about that?

SPEAKER_02:

What happens is internationally, you know, there's a freight forwarder that manages so that there's less of a surprise, right? The thing that that's been very challenging today is shipping. Yep. Shipping costs are outrageous. Yeah. So Brennan, what you're thinking through the$5,000 bag to be made in your city rightly. Yeah. And then you know the shipping costs literally over China equal that. So again, being really clear in the short and longer term on what is going to come up, right? You make the right decision. I would love to talk about what's happening in the market.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, I would I actually wanted to because I want to cover, you know, sweet spot of pricing where you think for different markets. And then also make sure when we wrap up, we speak about colors, trends, silhouettes where we think things are going. Because, you know, I want to make sure that we have you on at least once every three months just to get the Nancy update. Because this covers, I mean, right now everything we're speaking about is pretty timeless, you know, to learn how to create a bag from sketch inception to shelf to repeat business to customer acquisitions to sustainability to strategy. Like there's a whole kind of you could draw boxes and arrows for what the correct pathway to do it.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I also feel that you know, being an entrepreneur or a new designer.

SPEAKER_01:

Or even an established designer who needs a wake up.

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Who needs a wake up? The as in reference, and I really think about the clock or pie. And you really have to put a strategy together as an entrepreneur to wear so many hats in order to really understand. So it's also almost like within a month um to ensure that you devote time to sales strategy, right? And how do you do that? And that how that then leads to understanding the competitive landscape and seeing other brands and identifying the stock assist.

SPEAKER_01:

So get me started on the my sexy SWAT, which I live for, and doing a competitive analysis. And oh wow, yeah, we definitely need to do more than one conversation, but let's just move over right now to pricing and sweet spots and where you think that's going.

SPEAKER_02:

Contemporary modern luxury is really my expertise. I know that there's mass and odds price and volume. I know the levels in the meetings. Um so I'm not going to talk about those competitive 59, 69, 99, 199 prices because it is not my market, yet it is sol to the masters of the classes, sell the classes with the masters. Nothing wrong with it. I am um very, very focused on the radiation and creation of something that doesn't exist, and then how to navigate and create that in quality and then communication to the consumer and the retailer. And with that, then the positioning is more expensive on every level, yet the minimums that one has to invest are controlled, right? It's not just what you make, it's what you spend, right? And what you make, you can have a healthy business, you could be in a million-dollar business and be profitable, and you could be a$10 million profitable.

SPEAKER_01:

So what you said, contemporary modern per se, what retailer would that fall into? And what sweet spot would you speak to with that?

SPEAKER_02:

That would be on a suffrages. I was in London last month, you know, um suffrages is very similar to Bergdorf or SACS, whereby you know, Joquamess and you know, really like next level assortments of product near Mes, and yet there's a contemporary floor, right? So one of our clients what retailer in the US would you say that would fall in? Sorry, I was thinking about the success of one of our clients together. Um Nordstrom, about Nordstrom, love, love, love, love Nordstrom and their willingness to take a chance on Eunice, although Nordstrom I feel has a broader assortment of eunists. I think those two obviously sacks and but those days those are more challenging, right? And they take a little bit longer. Yeah, and then of course specialty stores. Right. And I think don't don't sleep on them. People still should be able to do that. So I actually actually love working with the specialty stores. Me too. The feedback, the willingness to take a chance, the willingness to pay up front. So and really throughout the country, there are case makers who really understand their customer. Yeah. Whether it's in Iowa, Oklahoma, Alabama, Palm Beach, Naples, Florida, yeah, Baltimore, yeah, Chicago. And I continue to follow the stores through signing up for their marketing emails. Yeah. Those key merchants on LinkedIn. I have immense respect for those specialty stores that have been able to develop curated assortments and really be a tastemaker for their customers.

SPEAKER_01:

So, what price point would you say that would be a sweet spot for that? I would say$4.95 to$795.$7.95 would be for a full leather, or not even necessarily full leather.

SPEAKER_02:

Leather. You know, the thing is we were analyzing this the other day on our when it was the factory, our small factory, and I'm looking at ABAD made in leather and non-leather.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Actually, because non-leather, we're really using new alternative best up materials that are more expensive to make with less bio-based percents. So they're expensive. A meter one of them is$35. Wow. Wow. So really almost equal to leather, yet the consumer understanding that, right? So you can take a just have to be careful. I think I know there is still an obception by most consumers that leather has more value. Yeah, look at Stella, right? And right.

SPEAKER_01:

But I could go back and forth on this because I buy into sustainability. I understand that I'm totally on the same page with you. However, there's a smaller number of customers that at least that can afford that price point that will make sure that that's their core driving force for purchasing that product. So my opinion was always if you're going to have that, it should be part of your assortment, not all of your assortment in terms of the materials, because at least you should see, you know, take a temperature check to see how your customer react to that.

SPEAKER_02:

And I have, and do you know, there I was looking at the market the other day at a DNA.

SPEAKER_01:

Unless that's the DNA of your brand exclusively. So, you know, that's the other side. In terms of where you think color is going and silhouette, this is like my favorite part. When I was on a call with a retailer that is lower price point, it was interesting to hear about, you know, hands-free, still super important, crossbody, still super important, clutch, not so much, but that's not their customer. You know, clutch, in my opinion, goes much more specialty or mass or high-end. It's kind of like if you're going into a certain retailer, you're not going there to buy a party bag. You want that party bag to be either super cheap or super expensive or super novelty, my opinion. So, in terms of color and silhouette, where do you think things are going in terms of what you've seen?

SPEAKER_02:

So you want to say and communicate Mrs. Microsoft, and you mean self-taught on development and design.

SPEAKER_01:

I think you have to move past by saying self-taught, because at this point, you're an industry expert. Like you're already validated.

SPEAKER_02:

Um the design process, we're getting caught up in fall, winter, this, spring, summer, this, these colors, and I need to create this color story towards one seeds, and that by the time I get to market, I look like a markdown. Right. So it's one thing if you're a bigger brand, but if you're a newer brand, you know, you talk about color and let's talk about it. And I'm going to share. The reality is you put a color palette together that reflects an ethos of your products, yet that also has legs that can sell winter, spring, summer, and fall. Thank God you said that. Reality. Okay. That and so then you say, well, then don't I look like everybody else? Well, then figure out a way, just like I always say it's like a bookshelf and shorter over here. Okay, so take a chance on a couple of color stories or textile stories that do communicate around it. Yeah. But make sure you have a manufacturing partner that works with you that will make twos, threes, yeah, fixes. Yeah. And I will say, having lived this where I wanted to go to market with an assortment in a very strong color palette and had not been able to do it through New York due to pricing, China due to MOQ. I said to myself, I've got to fix this. Yeah. So I opened a little factory. So we now have the ability. to do this. So I solved that you have your own factory now? As a factory partner in Europe. We're swimming back.

SPEAKER_01:

What country? Romania. Um this wow. That's epic. Nancy, Nancy, Nancy, Nancy. Wow, I can't wait to share your information at the end because wow. It's not just for bags.

SPEAKER_02:

We're moving into exploration for other categories, hair accessories. I'll bet. Clothing. But it was really out of my restoration of also, I cannot take out a client, right? Where you can't get their bags made. Well I don't want to go through this challenge of an investment of 50 or 60K or 80K in US with the dyes, the MOQs, and tie up those dollars when we have to take those dollars and split them evenly between tight logo, visual identity, um product development. Yeah. So um we did it. So that's definitely made things much easier whereby our and we do real time zooms with the factory. So what's the MOQ?

SPEAKER_01:

Six, three, twelve. Wow. So instead of the designer saying, okay, I'm gonna make this all neutral or I'm gonna do black, brown, and oxblood. And now they have an opportunity to do a short run collection of green, hot pink, orange yellow just for or at least develop once because the problem is is economies of scale, right? Like if you're producing green bags on your end, it's gonna cost you a lot more because you're producing that much less. But meanwhile you can't put that to the customer. So then what? So that's always the pickle because whenever I analyze uh and talk to people about analyzing brands and a brand's health is counting how many pop-up color bags they have within their assortment.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a very delicate balance, right? You look at the success of any great brand who stands for identifying their strong item and then from that pulling that out and communicating to the customer on whether it be through size, yeah right through an impact of it doesn't just have to be like color it doesn't have to be the rainbow. It might be that you know that your communication and choice the color story is very reflective of a trip to the country whereby the way that the the truth the set shades of oranges you know it's also like the authenticity of where you're making your choices of development and how you communicate that yeah even still the reality is is war neutral always sells and yet we do need that impact of storytelling and I was insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I know what it means I know what the costs are to create a brand and yes product's wonderful but what inferior images half app logo website that doesn't work yeah you know it's just and also I've been privy over the years and recently and always I'm part of every aspect of what the client does and there's excellence all over I'm just saying is this can you afford it right or if your proposal for a logo you know or a website 50k well no right since how can you but it's not insane for agencies that are able to do it. It's the same thing as is why Lop Lemmy Nelson started my makeup brands right I hired the PR company that represented people I thought being in a magazine was going to do it. It's managing right and so we also now have a built-out for many clients logo website font system visual identity and it's incredible.

SPEAKER_01:

I'll bet yeah it sounds amazing.

SPEAKER_02:

Let's go back to product because that's the fun part so in regards to and I felt this for a while I feel that the earthiness on you know as we know on the freshness of the consumer becoming more casual right she she you know before COVID we know how women dressed and then we were stuck and now we're getting dressed up yet we have a real connectivity to nature and earth so the idea of the colors of nature meaning that you could choose a palette that is shades of shades of cream like that would be your step and you don't need to do one tan. I'm not saying that's right. But I really feel very strongly about chocolate I'm obsessed with chocolate and you're gonna see it. I mean chocolates are to me really fresh and a beautiful alternative to blacks and then from a color palette perspective I think I still feel that shades of green yep are better. Yep just less atic but super excited about that. You know and ultimately again there's beautiful colors across all spectrums what makes sense for that person's rents.

SPEAKER_01:

So just because we only have a couple minutes left what are your silhouettes to watch what do you think are on their way out because I don't want to take too much more of your time because we'll close in on an hour here or 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_02:

Sure. I mean logic and reality is is that we know you know since the beginning of time for us that a smart tote let's face come on a smart tote whether it's targeting working woman a mom you know that there is some niche for a smart tote at the same time novelty and when I'm talking novelty I'm not then saying that it has to be crystallized and embroidered but really smart smart bag shapes that's that's what I'm doing right now like really coming out with something beautiful I really am quite inspired by hobos. Yeah right not uh 1990s 2003 yeah yeah kind of casual crossbody hands free really works with what's happening and ready to wear and then I'm quite excited about travel because there's you know like when I look back to travel brand that we created together with the client and the feedback from a very senior person day at launch you know so many people are traveling so it's true the idea of backpack. Yeah you know um that the utilitarian aspect of backpack but for my market or for doesn't then mean all my clients are doing this but some level of really kick at really beautiful novelty the casual sophistication of some sort of crossbody messenger phob yep and clutches that's amazing well Nancy thank you so much for taking your time again you are going to be our regular in terms of we're getting updates with Nancy where can we find you how can people find you follow you why do we get back to everything Nancy my company is the accessory think tank more now than accessories since we're in our 18th year but the company accessory think tank my email is Nancy at the accessory think tank and my Instagram is at the accessory think tank.

SPEAKER_01:

Amazing Nancy thank you thank you so much well stay tuned and thanks for joining us on the handbag designer 101 podcast and more to come thanks guys have a good one thanks for listening don't forget to rate and review and follow us on every single platform at handbag designer thanks so much see you next time

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Emily Blumenthal

Host