Turn your passion and inspiration into a must-have bag collection and launch your own successful brand. Handbag design is more than just a creative pursuit-it's also a business. This book is a practical guide to developing your design skills alongside the vital business know-how you'll need to avoid costly mistakes. Ann Saunders leads you through the whole process from initial concepts through to sampling, manufacturing, marketing, and retail. You'll learn how to navigate the challenges of sourcing materials, finding a manufacturer, creating a bespoke brand, developing a sales strategy, and growing your business. Throughout the book Ann's former students, who have established their own successful brands, share their real-world insights into the challenges of becoming a designer/entrepreneur in today's highly competitive accessories market. With more than 150 images, charts and illustrations, Design, Manufacture and Sell Your Bag Collection includes detailed advice on: The Creative Process, Researching Your Brief, Knowing Your Customer, Designing Your Bag, Critical Paths, Materials, Hardware, Understanding Bag Construction, Completing Your Design, Planning a Range, Sampling, Manufacturing, Branding, Marketing, Business Planning, Sustaining Your Business, and Sustainability

This volume is an unprecedented history of Louis Vuitton’s women’s bags, the most coveted line of accessories in women’s fashion. At the heart of Louis Vuitton are its City Bags, a range of women’s bags that dates back to the turn of the twentieth century. Featuring the trademark monograms of the house, the City Bag story began with the Steamer, a resort bag designed in 1901 to be packed inside a much larger steamer trunk. These bags have in a hundred years formally diversified into a dizzying array of handbags for every conceivable function demanded by the modern woman. Profoundly influential, City Bags are now known to millions by their descriptive names (Keepall, Bucket, Papillon, Alma, Locket, Noe, Speedy) and are still evolving into more fantastical forms. Lavishly illustrated with new and archival photography, historical graphics, landmark editorials, and ad campaigns, the volume traces the history of these specific bag families, and examines the earliest specimens and today’s most sought-after collectibles, including Vuitton’s collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Stephen Sprouse, Richard Prince, Yayoi Kusama, and Rei Kawakubo and one-off projects by Zaha Hadid, Shigeru Ban, Vivienne Westwood, Helmut Lang, Andrée Putman, and of course, Marc Jacobs. Louis Vuitton: City Bags is an ambitious volume on the creation and cultivation of a cultural phenomenon.

Sewing for Profit or Pleasure is all about creating a range of appealing, practical handbags which are perfect for gifting or selling. Each of the bag designs are fun to make, with plenty of full-colour images to supplement the detailed, easy-to-follow instructions. If you can bare to part with your beautiful creations, recipients will love receiving them as gifts, or you can make some extra cash for yourself by offering them for sale! You could sell your products at local craft fayres, school events, charity fundraisers or even online; Etsy is a great place to start selling your handmade crafts. Whatever you decide to do, be it keep, gift or sell your creations, you're sure to enjoy making the projects Susan shares in this book. They've been chosen specifically with gifting and selling in mind.