AM: Well that’s amazing!
I remember when the brand started in 2018, I don’t remember what the first product was, but I feel pretty early on, The Weekender was there as a fashion stylist and accessory expert so when I travel that’s great, but I do need bags that I can lug my items to photoshoots, work with my celeb clients – so to see that you guys have created such an assortment and that you have items that can work in an array of situations, it’s truly a brand that is on the go!
What is the ethos of the brand and why did Shay Mitchell want to create it?
LM: So honestly, the ethos of the brand is to be in that white space of creating an on the go brand and it was very intentional that we launched the brand with bags and not with rolling bags and that came later in 2019 as you know. This ethos of creating an on the go lifestyle brand really helped us through the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 when travel felt that it was really at a halt. I felt that we could easily pivot to bags that we could use on a daily basis for a walk, etc.
So really the ethos of the brand is creating this fun lifestyle brand that is relatable, affordable, and accessible to people. It’s on the go right? You’re always on the go! You’re going to the gym, the grocery store, you’re going for a walk, whatever it is that you are moving to. Shay is an incredible partner in this brand. She’s involved in the day-to-day quite honestly in the creative, product, and the positioning and the reason why she wanted to develop this brand is because she is centered into this ethos. She travels a lot, she has her YouTube Shaycation and she was traveling a lot for her job, she’s traveled since she was 15 years old when she start ed getting into the industry she was in Thailand or Bangkok for awhile. Travel is in her blood. She knows it and she understands it. What she noticed was this gap in the industry of really expensive bags that were great looking, but they had no functionality, really cheap bags had some function, but they looked really cheap. So she was like, where is the perfect bag that is in the middle of that. The Weekender is actually one that she carried and that she loved. It’s a beige bag and she wanted to design off of that bag that she had and loved for so long and sort of got scuff marks, was dirty and had been with her all over. I have no idea of what that bag was as I have never seen it. But we just based off of her sketches and drawing and hearing about her background of using it the love that she had for it and all the places that she took it to, it’s basically how that on the go lifestyle brand was created.
AM: I love that! As someone who has designed collections I’m always interested in other’s approach to their assortment. What do you look for when it comes to adding new designs or even new colorways? You guys are doing really amazing at that as well.
LM: I mean, it’s not that much of challenge. As you know from a design perspective and for an assortment, you’re essentially trying to look into a crystal ball to figure out what people want. A lot of it is trend driven and design driven and we use programs. We shop the industry and look at what we are attracted to and what Shay is attracted to as well. We have an insane and amazing community of the brand so we’re able to tap into them to see what they want. If we hear them shouting loudly about something that they specifically want then we try to bring it in. A Rolling Weekender is something that we have been trying to work on for awhile because primarily, it’s the size of a Carry-On. So we get a lot of complaints that it’s super heavy. It’s a Carry-On that essentially you carry and whatever you put in there, it's going to be heavy. So, making a potential solution of being able to roll on it is something we want to bring out in the future and we are currently working on that right now.
And then it’s really about leaning into the data and looking at the boring stuff and seeing what people are searching for. A lot of our color expansion has come primarily because either we have done a small drop of something and we see that we have an insane amount of people signing up for it and eventually, we want to be able to answer to these people! They have signed up for Maple and there are 40,000 people that like it, then we are going to bring Maple into the core line.
AM: I love Maple!
LM: That’s how some of it happens!
Maple is one of our top colors right now. How we decide what colors, we are a brand that started with beige and black in our first couple of years. We didn’t really launch any colors in those first 2 or years and then the consumer started wanting color again and I think that’s a nuance we’re seeing across a number of industries right now. Interiors right now, beige and this gray were in and now people are reinvigorating color into their spaces! So I think that we are seeing that trend across the board, but we want it to remain to look good all together so that if you do have a collection that is a mélange of colors that are offered in our product category that look good and match back to each other. Although we prefer monochromatic ha!
AM: Same!
What do you feel are the core pieces of the brand?
LM: The core pieces of the brand are The Weekender, Rolling Luggage is hands down – that’s what the consumer says it is. There is one new item that is really ticking up – our Sports Sling! We literally can’t keep it in stock and I think it’s because when we started designing this, I wish I could go through the iterations of it. It was this thing that could be a long sleeve, it could be a bag, and then it would zip together. When we saw it zipped we loved how compact it was and then we added this sneaky water bottle pocket – it’s the perfect travel companion and the perfect everyday bag and now we’re going to be adding it into multiple different colors. I do think that our sport category is slightly underrated, but the materials of this category are amazing.
But if you are looking through the consumer lens of where is she putting her dollars, it’s our luggage and our Weekender. For me, our luggage, and not to put the word value on it, but it’s a value item. It’s has more function than on any piece of luggage on the market, in this category, at the level of durability that we offer and at that price point. It’s great luggage! I converted my husband to this luggage, Rimowa people who are stans! Once you start using this luggage, people get it!
AM: I love that sling back, it’s one of the ones we shot for our issue. Like you said, I love that water bottle in it. Plus it lays so nice for those who want to wear it towards the front whether you have ample bosom or not!
LM: We take that into account in our testing! We have all sizes and shapes on our team. We try them on, everybody!
AM: I love that as a brand the focus on intention and design and having all of these areas where you’re optimizing its use! How do you decide about that functionality and to make sure that those elements are there?
LM: Yeah, So we honestly have our staple function pieces and there are no compromises to them. They will always be in that bag if it makes sense for the bag. We learned that by trial and error. If we came out with a line and it didn’t have the Trolley Sleeve just because it was a bag that didn’t have it as it wasn’t going to be a travel bag, it would be more of a bag that didn’t have it as it wasn’t going to be a travel bag, it would be more of a daily tote. But then customers would let us know that they would have bought it but they wanted that sleeve. So it was the trial and error of learning what are those core function pieces that we have to have in all of our products. So those are the things – the Trolley Sleeve, Padded Laptop Sleeve – ways to use it everyday and ways to use it for travel. We know that the consumer is not always buying 2 bags – some do, I buy a bag for everything. But some want to use the same tote bag for work, for travel, for sport/gym, whatever – they want it all. So giving the all, but also being mindful that if it is intended to be a sport bag, let’s throw in the sport function – a pass through for your yoga mat or your tennis racket. If it is travel specific, it has to have a padded laptop sleeve, it has to have ease of accessibility so that you can go through TSA. Honestly, finding things to add on like that sneaky water bottle pocket, hidden pockets that are great for easy accessibility of your phone, but it’s not on the exterior so that someone can grab it. Our key leash is a stable, but functionality is a consumer driven thing, but it’s also us using the bag and seeing that this bag can use something like this to level it up times 10!
AM: If someone is brand new to the brand, what are 3 pieces that you suggest that they should have?
LM: Ok, I am going to tell you that this is the worst thing for me to say – I am not personally a weekender girl!