Winter 21/22 Bag Release!

It’s been a minute and this is long and full of stories! You can skip to the collection release right away by clicking here, or settle in and read on for many words about love and collaboration and bags and rubber bands.......

 

Hello!! from the land of giant mountains, expansive seascapes, many apartment buildings and ancient trees living right in the city. I am so happy to be here. I’ve been working hard to balance this massive business transition over the course of the last 6 months, along with reorienting my own life and lifestyle towards a healthier work life balance in a place that I instantly fell in love with. And, I’m here to report, that the wild wild plan I put in place earlier this year may have actually worked. I think we’ve done it! None of it would have happened without the incredible outpouring of support you all have shown me since I announced the great big adventure West. Honestly, I look back to this summer and I am not fully sure how I pulled it all off. I know a big reason is the continual affirmations so many of you sent me along the way, many shoreline bike rides, harbor seals, new friends, the two bag releases selling out within three days, a lot of family time and just an overall sense that y’all believed me to be crazy enough to not only take this on, but to successfully pull it off. Thank you from the bottom of my ever hard working wild dreaming heart. And now, the big release!!!

I have scaled the collection back just a bit because, while I might have the kind of intense work ethic that doesn’t always mind working insane hours, I do have enough experience to know when I can’t actually do it all. Backpacks and Messenger bags will come back in the spring but really, there is quite a lot in this release! I redesigned a few styles, designed a new one, built a bunch of production relationships that have very quickly become my new collaborative creative energy and I can’t wait to keep building this community of super talented people who also make super fantastic things come to be in the world.

fanny pack waist bag upcycled cotton

THE FANNY PACK NO.2 - this bag is SO GOOD! In the last 4 months I have produced a few thousand bags for a large client order that consumed most of my working energy, while also teaching me so much about larger scale production and the stranglehold the supply chain has had on my ability to do pretty much anything. One bi-product of any textile production is fabric waste, something I’ve built our entire brand around reducing. Our bags are designed to have minimal fabric waste but these large orders, unfortunately, have quite a bit. So, I took all of the scrap pieces, met a very talented screen printer and we started collaborating on some custom fabric dyes. We hand dyed each and every piece of scrap from those bags and upcycled them into the very best Fanny Pack. These are rather limited edition and because of the nature of such an individual process, each one will be slightly different. Available in 4 colors. I’ve been wearing this everywhere. I don't even want to say which is my favorite because, like all my children, I love each one the best. They’re probably going to sell out 😬

cross body waxed canvas bag

THE WAYFINDER - A few years ago I started learning a new construction method for bags, The Wayfinder was one outcome of that journey. But, it was so difficult for us to make and so we discontinued it and almost every day since I’ve received requests to bring it back. So, I made some construction improvements and learned better ways to achieve a similar goal. It’s now a little larger, made from heavy waxed canvas, lined in cordura, super water proof, zip top, gender neutral and pretty much is the bag that I want to see everyone I know wearing. Shop here.

waxed canvas tote bag

THE CARRIER - ahhhhhhh!!! I finished the design for this bag in the spring, just before I closed down my Pittsburgh life. I’m often thinking of who I want to see carry a specific bag when I’m working on something new and this one came from thinking about one of my closest friends and all the ways our life has grown together over the dozen years we’ve known each other. She always carries my bags and I wanted her to have the newest and most improved. That’s more sentiment than I’ve ever shared about my design process (which is an unpredictable wild animal at times), but I think you will be as in love with this bag as I am with my friend Lena. Adult friendships are so important and a big part of how I’ve made it through the last few years. So, tell your friends you love them and then go buy The new Carrier because it’s so good. There’s a laptop slip inside!

clean beauty

SELF CARE! - I’m not sure how I’ve stumbled into this world of beauty products. I have lots of siblings, but like many big families, I truly grew up with those on either side of me. Which was, all brothers. Certainly, this made me very competitive, very athletic, very much an avoider of conflict and also very not classically feminine. This has never changed. I am not well versed in all of the ways in which women make themselves beautiful. As I get older, I tend towards practicalities. Like, oh wow yes I do have wrinkles forming and my skin does dry out and actually it feels really good to take care of yourself so why haven’t I been doing this all along? And so, I’ve been seeking out ways to give myself more attention while also maintaining my neutral style. I’ve finally accepted my own beauty, and I want to celebrate it. With that, I have been on the search for the very best products to keep me interested, cared for and literally glowing with a controlled deweyness that more closely resembles the time I ran the mile during the Presidential Physical Fitness tests in elementary school and came in second only to T Riley who was also my big crush in 5th grade and while I didn’t understand any of the feelings I was having about competitiveness or crushes and where they might overlap, I definitely had the shine of accomplishment that we’re all after these days. This line of skin care and repairing oils are top of my list these days.

desk top tools

DESK CARE! - hah! I went a little overboard on very nuanced desk supplies. Like many of you in the last two years, my desk life changed when I relocated and it is important to me that the things I surround myself with are not only super functional but also well designed. Much like the importance of space and how it influences how we feel, the utilitarian items in my life pretty much have to be the sorts of things that work so well I don’t have to think about them. And, even better when they have the kind of legacy that these rubber bands have. I use these notebooks as my daily sketch, thought, pattern, etc books. This new blue is so good!! I mostly write in pencil and only ever with these pencils and I think you might need to gift some Italian push pins to your best friend this holiday season. 

You can see all of the new bags here. Many will start shipping after our Thanksgiving weekend, others will start shipping by mid-December because they are still in process 😬, which is also a reminder that this tiny small business is being run with far less people than normal so it might take me a bit longer than usual to get everything shipped, but I promise you I will have everything to you for the holidays. And, if you need something sooner, email me! I’m nice! We’ll see if we can make it happen!

So much love from this pizza party throwing, bike riding, Stanley Tucci martini making heart xoxoxoxox,

Wendy

 

**have you tried Stanley Tucci’s martini recipe? GOOGLE IT! It’s surprisingly the best martini I’ve ever made and includes just a tiny whisper of vermouth soaked ice cubes. It’s the kind of laborious process I love. okeeee…enough from me now. Go buy all the bags!

Winter 21/22 Bag Release!