Leeanne and Guy Hundleby are in the kitchen of their Edinburgh home where a breakfast spread for four is laid across the table. An effortlessly elegant board sits at the center loaded with mini croissants, fruits, and vintage sherry glasses filled with yogurt parfait. “We’ve just moved in,” Leeanne says. “And all I could find are my granny’s plates.” I assure her, granny’s plates are always the best plates.
Leeanne and Guy are not only partners in marriage, they are partners in business as the Co-Founders of handbag brand Strathberry, the Scotland-based, handmade-in-Spain line of elegantly crafted pieces consistently found on the arms of all the important Kates: Kate Middleton, Katie Holmes, and Kate Hudson. Meghan Markle, and other celebrities, along with peak influencers are avid Strathberry fans as well.
Leeanne grew up in a family where everything involving textiles—from Christmas dresses to specialty lampshades—was made by her grandmother or mother. The curtains in her childhood home were made at her mother’s sewing machine as well as the throw that laid at the bottom of her bed. When newspaper print was the trend, she had a top and pencil skirt made for her by the hands of these women. The same sewing machine which created all these pieces for Leeanne’s family still has pride of place in the design studio at Strathberry’s Edinburgh headquarters. “We darned socks, we sewed up holes and elbows. We made things last. That’s what we did. We patched and we fixed,” says Leeanne.
Made to last. It’s a value so close to the Hundlebys that it’s the cornerstone of their business.
“We have an appreciation for how things are made and we don’t want to be a part of this throwaway culture,” says Guy.
Catherine, Princess of Wales attends The “Together At Christmas” Carol Service at Westminster Abbey … [+]
So, the couple launched their brand out of a small home office alongside a successful Kickstarter campaign–”The post office from where we shipped those first orders was a three-minute walk from the house,” laughs Leeanne–and created a line for consumers made with the highest quality leathers and craftsmanship.
Strathberry bags take a minimum of 20 hours to create and are finished with the finest details and hardware. At a glance, a large Strathberry croc-embossed East West bag looks and feels as if it could retail in the $2400 to $4800 range. But the Hundlebys are uncompromising when it comes to accessibility: their version sells for $775 on their site. Still pricey, but priced honestly.
If that seems unreal or unbelievable, consider Tanner Leatherstein’s take on Strathberry. The online personality deconstructs the world’s most costly designer bags, including those by Hermès and Goyard, and uses his expertise in leather construction to share with consumers the quality of the handbags and if they live up to the price. His audience asked him to take on Strathberry and he took apart the brand’s Nano Tote style, touted its provenance from the same leather-making town in Spain where all the elite brands are produced, and said the $495 Strathberry—from a strictly quality perspective—would be 3-4 times the price if made by a luxury brand. “This brand proves if you’re only looking for good leather, design, and craftsmanship, we have options, you don’t have to break the bank,” says Leatherstein in the video.
“We’re a bit of a disrupter in that way because we’ve come into the market and are offering that level of quality—which many brands have not been able to, or have not wanted to—offer at that price,” says Guy. “But we have given our consumers all of it.”
According to online expert, Tanner Leatherstein, Strathberry would retail for 3-4 times as much if … [+]
I had to ask: Weren’t they nervous about investing as much quality as the luxury houses but with significantly smaller margins?
“The margins truly are enough,” responds Guy. “We want people to be able to afford fine products, and the other luxury brands are so expensive they become almost too elite and unapproachable.”
However, the Hundlebys excel at doing things outside the norm. Even this interview, which is taking place at their home, is a rare occurrence for a journalist. It’s also rare for fashion brands to retain talent for any significant length of time. Yet, as I tour the Strathberry headquarters, I learn most of the team members have been there for years–five, or seven or more.
“Our team is so committed and it’s lovely because they want us to be happy and do well, and we want them to be happy and do well, so it’s a reciprocal respect that results,” says Leeanne.
Now, as they have just celebrated their 10th anniversary, Strathberry is a business with a proven model, 40% growth year over year, and revenues close to the $40 million mark. With Kickstarter now a distant memory, the brand was recently infused with an $8 million investment from the respected UK and Ireland capital investor, BGF.
Strathberry bags are handcrafted with the finest materials, finished with high-end details, and … [+]
For some sole business owners, investment can be daunting, but for the Hundlebys it was necessary to help Strathberry scale from both an organizational and expansion perspective. They needed to create a C-suite of talent, hire other key senior executives, buy significantly larger quantities of material to drive supply, and tap into the networks an established investor can provide such as support to help attain B-Corp status. One of the next projects on the horizon: vegan bags created in collaboration with mega Hollywood stylist Tara Swennen who is a frequent collaborator with Chanel and personal stylist to Kristen Stewart.
“There’s potential to hit our target of one hundred million in revenue over the next three to four years,” says Guy, which he says comes from a mix that is roughly made up of 65% direct-to-consumer sales, 20% wholesale, and the rest through other marketplaces.
As we finish the conversation in the Strathberry design studio an arm’s length from the sewing machine of Leeanne’s mother, it stands as a symbol—still in use, by the way—of their values.
“We just try to be ourselves and we try to make sure our team and our customers know what it means to be part of the Strathberry family,” says Leeanne. “We treat each other with respect and bring positivity and excellence into the world. We are real, and we have kept it real from the start.”
