This Sunday morning, I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a post from a magazine I follow, talking about a new handbag brand — its creative universe, the inspirations behind the founder. I was curious: why haven’t I heard about it before? Lately, I’ve been diving into benchmarks, and I thought I knew all the brands by heart. Apparently, I was wrong.
Anyway, I went to check the brand, and to be honest, it looks exactly the same as so many other “minimal” brands. No colour, no details, no texture… It feels like a copy of The Row or Khaite — to mention the best ones — or just another reinterpretation of a vintage bag. The price point is very competitive, which, to me, explains its success. Pricing was my main issue when I started wholesale. Even when my bags were considered “expensive”, my margins were very small, and I wasn’t really making money out of it.
Basic outfit + creative bag = best combo
So my question is: are people still interested in creative and original designs? I believe they are, even if it’s harder to build a solid business this way. But every time I see yet another brand that looks just like all the others, I think: this can’t be the only way. And the more I see them, the more I want to stick to my patchwork, my colourful universe, the complexity of the techniques, and my factories in Spain and India — the ones who have been with me from day one — instead of simply looking for whoever can make it cheaper.
I’m also a freelance designer, and over the past few years, almost all the brands I’ve worked with ask me the same thing: “We want to do Polène.”
OMG. Kill me now.
Trixi is my everyday color therapy
Their success is impressive, their designs are beautiful, and they are already everywhere. If you live in Paris, you’ll notice that one girl out of five is wearing a Polène bag — if not more. But do we really need another brand copying them?
It took me a long time to build RECO — not even the brand itself, but the concept, the identity, the DNA. Because it’s so hard to make a difference, to offer something that doesn’t already exist, something that feels missing. Otherwise, what’s the point? Do we really need more brands?
This is why I stick to patchwork, to assembling techniques, to reducing waste, to daring colour and bi-colour, to using dead stock as much as possible, and to building something mindful and, above all, recognizable. If I have two brands as references, they are Bottega Veneta and Loewe. To me, they never give up on creativity, craftsmanship, and originality — while staying extremely respectful of their DNA and constantly reinterpreting it.
The colors of our first exclusive collection for Brown's
I’m aware that these luxury brands are very expensive, and most of us can’t afford them. This is also why I wanted to create a brand with “affordable” prices, without compromising on creativity and quality. But sometimes it feels like this no longer matters.
I regret that multi-brand stores and e-commerce retailers don’t really use their visibility as a window to introduce creative products. I’m not necessarily talking about young brands — for me, the focus should be on the quality of the design and how it is made. Instead, it often feels like the only thing that matters is the price point.
Have you noticed how many e-commerce retailers don’t mention where a product is made when it’s not Europe? Is that transparency, or is it just convenience? Do we — do they — really care where things are made?
I want to believe we do. And I’m not going to give up on it. Because the future of fashion matters. The values of each player matter. And the way things are evolving right now doesn’t feel right.
Thank you for reading, and for loving creativity, originality, and singularity as much as I do.
I’d truly love to hear how you feel about this.
Me at the office (my home), 2021
Continuará…
Best,
Bea
Founder of RECO
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