Think you know what defines an âIt Bagâ? Think again. In this episode of Handbag Designer 101, Beth Goldstein, Executive Director of Footwear & Accessories at Circana, joins Emily Blumenthal to unpack how social media has transformed the handbag marketâand why a $299 Trader Joeâs tote can now claim the title.
From viral hits to lasting brands, Beth explains how todayâs fragmented market is shifting power away from legacy labels and toward innovative independents. With names like Coach, Veronica Beard, and Clare V evolving fast, the space is more competitiveâand more unpredictableâthan ever.
đĄ Key Takeaways
 đ The Democratization of the It Bag: How social media turned the rules upside downâand what that means for designers.
đď¸ Retail Shake-Up: Amazon and Costco are winning, while department stores scramble to stay relevant.
đ Play the Long Game: Why brands like Telfar and Brandon Blackwood took 5â10 years to âmake it overnight.â
Whether youâre building a brand or studying the industry, this episode is packed with insight on market trends, pricing pressure, and why fashion innovation must continue despite the odds. đ§ Listen now.
Our Guest: Beth Goldstein is the Executive Director and Industry Analyst for Accessories and Footwear at Circana. Her data-driven expertise helps brands and retailers understand where the handbag industry is headedâand how to stay one step ahead.
Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the âHandbag Fairy Godmother,â Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.
Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com.Â
Youtube: / Handbagdesigner101-ihda | Instagram:/ Handbagdesigner
TikTok: / Handbagdesigner | Twitter: / Handbagdesigner
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
retailers just continue to look for the
products that are going tocompensate for the losses in
some of the bigger brands thatthey've carried, but the problem
is it's just they're just notthere.
There's lots of little, smallbrands that are doing great
things, but it's just the volumeisn't there.
So I do think we'll continue tosee the market there contract.
The thing that's important isthat you know the innovation on
(00:24):
the fashion and the function,even though it's tough out there
, cannot stop because otherwisethen we have nowhere to go.
Then it's just going to getworse.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the
podcast with your host, emilyBlumenthal, handbag industry
expert and the handbag fairygodmother.
Each week, we uncover thestories behind the handbags we
love, from the iconic brands andtop designers to the creativity
, craftsmanship and culture thatdefine the handbag world.
Whether you're a designer,collector or simply passionate
(00:56):
about handbags, this is yourfront row seat to it all welcome
back beth goldstein, executivedirector of footwear and
accessories of circana.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Welcome back to handbag designer 101, the
podcast.
I'm excited to have you backthank you, happy to be back.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Good to see you.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
It's been a while yes , it is I, but you're one of my
most favorite people to talk tobecause we could talk about what
?
The same topic, probablynonstop, and I get you know we
could just keep going back andforth, back and forth.
The State of the Union ofHamburg, bags.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So I think it's been a year since we've had you on
it's summer, right now, summerof 2025, not to date.
This because obviously thisepisode will be good at any time
to listen to.
But people have been coming tome more recently about this
construct of an it bag andwhether or not it still exists,
(01:58):
and is it possible for a newbrand to become an it bag, or is
it really a brand who kind ofhas paid their dues, has been in
business five to seven years,has figured out trends, has a
loyal audience, and then justcomes up with a silhouette that
start grabbing people'sattention and then, officially,
can have some impact on trends.
(02:19):
What are your thoughts on this?
Beth Goldstein?
No pressure.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Well, I think that social media has changed the
game so drastically thatanything can be an it bag.
The 299 mini canvas tote fromtrader joe's, you know, is an it
bag, right, and it just happensfast and one thing is hot, you
know, maybe a couple of weeksand then it's on to the next.
(02:44):
So I think there still can bean it bag, but it's a little bit
different than it had been inthe past and, you know, it's
like anything can be one andit's very hard to pinpoint when
or what it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Right, like Jack and Moose, the little Chiquita bag,
that would have been one, andsome people have said he came
out of nowhere, but he was inbusiness in 2009.
Right, so you know, he had beenquietly or not so quietly
building his audience, came outwith this bag and all of a
(03:21):
sudden, all of a sudden, toeverybody but he and his
following, it seems like oh,where'd he come from?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
right, right, and then you know do fun things,
like you know, paraded aroundparis on the, you know, like
it's a car, you know, and thenthat starts to go viral and more
people can see it than everbefore, and then then you know
it comes, but I don't know thatthere's anything.
I mean, obviously there's a fewout there still that are, you
(03:49):
know, command, you know thathave the demand that they always
did, but I don't think anythingis as big as it once was,
because there's so much outthere and you know we have
visibility into so much more andyou know the way consumers buy
and use bags has really changed.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Do you think the market is, I don't want to say
fractured, but because there'sso many different segments of a
segment right now, like when Iworked in media a billion years
ago and cable TV had come outnot to date me, but all of the
advertisers were flipping outlike, how are we going to
capture an audience and how dowe segment our budget?
(04:30):
Like, do we put it on sixdifferent cable channels and
then six different, you know,paid channels and then four
different network channels?
Do you think it's the same fortrying to find your audience?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah, and it's, you know, I mean it's that times 10.
Now you know, so I do, and Iguess I would say so it's like
fragmented.
There are so many Fragmented.
That's what I meant.
Yeah, so you have the bigbrands still that are out there,
but there are so many small,emerging brands and I mean
you've been preaching thisforever.
You know that are putting greatproduct out there, that you
(05:03):
know, when we look at the dataand the sales, like you can see
them growing, but they're muchsmaller and you know are nowhere
coming down.
You know, coming up to thevolume that some of the bigger
brands have, but the volumes forsome of those bigger brands
have come down as well as aresult.
So it's kind of, you know,leveling out a little bit
(05:27):
results.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So it's kind of, you know, leveling out a little bit.
Are there like, just based onyour expertise, knowledge,
research, what are some of thebig brands that still have a
foothold within the market?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, I mean, I think Coach, definitely they've
really Coach has had a greatturnaround and so much, so much
has been written about that thatyou know in in the last year or
so.
But that was an example of kindof sacrificing some sales in
the short term, which isn't aseasy for a public company to do,
(05:57):
to really focus on the brandand the product and the
messaging and the propositionand really speaking a new
language.
So you know, we've seen thesuccess there.
You know some of the you knowbrand like Longchamp is still
very strong.
You know they're just kind ofpractical.
(06:19):
The pliage bag forever, yes,accessible, practical.
You know I guess it is sort oflike.
You know, inside it's a littlebit of a black hole, but you
know, just overall the bag, yeah, lightweight, good, good price
point.
You know quality.
So you know.
And then there are some of thedesigner brands.
Interesting, when we look atdesigner right now, I mean
(06:41):
there's no secret, luxury isstruggling.
There's a you know a bunch ofgoing of things going on there
with some retailers, with just,I mean, consumer being
challenged or not.
You know consumer can't, that,the consumer that would stretch
to get designer products maybecan't right now and that's
obviously a big piece.
But but because of that, yousee, on the spectrum of price
(07:02):
points of designer, you know$2,500 and above is still doing
okay, maybe not quite growingbut it's doing better than the
$2,500 and below because you'vegot that consumer at that really
very high end.
That isn't really affected.
And you know, I guess therestill is that quiet luxury has
been talked about the lastcouple of years.
(07:22):
It's still hanging around there.
But also, I just think thevalue proposition there, you
know consumers just thepriorities are different, not
necessarily willing to spendthat money on on something like
that, maybe seen as less of astatus item as it once was in
the past.
So I mean I just think not thatthere isn't still great product
(07:46):
or really high in demand brandsand products.
It's just that it, you knowit's changed a bit.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Do you think, like the?
I just did a write-up for anonline publication where they
came to me talking about it bagslike what were my thoughts on
it?
And you know, the only one thatcould come to mind, at least
most recent, that was coveted,that wasn't circular, that was
people wanted shiny and new, wasthe Margo bag by the row, that
(08:15):
there really wasn't any otherbag that people, other than
maybe something by Lueve, butLueve is still fun and unique,
but you could still get yourhands on it.
It wasn't in short supply butthe Margo and, ironically, you
know, I find it so interestingbecause the bag is not so
groundbreaking it really isn'tpretty simple yeah but the row
(08:40):
has status.
The row has been around.
The row is started by peoplethat you know, the Olsen twins,
who've always had a lot ofrespect, at least fashion-wise.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Fashion space, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
They've had other bags that have been ooh-ahs, but
nothing has had its tippingpoint until the Margo, and I
think it came out at the peak ofQuiet Luxury, because I think
right now it's kind of anyone'sgame.
Because you could have biglogos, you could have no logos.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
You know, it's kind of like when people talk about
denim.
You know, low rise, high riseyou know?
Yeah, exactly, I feel like youknow, you can't really put your
finger on one specific item.
I think it's more brand andcommunity driven, less so
product.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, that's a good point.
We're seeing that in footweartoo, because there was like oh,
low profile, you know slimmingdown, but then you know, and
Adidas, you know, and otherbrands are doing really well
with that.
But I mean, then you look atNew Balance and it's super
chunky and New Balance has beenfor the third year in a row,
it's the number one growth brandin footwear.
(09:45):
So it really does.
The trends can all coexisttoday, so yeah, it's a good
point Do you think novelty hasany kind of foothold today?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Do you think people are still excited by the fun,
the whimsical, the unique?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yes, you know the market there is smaller because
it's not for everyone, but itdoes create that dog bag from
(10:25):
Kate Spade or the telephone bagfrom Betsy Johnson.
I mean they're great and reallyinteresting and maybe just
helps.
It's a little bit of a haloeffect for the brand too.
Those aren't necessarily thebiggest volume drivers but they
do help brand buzz and awarenessand all that.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I want to talk about La Boo Boo.
Oh my gosh, because again itcame out of nowhere but it
didn't Like.
I feel like it's very much.
You know Malcolm Gladwell, whoI have very mixed feelings about
but I enjoy what he has to saymost of the time.
But in his very first well, hisvery first famous, famous book
(11:03):
with the tipping point, he has acase study about Hush Puppy
Shoes where you know it'scircular economy it was.
You know they were famous to apoint then no one was interested
.
Then some very cool influencerlike you know when they call
them early adopter, now we callthem influencers started finding
hush puppy shoes from vintagestores.
(11:25):
Lo and behold, that brought aresurgence.
La boo boo I mean charms likethis have been around for Ed
Burr.
Why do you think this one?
Why, because of it was seen oncelebrities, influencers, prada
bags Like.
Why, why do you think this hasand do you think this has had an
impact on bag charms as abusiness?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, and on the bag business, right, because
everybody's focused on gettingthe charms or the little
boo-boos for their bags and noton getting a new bag.
So it's, you know the pricepoint's accessible.
It's exciting because it's hardto get.
You're seeing it on socialmedia.
It's interesting because peopledon't seem to care whether
they're real or fake in somecases.
I mean, maybe some people do,but like the foo-foo.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I think they call the pooh-pooh.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
But you know it's funny.
You know that story from yearsago, the Hushpuppies story.
You know it was very muchbefore all of this social media.
Yet it's the same thinghappening but it's just it's
like amplified.
You know, like the impact isjust like exponential and so it
just creates something.
You know people get attached toit.
You know the idea.
(12:31):
It kind of sits between a bunchof different industries and
trends that are going on, likein the toy industry,
collectibles and nostalgia andall that have been really strong
, you know, especially amongadults.
Like adults have been driving alot of the business in toys and
a lot of that is because withlike lego and building and you
know maybe some stress releaseand you know all that kind of
stuff.
But like these collectibles andjust little things that are
(12:52):
cute and the videos with adultsplaying with toys and mini
brands and and all of that, soit plays in a trend, it plays
into fashion with accessorizingand personalization and it's
back to that idea of novelty andyou know the ability to
customize.
So right, it's like interestingbecause everybody wants one and
it's sort of the same thing butyou can get different ones and
(13:13):
you can then use themdifferently and accessorize your
bags differently.
So it's like you're playing thetrend, but you have something
that's unique to you.
So I mean it's kind of it'scertainly blown up.
I think it probably is hit itspeak and you know we'll be
moving on to, you know, to thenext thing at some point.
(13:33):
Not to discredit it or anything, but that's just what you know
was.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Strike, while the iron's hot.
Do you have one?
Speaker 1 (13:41):
No, no, no no.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
I don't, I don't, you know I mean, do you?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
No, and my daughter wants one.
But I'm like I don't know.
I mean, yes, we found one onetime like we could get it, but
I'm not like going out that thecircular market you know, beyond
(14:09):
Poshmark, with all thoseplatforms.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Do you see that now as truly a viable channel of
retail?
All of that like from theRealReal to Poshmark, to what
are the other two that are Gen Z, that like they're obsessed
with?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Well, there's like in bags, there's Rebag and then
there's ThredUp.
Right, yeah and yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yeah, I do think you know it's a hard.
It's a hard one to measure andtrack and see what's really
happening there.
But I think that that hasbecome definitely another avenue
, particularly in the designerspace.
You know there's so much outthere now and Depop there's a
lot of inventory there too.
So you know you can always findanything you want.
(14:47):
And now you know almost onevery you know most of the
department stores may have somevintage or pre-loved product.
I mean, I was poking around onAmazon, like on Prime Day.
I was seeing like deals onphone designer handbags on
Amazon, so it's reallyeverywhere.
So I do think that's a littlebit of a challenge also for a
(15:11):
designer space.
I mean, I guess it's good inthe long run, you know, for the
environment I suppose, but Idon't know that it's had much of
that impact yet and, you know,in terms of cutting down on the
amount of things we're producing.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
So let's just jump into this because I'm really
curious.
So it's summer Right now.
In terms of bag trends,clutches have made a comeback to
some degree.
Wouldn't you agree?
Which?
What has you cut out for?
A sec Clutches, oh, clutches,yeah.
So in terms of, like othersilhouettes, what is doing?
(15:48):
Well, what do you think is onits way out?
Just so we can, because Ialways love to hear these
numbers and statistics from you,because I think it always
speaks to where we're atsocioeconomically and
ethnographically, in terms ofwhere we're at.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
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Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, it's really a mix.
I mean that's what's reallyinteresting.
I mean, obviously hands-free isstill important.
So you've got various thingsgoing on there in terms of you
know like the actual, like beltbag or fanny pack is, you know
that's a little less prominent,but you know some of the sort of
variations, small cross bodiesand you know sling type of items
(18:04):
.
So those are still important.
You know the hands-free options, all different kinds of.
You know materials, a lot ofthat, but you still do see the
athleisure influence there.
But you also on the other sidesee that there are some you know
bigger totes that are the likeokay, throw everything in and
(18:25):
then also some satchel, which isa little bit.
Then you have the more, alittle bit more tail put
together and there aredefinitely you know a few brands
that are doing well there andyou know some new brands popping
up in those spaces.
You know the temporary space.
So it's really you know it's amix and again it's kind of like
(18:46):
that everything can kind of livetogether and anything kind of
works.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
What are some brands that are new on the sales list
that weren't on before?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
So a lot of the kind of new emerging brands are in
more of the contemporary space.
So you know that runs the gamutin terms of points, but it
generally is somewhere below thedesigner tier but in the $400
to $700 range and that's kind ofwhere like things are more
(19:21):
accessible and the quality isstill really good.
We see brands like like aVeronica Beard is growing,
strathberry Stodd, you know,claire V, not that not these are
brand new brands, but you knowthey're small and still kind of
emerging.
There's a brand I a couple ofbrands that I actually noticed
(19:46):
on the Nordstrom anniversarysale that's going on now.
That one, a Teddy Blake, that Ihadn't heard of, and then I mean
I'm going to butcher thetradition but the Maison des
Sabres.
So that's a lot of like verytailored, looks nice, very nice
leather also a lot of charms,like a little bit of novelty and
(20:06):
whimsical there.
So I'm, you know I'm alwaysimpressed, you know, when I see
completely you know, new brandsand we see show up in our sales
data but they're on the smallerside in terms of volume but they
are driving growth.
So definitely new brands thatare emerging.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
And then within the price point you said, 400 to 700
approximately.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah, that's.
Yeah, I mean could be some ofthe smaller, some silhouettes
could be a little less, somesilhouettes could be a little
bit more.
But that is a point that youknow is driving some growth
because it's you know thequality's there.
You know brands kind of likepoland, you know that kind of
(20:52):
that kind of space.
I've seen some videos.
There's this guy, what's hisname?
Speaker 3 (20:56):
tanner leatherstein yeah, we had him on.
He was like one of my firstguests.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
You know that's funny because when I started seeing I
just started seeing his videosrecently they got fed to me and
I thought he was familiar and Icouldn't pinpoint why.
It was probably because I sawhis.
So yeah, these are like.
I mean, I get hooked on thesevideos, sort of like you know
packing videos, like when peoplepacking their luggage and you
know getting everything in there.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Oh my God the luggage packing, forget it, I could
watch that all day, love itBecause the one thing I found
with traveling, no matter howorganized your stuff is, as soon
as you get there it's just amess.
Like, yeah, you can be as tidyand you know, everything is in
its little zippy pouches, andthen, as soon as you get there,
it's like, oh my God, I'm a, I'ma, and you have to get it all
back in to come home.
(21:43):
Yeah, I'm like a 14 year oldteenager, stressed, trying to
clean up my room.
The same thing.
No, he is very interestingbecause you know, if you can, I
recommend I'll put a link backto that episode because he came
from Turkey, his family was inTannery, he traveled all over
and he was a taxi driver.
He ended up in Texas.
(22:04):
He has a wallets company.
He's still working with hisfamily, is Tannery in Turkey but
has, you know, obviously made aname for himself doing these
videos, which is very, veryclever.
But he has a wallets businesson the side and his family
packed up and moved to Spain,actually, where there's one part
of Spain where most of theleather factories are, and they
(22:25):
moved there, which was veryclever because that's another
hub for where handbags are beingmade, this one particular spot
in Spain and being part of thiswhole dialogue.
It's interesting.
I know right now there's afactory in Romania that's
actually one of the handbagawards winner.
She has her own factory, and Ihave another handbag awards
(22:50):
winner who had her own brand andthen she worked for a whole
bunch of other brands.
Now she is specifically workingfor representing factories in
Mexico, trying to bring thembusiness leather, not PU, fake
leather, faux leather, whateverpleather, whatever people call
(23:11):
it, pvs and PU, which we wouldknow it to be, but nobody else
would.
I think there's a lot ofopportunities to potentially
have your bags made in realleather and made well, and
especially with tariffs.
I think a lot of people gethung up on having everything
done in China and I thinkthere's a lot of other
(23:33):
opportunities that people don'tseem to realize if they put in a
little extra effort to do someextra digging.
They're factories that wantyour business as long as you
know what you're doing.
Nobody wants a designer or abrand that doesn't know how to
run a brand run a business,because then no one wants to
take your orders and then thatbrings your prices up and then
you end up pricing your bags ata price point that is unsellable
(23:55):
, therefore rendering you withthree to five years to be out of
business.
So I've dealt with a lot ofbrands and designers who are
like my bags are going to beupwards of eight $900.
And I said, girl, you cannot,you cannot, no one will buy you
because you're up against.
You know, established brandslike a Stratfairy, like a
(24:17):
Veronica beard, that can chargethat amount but have a name,
have a back, have a retaillocations, because most of these
quote unquote brands that aremaking it bags, they all have a
history, they've all cut theirteeth, they've all done that.
You know I I'm a mess.
Now I've got my act together.
(24:37):
Like brandon blackwood, he he'dbeen around for almost 10 years
before he had a stipping point.
I knew him for ages telphar hadbeen around for years winning
the exactly.
yeah, you were part of thatwinning the best retail bag, and
a lot of people don't know that, but you know and I know
because we were there for it.
So I've got the video, thereceipts and everything to prove
it.
But I think, before anybodythinks that they can be a
(25:01):
marathon runner, there's a lotof behind-the-scenes training
before you get to that point,and I think a lot of brands
should spend a lot more timedoing homework, research,
competitive analyses andfollowing things like Cercana to
see.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, getting data, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
There's a lot of data that's available for free,
isn't there?
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Some, yes, but obviously you know we work with
clients on more of a you knowsome subscription basis, but
also an ad hoc basis where it'syou know a report or just a
couple of you know apresentation, where I come in
and kind of talk about what'shappening.
So, yeah, there's lots ofdifferent ways.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
But it's.
There's enough informationavailable that one could use to
at least drive, in terms ofcontextualizing, where your
brand should be at, based oneven what's available within a
press release or what's on yoursocial media, things like that
your quotes, your quotes are um,your quotes are basically what
people should run their brandsby.
Oh, so you were saying that youbrought up a brand?
Speaker 1 (26:02):
oh, yeah, I brought up tanner litherstein because
just because I was talking aboutcontemporary and he I've seen
him do I mean it's letting.
It's a little like when he likestabs into a bag, you're like,
oh, but you know a lot of thosebrands in those ranges.
He really comes up and they getpretty high scores on his
ranking, you know for quality,you know given the price point.
(26:23):
So I just, you know that'sinteresting.
So I think you know there's somuch more.
Obviously you know he's there.
But there's a lot moreinformation out there about
products and you know now eventhis new crop of content that
popped up after the tariffs wereannounced, where it was like
factories saying, you know,we're making the Bottega bags,
(26:45):
you know, call us directly andyou know $450, you know.
And so that was like oh my God.
So it's just there's a lot outthere that, whether it's real,
that is influencing people andhow they shop and buy.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, I mean even the brand Demelier that has been
around.
She used to have a brand calledMillie Milloo and was a
finalist for the Handbag Awardsin 2014.
So you know, I think there's.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
It takes some iterations, maybe before you you
know, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
So I think people should, designers should really
pace themselves, to be patient,and I always say start with as
few silhouettes, as few optionsas possible before you move
forward, because you just yougot to cut your teeth and learn
what you're doing before youeven start.
And actually I actually have acollaboration coming out with
(27:40):
iPal Handbag Factory where we'redoing we're going to do one bag
and test it out based on ourresearch and trends with Nicole,
who runs by Kyle, who's amazingin terms of her craftsmanship,
and me working in handbags and athrowback to what vintage bags
were, like an inspiration from aSears catalog from 1950.
(28:06):
There are a lot of things thatare available that people can
pull from that.
It's not knocking off anybody.
It's using something forinspiration based on what the
current trends are dictating andthen just taking a twist to
modernize it.
Like no bags predating I don'tknow the past 15 years had
crossbody straps.
Now every bag must have evenclutch must come with a
(28:27):
crossbody strap, or also two,just once out.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yep A hundred percent .
That multifunction, versatilityis super important.
It offers a silhouette thatmaybe you know that only had one
use.
It just gives it another or oneor two different types of uses
and it justifies potentially ofstretching.
For I mean, I remember this, acouple of this was 10 years ago.
(28:49):
I was in London and I wanted amulberry bag.
Of course I like got a smallone, but I mean price point was
still very high.
But this is unusual in this inlike in that space at this time.
But the bag reversed and youknow it was black.
Or you could flip it around andit snapped over and then it was
(29:12):
black, or you could flip itaround and it snapped over and
then it was this metallic.
Then it's this metallic grayand it's got the chain strap
that can be long, you can doubleit up, you could take it off.
So, like I was like, oh, youknow, this all justifies that
price point and you know thatwas the bag that keeps on giving
yeah, exactly.
So I was like, of course it'sworth this money, husband you
know.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Do you think the DIY trends have anything to do with
what's going on like craft,handmade?
Do you think that's impactingsales?
Because I don't know how muchit could at the level of volume
that you cover, but do you seethat having an impact?
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Maybe very small, just that.
It's another thing thatconsumers are interested in, but
I don't think it's having muchof an impact on, like you know,
the overall retail sales.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Wow.
Do you think there's anythingelse we can expect to see coming
up, based on projections ofwhat you're seeing?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
It's a good question.
I mean, the business is soft.
You know, when you look at thenumbers, we're down.
The dollars are down the lastcouple of years, although on a
scale we track kind of the totalmarket, kind of at a high level
, you know any channel orretailer that you might buy from
.
And then we've got a moregranular tracking of, like, the
(30:27):
retail space, which is a lot of,where you know the department
stores, online retailers, chainstores, you know that kind of
thing, even an athletic retailer.
So overall, at the high level,we actually see that units have
been up slightly over the lastcouple of years, but it's a lot
of these lower price point.
(30:50):
I mean, amazon's the biggestgrowth driver.
In the last year Costco was thenumber two growth driver and
you know Costco is bringing insome brands, right, they also
have some dupes and all of that.
But then they go up on socialmedia and I'm like I went to
Costco to find you knowso-and-so and there's that you
know that's impressive, right?
(31:10):
Look how smart I was for doingthat.
You know, a lot of third partyon Amazon, a lot of like kind of
in the athletic space, ofcourse, are slowed down.
But I mean the Lululemon beltbag definitely ate into the
broader handbag space because Iwas like, oh, look at this
little thing, for you know, 40something bucks and it can fit
what I need and hands-free andall that.
And our phones do more that youknow our phones are our wallets
(31:32):
essentially.
So you know things you knowchange so the dynamics really
have changed.
So on, overall we've seen unitsgrow slightly but dollars down
because lower price pointproduct.
When we look more on thewholesale space and we look at
that traditional like women'shandbag business.
You know in the departmentstore arena that's really tough
(32:02):
and so you know retailers justcontinue to look for the
products that are going tocompensate for the losses in
some of the bigger brands thatthey've carried.
But the problem is it's justthey're just not there.
There's lots of little smallbrands that are doing great
things, but it's just the volumeisn't there.
So I do think we'll continue tosee the market there contract,
but it is leading to some goodinnovation.
I mean, look, it's hard toreinvent the wheel here, but
(32:23):
adding function, adding novelty.
Like Kurt Geiger is one.
Now of course it's still ayounger brand and it's growing,
but it's got.
It does have that noveltyappeal at a price point.
That's, that's right.
So that's one that continues togrow.
But the the thing that'simportant is that you know the
(32:45):
innovation on the fashion andthe function, we can, even
though it's tough out there,like cannot stop because
otherwise then we have nowhereto go.
You know, then there's, thenit's just going to get worse.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
So Do you see boutiques having an impact in
any of this?
Do you track those sales?
Speaker 1 (33:01):
We don't really but it's important though and we see
it in some other industrieswhere specialty, smaller
specialty retailers are startingto have, you know, particularly
in athletic footwear, you knoware starting to have, you know,
particularly in athleticfootwear, you know starting to
have more of an impact, becauseit's that more localized,
personalized kind of experience.
So it's on the whole, it's it'simportant, um kind of like
(33:25):
bookstores having that to managesmall players and a lot of work
to you know to manage.
But yeah, I do think it'simportant and then there can be
more.
You know, now, now again I keepcoming back to this, but just
with online and the social media.
There there's more visibilityfor anyone you know, small
retailer or brand, than thereever was before.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Wow, oh my God, this is so much to take in.
I think anybody who listens tothis may need to listen to it
twice.
Beth Goldstein, thank you somuch.
I'm so excited to have you onmy speed dial to have you for
the State of the Union ofHandbags.
How can we find you?
Follow you, learn more aboutyou and your role at Cercana and
your amazing quotes.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Well, you can definitely just search for me on
LinkedIn and I would love toconnect.
You could always also ourwebsite, circanacom, and we do
have a page for accessories.
You can click on there, seeeverything that we're doing, or
you can shoot me an email.
Very simple Beth Goldstein atcircana.
You can see it behind in my inmy fake office here that I'm
(34:32):
sitting in Beth GoldsteinatArcanacom.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
And that's C-I-R-C-A-N-A for those who are
not watching this on YouTube.
That's right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Thank you, going to have you back soon.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thanks for listening.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on
every single platform at HandbagDesigner.
Thanks so much.
See you next time.
retailers just continue to look for the
products that are going tocompensate for the losses in
some of the bigger brands thatthey've carried, but the problem
is it's just they're just notthere.
There's lots of little, smallbrands that are doing great
things, but it's just the volumeisn't there.
So I do think we'll continue tosee the market there contract.
The thing that's important isthat you know the innovation on
(00:24):
the fashion and the function,even though it's tough out there
, cannot stop because otherwisethen we have nowhere to go.
Then it's just going to getworse.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the
podcast with your host, emilyBlumenthal, handbag industry
expert and the handbag fairygodmother.
Each week, we uncover thestories behind the handbags we
love, from the iconic brands andtop designers to the creativity
, craftsmanship and culture thatdefine the handbag world.
Whether you're a designer,collector or simply passionate
(00:56):
about handbags, this is yourfront row seat to it all welcome
back beth goldstein, executivedirector of footwear and
accessories of circana.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Welcome back to handbag designer 101, the
podcast.
I'm excited to have you backthank you, happy to be back.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Good to see you.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
It's been a while yes , it is I, but you're one of my
most favorite people to talk tobecause we could talk about what
?
The same topic, probablynonstop, and I get you know we
could just keep going back andforth, back and forth.
The State of the Union ofHamburg, bags.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So I think it's been a year since we've had you on
it's summer, right now, summerof 2025, not to date.
This because obviously thisepisode will be good at any time
to listen to.
But people have been coming tome more recently about this
construct of an it bag andwhether or not it still exists,
(01:58):
and is it possible for a newbrand to become an it bag, or is
it really a brand who kind ofhas paid their dues, has been in
business five to seven years,has figured out trends, has a
loyal audience, and then justcomes up with a silhouette that
start grabbing people'sattention and then, officially,
can have some impact on trends.
(02:19):
What are your thoughts on this?
Beth Goldstein?
No pressure.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Well, I think that social media has changed the
game so drastically thatanything can be an it bag.
The 299 mini canvas tote fromtrader joe's, you know, is an it
bag, right, and it just happensfast and one thing is hot, you
know, maybe a couple of weeksand then it's on to the next.
(02:44):
So I think there still can bean it bag, but it's a little bit
different than it had been inthe past and, you know, it's
like anything can be one andit's very hard to pinpoint when
or what it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Right, like Jack and Moose, the little Chiquita bag,
that would have been one, andsome people have said he came
out of nowhere, but he was inbusiness in 2009.
Right, so you know, he had beenquietly or not so quietly
building his audience, came outwith this bag and all of a
(03:21):
sudden, all of a sudden, toeverybody but he and his
following, it seems like oh,where'd he come from?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
right, right, and then you know do fun things,
like you know, paraded aroundparis on the, you know, like
it's a car, you know, and thenthat starts to go viral and more
people can see it than everbefore, and then then you know
it comes, but I don't know thatthere's anything.
I mean, obviously there's a fewout there still that are, you
(03:49):
know, command, you know thathave the demand that they always
did, but I don't think anythingis as big as it once was,
because there's so much outthere and you know we have
visibility into so much more andyou know the way consumers buy
and use bags has really changed.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Do you think the market is, I don't want to say
fractured, but because there'sso many different segments of a
segment right now, like when Iworked in media a billion years
ago and cable TV had come outnot to date me, but all of the
advertisers were flipping outlike, how are we going to
capture an audience and how dowe segment our budget?
(04:30):
Like, do we put it on sixdifferent cable channels and
then six different, you know,paid channels and then four
different network channels?
Do you think it's the same fortrying to find your audience?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah, and it's, you know, I mean it's that times 10.
Now you know, so I do, and Iguess I would say so it's like
fragmented.
There are so many Fragmented.
That's what I meant.
Yeah, so you have the bigbrands still that are out there,
but there are so many small,emerging brands and I mean
you've been preaching thisforever.
You know that are putting greatproduct out there, that you
(05:03):
know, when we look at the dataand the sales, like you can see
them growing, but they're muchsmaller and you know are nowhere
coming down.
You know, coming up to thevolume that some of the bigger
brands have, but the volumes forsome of those bigger brands
have come down as well as aresult.
So it's kind of, you know,leveling out a little bit
(05:27):
results.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So it's kind of, you know, leveling out a little bit.
Are there like, just based onyour expertise, knowledge,
research, what are some of thebig brands that still have a
foothold within the market?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, I mean, I think Coach, definitely they've
really Coach has had a greatturnaround and so much, so much
has been written about that thatyou know in in the last year or
so.
But that was an example of kindof sacrificing some sales in
the short term, which isn't aseasy for a public company to do,
(05:57):
to really focus on the brandand the product and the
messaging and the propositionand really speaking a new
language.
So you know, we've seen thesuccess there.
You know some of the you knowbrand like Longchamp is still
very strong.
You know they're just kind ofpractical.
(06:19):
The pliage bag forever, yes,accessible, practical.
You know I guess it is sort oflike.
You know, inside it's a littlebit of a black hole, but you
know, just overall the bag, yeah, lightweight, good, good price
point.
You know quality.
So you know.
And then there are some of thedesigner brands.
Interesting, when we look atdesigner right now, I mean
(06:41):
there's no secret, luxury isstruggling.
There's a you know a bunch ofgoing of things going on there
with some retailers, with just,I mean, consumer being
challenged or not.
You know consumer can't, that,the consumer that would stretch
to get designer products maybecan't right now and that's
obviously a big piece.
But but because of that, yousee, on the spectrum of price
(07:02):
points of designer, you know$2,500 and above is still doing
okay, maybe not quite growingbut it's doing better than the
$2,500 and below because you'vegot that consumer at that really
very high end.
That isn't really affected.
And you know, I guess therestill is that quiet luxury has
been talked about the lastcouple of years.
(07:22):
It's still hanging around there.
But also, I just think thevalue proposition there, you
know consumers just thepriorities are different, not
necessarily willing to spendthat money on on something like
that, maybe seen as less of astatus item as it once was in
the past.
So I mean I just think not thatthere isn't still great product
(07:46):
or really high in demand brandsand products.
It's just that it, you knowit's changed a bit.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Do you think, like the?
I just did a write-up for anonline publication where they
came to me talking about it bagslike what were my thoughts on
it?
And you know, the only one thatcould come to mind, at least
most recent, that was coveted,that wasn't circular, that was
people wanted shiny and new, wasthe Margo bag by the row, that
(08:15):
there really wasn't any otherbag that people, other than
maybe something by Lueve, butLueve is still fun and unique,
but you could still get yourhands on it.
It wasn't in short supply butthe Margo and, ironically, you
know, I find it so interestingbecause the bag is not so
groundbreaking it really isn'tpretty simple yeah but the row
(08:40):
has status.
The row has been around.
The row is started by peoplethat you know, the Olsen twins,
who've always had a lot ofrespect, at least fashion-wise.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Fashion space, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
They've had other bags that have been ooh-ahs, but
nothing has had its tippingpoint until the Margo, and I
think it came out at the peak ofQuiet Luxury, because I think
right now it's kind of anyone'sgame.
Because you could have biglogos, you could have no logos.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
You know, it's kind of like when people talk about
denim.
You know, low rise, high riseyou know?
Yeah, exactly, I feel like youknow, you can't really put your
finger on one specific item.
I think it's more brand andcommunity driven, less so
product.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, that's a good point.
We're seeing that in footweartoo, because there was like oh,
low profile, you know slimmingdown, but then you know, and
Adidas, you know, and otherbrands are doing really well
with that.
But I mean, then you look atNew Balance and it's super
chunky and New Balance has beenfor the third year in a row,
it's the number one growth brandin footwear.
(09:45):
So it really does.
The trends can all coexisttoday, so yeah, it's a good
point Do you think novelty hasany kind of foothold today?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Do you think people are still excited by the fun,
the whimsical, the unique?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yes, you know the market there is smaller because
it's not for everyone, but itdoes create that dog bag from
(10:25):
Kate Spade or the telephone bagfrom Betsy Johnson.
I mean they're great and reallyinteresting and maybe just
helps.
It's a little bit of a haloeffect for the brand too.
Those aren't necessarily thebiggest volume drivers but they
do help brand buzz and awarenessand all that.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I want to talk about La Boo Boo.
Oh my gosh, because again itcame out of nowhere but it
didn't Like.
I feel like it's very much.
You know Malcolm Gladwell, whoI have very mixed feelings about
but I enjoy what he has to saymost of the time.
But in his very first well, hisvery first famous, famous book
(11:03):
with the tipping point, he has acase study about Hush Puppy
Shoes where you know it'scircular economy it was.
You know they were famous to apoint then no one was interested
.
Then some very cool influencerlike you know when they call
them early adopter, now we callthem influencers started finding
hush puppy shoes from vintagestores.
(11:25):
Lo and behold, that brought aresurgence.
La boo boo I mean charms likethis have been around for Ed
Burr.
Why do you think this one?
Why, because of it was seen oncelebrities, influencers, prada
bags Like.
Why, why do you think this hasand do you think this has had an
impact on bag charms as abusiness?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, and on the bag business, right, because
everybody's focused on gettingthe charms or the little
boo-boos for their bags and noton getting a new bag.
So it's, you know the pricepoint's accessible.
It's exciting because it's hardto get.
You're seeing it on socialmedia.
It's interesting because peopledon't seem to care whether
they're real or fake in somecases.
I mean, maybe some people do,but like the foo-foo.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I think they call the pooh-pooh.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
But you know it's funny.
You know that story from yearsago, the Hushpuppies story.
You know it was very muchbefore all of this social media.
Yet it's the same thinghappening but it's just it's
like amplified.
You know, like the impact isjust like exponential and so it
just creates something.
You know people get attached toit.
You know the idea.
(12:31):
It kind of sits between a bunchof different industries and
trends that are going on, likein the toy industry,
collectibles and nostalgia andall that have been really strong
, you know, especially amongadults.
Like adults have been driving alot of the business in toys and
a lot of that is because withlike lego and building and you
know maybe some stress releaseand you know all that kind of
stuff.
But like these collectibles andjust little things that are
(12:52):
cute and the videos with adultsplaying with toys and mini
brands and and all of that, soit plays in a trend, it plays
into fashion with accessorizingand personalization and it's
back to that idea of novelty andyou know the ability to
customize.
So right, it's like interestingbecause everybody wants one and
it's sort of the same thing butyou can get different ones and
(13:13):
you can then use themdifferently and accessorize your
bags differently.
So it's like you're playing thetrend, but you have something
that's unique to you.
So I mean it's kind of it'scertainly blown up.
I think it probably is hit itspeak and you know we'll be
moving on to, you know, to thenext thing at some point.
(13:33):
Not to discredit it or anything, but that's just what you know
was.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Strike, while the iron's hot.
Do you have one?
Speaker 1 (13:41):
No, no, no no.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
I don't, I don't, you know I mean, do you?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
No, and my daughter wants one.
But I'm like I don't know.
I mean, yes, we found one onetime like we could get it, but
I'm not like going out that thecircular market you know, beyond
(14:09):
Poshmark, with all thoseplatforms.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Do you see that now as truly a viable channel of
retail?
All of that like from theRealReal to Poshmark, to what
are the other two that are Gen Z, that like they're obsessed
with?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Well, there's like in bags, there's Rebag and then
there's ThredUp.
Right, yeah and yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yeah, I do think you know it's a hard.
It's a hard one to measure andtrack and see what's really
happening there.
But I think that that hasbecome definitely another avenue
, particularly in the designerspace.
You know there's so much outthere now and Depop there's a
lot of inventory there too.
So you know you can always findanything you want.
(14:47):
And now you know almost onevery you know most of the
department stores may have somevintage or pre-loved product.
I mean, I was poking around onAmazon, like on Prime Day.
I was seeing like deals onphone designer handbags on
Amazon, so it's reallyeverywhere.
So I do think that's a littlebit of a challenge also for a
(15:11):
designer space.
I mean, I guess it's good inthe long run, you know, for the
environment I suppose, but Idon't know that it's had much of
that impact yet and, you know,in terms of cutting down on the
amount of things we're producing.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
So let's just jump into this because I'm really
curious.
So it's summer Right now.
In terms of bag trends,clutches have made a comeback to
some degree.
Wouldn't you agree?
Which?
What has you cut out for?
A sec Clutches, oh, clutches,yeah.
So in terms of, like othersilhouettes, what is doing?
(15:48):
Well, what do you think is onits way out?
Just so we can, because Ialways love to hear these
numbers and statistics from you,because I think it always
speaks to where we're atsocioeconomically and
ethnographically, in terms ofwhere we're at.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
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Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, it's really a mix.
I mean that's what's reallyinteresting.
I mean, obviously hands-free isstill important.
So you've got various thingsgoing on there in terms of you
know like the actual, like beltbag or fanny pack is, you know
that's a little less prominent,but you know some of the sort of
variations, small cross bodiesand you know sling type of items
(18:04):
.
So those are still important.
You know the hands-free options, all different kinds of.
You know materials, a lot ofthat, but you still do see the
athleisure influence there.
But you also on the other sidesee that there are some you know
bigger totes that are the likeokay, throw everything in and
(18:25):
then also some satchel, which isa little bit.
Then you have the more, alittle bit more tail put
together and there aredefinitely you know a few brands
that are doing well there andyou know some new brands popping
up in those spaces.
You know the temporary space.
So it's really you know it's amix and again it's kind of like
(18:46):
that everything can kind of livetogether and anything kind of
works.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
What are some brands that are new on the sales list
that weren't on before?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
So a lot of the kind of new emerging brands are in
more of the contemporary space.
So you know that runs the gamutin terms of points, but it
generally is somewhere below thedesigner tier but in the $400
to $700 range and that's kind ofwhere like things are more
(19:21):
accessible and the quality isstill really good.
We see brands like like aVeronica Beard is growing,
strathberry Stodd, you know,claire V, not that not these are
brand new brands, but you knowthey're small and still kind of
emerging.
There's a brand I a couple ofbrands that I actually noticed
(19:46):
on the Nordstrom anniversarysale that's going on now.
That one, a Teddy Blake, that Ihadn't heard of, and then I mean
I'm going to butcher thetradition but the Maison des
Sabres.
So that's a lot of like verytailored, looks nice, very nice
leather also a lot of charms,like a little bit of novelty and
(20:06):
whimsical there.
So I'm, you know I'm alwaysimpressed, you know, when I see
completely you know, new brandsand we see show up in our sales
data but they're on the smallerside in terms of volume but they
are driving growth.
So definitely new brands thatare emerging.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
And then within the price point you said, 400 to 700
approximately.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah, that's.
Yeah, I mean could be some ofthe smaller, some silhouettes
could be a little less, somesilhouettes could be a little
bit more.
But that is a point that youknow is driving some growth
because it's you know thequality's there.
You know brands kind of likepoland, you know that kind of
(20:52):
that kind of space.
I've seen some videos.
There's this guy, what's hisname?
Speaker 3 (20:56):
tanner leatherstein yeah, we had him on.
He was like one of my firstguests.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
You know that's funny because when I started seeing I
just started seeing his videosrecently they got fed to me and
I thought he was familiar and Icouldn't pinpoint why.
It was probably because I sawhis.
So yeah, these are like.
I mean, I get hooked on thesevideos, sort of like you know
packing videos, like when peoplepacking their luggage and you
know getting everything in there.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Oh my God the luggage packing, forget it, I could
watch that all day, love itBecause the one thing I found
with traveling, no matter howorganized your stuff is, as soon
as you get there it's just amess.
Like, yeah, you can be as tidyand you know, everything is in
its little zippy pouches, andthen, as soon as you get there,
it's like, oh my God, I'm a, I'ma, and you have to get it all
back in to come home.
(21:43):
Yeah, I'm like a 14 year oldteenager, stressed, trying to
clean up my room.
The same thing.
No, he is very interestingbecause you know, if you can, I
recommend I'll put a link backto that episode because he came
from Turkey, his family was inTannery, he traveled all over
and he was a taxi driver.
He ended up in Texas.
(22:04):
He has a wallets company.
He's still working with hisfamily, is Tannery in Turkey but
has, you know, obviously made aname for himself doing these
videos, which is very, veryclever.
But he has a wallets businesson the side and his family
packed up and moved to Spain,actually, where there's one part
of Spain where most of theleather factories are, and they
(22:25):
moved there, which was veryclever because that's another
hub for where handbags are beingmade, this one particular spot
in Spain and being part of thiswhole dialogue.
It's interesting.
I know right now there's afactory in Romania that's
actually one of the handbagawards winner.
She has her own factory, and Ihave another handbag awards
(22:50):
winner who had her own brand andthen she worked for a whole
bunch of other brands.
Now she is specifically workingfor representing factories in
Mexico, trying to bring thembusiness leather, not PU, fake
leather, faux leather, whateverpleather, whatever people call
(23:11):
it, pvs and PU, which we wouldknow it to be, but nobody else
would.
I think there's a lot ofopportunities to potentially
have your bags made in realleather and made well, and
especially with tariffs.
I think a lot of people gethung up on having everything
done in China and I thinkthere's a lot of other
(23:33):
opportunities that people don'tseem to realize if they put in a
little extra effort to do someextra digging.
They're factories that wantyour business as long as you
know what you're doing.
Nobody wants a designer or abrand that doesn't know how to
run a brand run a business,because then no one wants to
take your orders and then thatbrings your prices up and then
you end up pricing your bags ata price point that is unsellable
(23:55):
, therefore rendering you withthree to five years to be out of
business.
So I've dealt with a lot ofbrands and designers who are
like my bags are going to beupwards of eight $900.
And I said, girl, you cannot,you cannot, no one will buy you
because you're up against.
You know, established brandslike a Stratfairy, like a
(24:17):
Veronica beard, that can chargethat amount but have a name,
have a back, have a retaillocations, because most of these
quote unquote brands that aremaking it bags, they all have a
history, they've all cut theirteeth, they've all done that.
You know I I'm a mess.
Now I've got my act together.
(24:37):
Like brandon blackwood, he he'dbeen around for almost 10 years
before he had a stipping point.
I knew him for ages telphar hadbeen around for years winning
the exactly.
yeah, you were part of thatwinning the best retail bag, and
a lot of people don't know that, but you know and I know
because we were there for it.
So I've got the video, thereceipts and everything to prove
it.
But I think, before anybodythinks that they can be a
(25:01):
marathon runner, there's a lotof behind-the-scenes training
before you get to that point,and I think a lot of brands
should spend a lot more timedoing homework, research,
competitive analyses andfollowing things like Cercana to
see.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, getting data, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
There's a lot of data that's available for free,
isn't there?
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Some, yes, but obviously you know we work with
clients on more of a you knowsome subscription basis, but
also an ad hoc basis where it'syou know a report or just a
couple of you know apresentation, where I come in
and kind of talk about what'shappening.
So, yeah, there's lots ofdifferent ways.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
But it's.
There's enough informationavailable that one could use to
at least drive, in terms ofcontextualizing, where your
brand should be at, based oneven what's available within a
press release or what's on yoursocial media, things like that
your quotes, your quotes are um,your quotes are basically what
people should run their brandsby.
Oh, so you were saying that youbrought up a brand?
Speaker 1 (26:02):
oh, yeah, I brought up tanner litherstein because
just because I was talking aboutcontemporary and he I've seen
him do I mean it's letting.
It's a little like when he likestabs into a bag, you're like,
oh, but you know a lot of thosebrands in those ranges.
He really comes up and they getpretty high scores on his
ranking, you know for quality,you know given the price point.
(26:23):
So I just, you know that'sinteresting.
So I think you know there's somuch more.
Obviously you know he's there.
But there's a lot moreinformation out there about
products and you know now eventhis new crop of content that
popped up after the tariffs wereannounced, where it was like
factories saying, you know,we're making the Bottega bags,
(26:45):
you know, call us directly andyou know $450, you know.
And so that was like oh my God.
So it's just there's a lot outthere that, whether it's real,
that is influencing people andhow they shop and buy.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, I mean even the brand Demelier that has been
around.
She used to have a brand calledMillie Milloo and was a
finalist for the Handbag Awardsin 2014.
So you know, I think there's.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
It takes some iterations, maybe before you you
know, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
So I think people should, designers should really
pace themselves, to be patient,and I always say start with as
few silhouettes, as few optionsas possible before you move
forward, because you just yougot to cut your teeth and learn
what you're doing before youeven start.
And actually I actually have acollaboration coming out with
(27:40):
iPal Handbag Factory where we'redoing we're going to do one bag
and test it out based on ourresearch and trends with Nicole,
who runs by Kyle, who's amazingin terms of her craftsmanship,
and me working in handbags and athrowback to what vintage bags
were, like an inspiration from aSears catalog from 1950.
(28:06):
There are a lot of things thatare available that people can
pull from that.
It's not knocking off anybody.
It's using something forinspiration based on what the
current trends are dictating andthen just taking a twist to
modernize it.
Like no bags predating I don'tknow the past 15 years had
crossbody straps.
Now every bag must have evenclutch must come with a
(28:27):
crossbody strap, or also two,just once out.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yep A hundred percent .
That multifunction, versatilityis super important.
It offers a silhouette thatmaybe you know that only had one
use.
It just gives it another or oneor two different types of uses
and it justifies potentially ofstretching.
For I mean, I remember this, acouple of this was 10 years ago.
(28:49):
I was in London and I wanted amulberry bag.
Of course I like got a smallone, but I mean price point was
still very high.
But this is unusual in this inlike in that space at this time.
But the bag reversed and youknow it was black.
Or you could flip it around andit snapped over and then it was
(29:12):
black, or you could flip itaround and it snapped over and
then it was this metallic.
Then it's this metallic grayand it's got the chain strap
that can be long, you can doubleit up, you could take it off.
So, like I was like, oh, youknow, this all justifies that
price point and you know thatwas the bag that keeps on giving
yeah, exactly.
So I was like, of course it'sworth this money, husband you
know.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Do you think the DIY trends have anything to do with
what's going on like craft,handmade?
Do you think that's impactingsales?
Because I don't know how muchit could at the level of volume
that you cover, but do you seethat having an impact?
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Maybe very small, just that.
It's another thing thatconsumers are interested in, but
I don't think it's having muchof an impact on, like you know,
the overall retail sales.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Wow.
Do you think there's anythingelse we can expect to see coming
up, based on projections ofwhat you're seeing?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
It's a good question.
I mean, the business is soft.
You know, when you look at thenumbers, we're down.
The dollars are down the lastcouple of years, although on a
scale we track kind of the totalmarket, kind of at a high level
, you know any channel orretailer that you might buy from
.
And then we've got a moregranular tracking of, like, the
(30:27):
retail space, which is a lot of,where you know the department
stores, online retailers, chainstores, you know that kind of
thing, even an athletic retailer.
So overall, at the high level,we actually see that units have
been up slightly over the lastcouple of years, but it's a lot
of these lower price point.
(30:50):
I mean, amazon's the biggestgrowth driver.
In the last year Costco was thenumber two growth driver and
you know Costco is bringing insome brands, right, they also
have some dupes and all of that.
But then they go up on socialmedia and I'm like I went to
Costco to find you knowso-and-so and there's that you
know that's impressive, right?
(31:10):
Look how smart I was for doingthat.
You know, a lot of third partyon Amazon, a lot of like kind of
in the athletic space, ofcourse, are slowed down.
But I mean the Lululemon beltbag definitely ate into the
broader handbag space because Iwas like, oh, look at this
little thing, for you know, 40something bucks and it can fit
what I need and hands-free andall that.
And our phones do more that youknow our phones are our wallets
(31:32):
essentially.
So you know things you knowchange so the dynamics really
have changed.
So on, overall we've seen unitsgrow slightly but dollars down
because lower price pointproduct.
When we look more on thewholesale space and we look at
that traditional like women'shandbag business.
You know in the departmentstore arena that's really tough
(32:02):
and so you know retailers justcontinue to look for the
products that are going tocompensate for the losses in
some of the bigger brands thatthey've carried.
But the problem is it's justthey're just not there.
There's lots of little smallbrands that are doing great
things, but it's just the volumeisn't there.
So I do think we'll continue tosee the market there contract,
but it is leading to some goodinnovation.
I mean, look, it's hard toreinvent the wheel here, but
(32:23):
adding function, adding novelty.
Like Kurt Geiger is one.
Now of course it's still ayounger brand and it's growing,
but it's got.
It does have that noveltyappeal at a price point.
That's, that's right.
So that's one that continues togrow.
But the the thing that'simportant is that you know the
(32:45):
innovation on the fashion andthe function, we can, even
though it's tough out there,like cannot stop because
otherwise then we have nowhereto go.
You know, then there's, thenit's just going to get worse.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
So Do you see boutiques having an impact in
any of this?
Do you track those sales?
Speaker 1 (33:01):
We don't really but it's important though and we see
it in some other industrieswhere specialty, smaller
specialty retailers are startingto have, you know, particularly
in athletic footwear, you knoware starting to have, you know,
particularly in athleticfootwear, you know starting to
have more of an impact, becauseit's that more localized,
personalized kind of experience.
So it's on the whole, it's it'simportant, um kind of like
(33:25):
bookstores having that to managesmall players and a lot of work
to you know to manage.
But yeah, I do think it'simportant and then there can be
more.
You know, now, now again I keepcoming back to this, but just
with online and the social media.
There there's more visibilityfor anyone you know, small
retailer or brand, than thereever was before.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Wow, oh my God, this is so much to take in.
I think anybody who listens tothis may need to listen to it
twice.
Beth Goldstein, thank you somuch.
I'm so excited to have you onmy speed dial to have you for
the State of the Union ofHandbags.
How can we find you?
Follow you, learn more aboutyou and your role at Cercana and
your amazing quotes.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Well, you can definitely just search for me on
LinkedIn and I would love toconnect.
You could always also ourwebsite, circanacom, and we do
have a page for accessories.
You can click on there, seeeverything that we're doing, or
you can shoot me an email.
Very simple Beth Goldstein atcircana.
You can see it behind in my inmy fake office here that I'm
(34:32):
sitting in Beth GoldsteinatArcanacom.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
And that's C-I-R-C-A-N-A for those who are
not watching this on YouTube.
That's right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Thank you, going to have you back soon.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thanks for listening.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on
every single platform at HandbagDesigner.
Thanks so much.
See you next time.
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