A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER MONICA

Working in a high fashion environment of luxury beauty Public Relations, I was frustrated by my inability to find a well made, chic, black leather work handbag that didn't cost thousands of dollars. I needed to look the part, but I didn't want (nor could I afford) to spend $3000 to do it.

I looked high and low yet the offer seemed to be cheap plastic PU faux leather bags or grossly overpriced designer bags, retailing for thousands of dollars.

I knew there needed to be a middle ground, for smart, modern women who wanted to look a million dollars, but didn't want to spend thousands of dollars to do it. For women that are smart enough to know it doesn't cost $3000 to make a beautiful leather bag. For women that don't want to pay for the middle men, mark-ups and marketing budget luxury designer brands funnel back to their customers through their over-inflated prices.

I knew there was a solution and luckily (thanks to my Italian grandparents) I knew where I could find it. So, with the knowledge that the best leather in the world was located in Italy I set off to my grandparents hometown to find the best leather suppliers and the most skilled leather artisans, in the hope I could create this missing "middle ground" handbag range myself.

My mission was to make chic, minimal, beautiful, simple, strong, durable, well made Italian leather bags and bring them back to Australia for my friends and family. Years later we now sell VESTIRSI bags to smart, modern women across Australia and the world.

I made these bags for my friends; smart, successful women who appreciate style and expect quality, but know they shouldn't have the pay the world for it. Each bag is named after a special woman in my life. My sister, sister-in-law, cousin and best friends are all featured.

Friends don't break promises and so to them (and to you) I make the following four promises.

PRODUCT PROMISE

All VESTIRSI bags are made in Italy, the birth place of the world's finest leather. This premium material, combined with handmade production by Italian leather artisans means each VESTIRSI bag is an exceptionally well made, quality product. With Italian heritage, I had always been aware the best leather in the world and the most skilled leather artisans in the world hailed from Italy so there was no doubt in my mind where VESTIRSI bags would be made. You can read more about our leather and manufacturing here.

PRICE PROMISE

Luxury leather - minus the traditional luxury leather mark-ups. I have gone direct to the source and cut out the 'middle man' to remove unnecessary mark ups. This means you can now finally get a beautiful Italian leather bag, hand amde in Italy, without the designer price tag. Like my best friends who were my very first customers, you're a smart, modern woman and so you're smart enough to know you need not pay grossly inflated prices for a product that has simply been marked up to pay for a design houses' store fronts, offices and expensive marketing campaigns.

Saben Sam Wallet Black