The Ledger
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The pre-2009 bag market was a race to the bottom
“There wasn't a bag company that had a heartbeat. It was more of a race to the bottom than a race to a story”
Pre-Herschel bags were too busy and lacked a generational brand
“So, for us, when we looked at bags in general, I think it was the one category that probably our generation didn't have. One that we could call our own. It seemed like there was the right denim, the right footwear, the right eyewear, the right watches. Bags ju…”
Backpacks accrue higher sentimental value than footwear or apparel
“The value at point of purchase is so much less
Then the sentimental value they have once they own it.
And it's different than so many other industries that I've looked at more than footwear or denim or, you know, any other purchase.
Once they own a backpack, b…”
Herschel's founders launched the brand with no manufacturing knowledge
“The biggest weakness here, guys, is that we didn't know how to manufacture. We could see it. We could see it on the wall. We could see the lookbooks. We could see how we wanted to story. We could see and feel and hear what this brand even, like, we knew exactl…”
Herschel took risk ordering 7,000 units against just 4,000 wholesale orders
“I mean, we had collected orders of about 4000 pieces, and I think the minimum order after talking to our facility in Asia was 7000 is what they wanted us to order to be able to produce every single SKU, and those are some big conversations for us.”
Herschel expanded to five countries globally by its second year
“Year two and three, we were in five countries around the globe, not just in North America.”
Herschel pivoted to 95 percent sustainable materials during the COVID pandemic
“We switched over a 95% of our fabrics and materials to be from a sustainable fabric. That's a big, big decision as a brand that is selling millions and millions of pieces a year to go and do that, and to have the team that has to touch every single department …”
Initial factory samples had quality stitching but failed the aesthetic vision
“Shapes were off guy, measurements were wrong, details weren't there. The bags were stitched properly, the quality was there, but the shape, the feeling, the drape, the total aesthetic we were going for wasn't even close so.”