The New York Fashion Week Spring 2025 runways are big on bags: designers’ first bags, designers’ re-entries into the bag category, novelty bags, “big-ass bags,” the list goes on.
It’s not as though the leather goods market is in a great place. However, several of fashion’s recent success-story brands have been built on strong bag businesses — and (many) designers, feeling the weight of a troubled economy, are taking a stab.
“Over the next 24 months, we’ll be expanding big into leather goods,” said designer Christian Cowan, who will debut his namesake brand’s first bag style on the runway Sunday night. “You look at a business like Jacquemus, which did €200 million [in 2022 revenue], and something like 70% of that was driven by leather goods. And you see that time and time again, for so many brands. … It’s a massive opportunity.”
As of 2022, Jacquemus’s accessories, including its popular micro Le Chiquito bags, reportedly made up 65% of the business, to be exact. At the time, the now-15-year-old brand was projecting €500 million in sales by 2025.
Newly announced re-entries into the bag category, after breaks of several seasons, include Alice + Olivia, Badgley Mischka and Monse. Tibi finally made the leap into bags after inching in with collaborations and a handful of totes. And another designer — kept anonymous to avoid ruining the surprise — will roll out several colorways of his 5-year-old brand’s debut bag on Monday. “We’ve built a platform and knowledge about the brand — it’s the right time to add accessories,” he said. For its part, Cowan’s brand is seven years in.
Small and novelty bags are big themes among these brands’ bag releases. On Saturday night, six looks on Monse’s runway included a Football Bag, best described as a football-sized and -shaped leather style with a strap. A press rep confirmed that Monse “has done bags in the past but not for several seasons.”
Likewise, Badgley Mischka put new gas behind its bag efforts. “We did them for years, but then they sort of sat quiet for a while,” said co-founder Mark Badgley, hours before the brand’s show on Friday. “We’re coming back really strong in the bag world. James [Mischka] and I love evening bags — they’re like little pieces of candy. And we’re putting a lot of focus on them; they’re a really important business.”
Alice + Olivia, too, opted for a bold bag comeback. “We’re launching bags again, and they’re really novelty,” founder, CEO and creative in director Stacey Bendet said at the brand’s Saturday afternoon presentation in Chelsea. “Rather than your basic black [styles], we’re doing little clutches and baguettes that are intricately embroidered and embellished — I want them to be [our shopper’s] special evening bag.”
According to some tastemakers, the small bag’s ship has sailed. At an event Friday night celebrating her 1-year-old brand Renggli’s launch at Revolve Group’s FWRD, Morgan Stewart said, “My latest bag purchase is a very big, oversized Bottega bag. And what makes it great is that I can throw everything in it to run around, but also, there are compartments to keep it organized. We’ve been doing the small-bag thing for a long time, and I’m kind of fucking over that. Give me a big-ass bag.”
Along with Jacquemus, the looming recession could be a driver of designers’ focus on playful styles. In bleak times, maximalism tends to prevail in fashion.
And on that note, brands are being thoughtful about their bags’ pricing, offering accessible alternatives to the Margaux of the world.
“A lot of times, girls want a bag that matches their going-out or occasion outfit that doesn’t cost $5,000, and I feel like every bag now costs $5,000,” Bendet said. “Our bags are meant to be affordable.” Alice + Olivia sells at the contemporary price point, with its jeans, for example, starting at around $300.
The designer showing on Monday, who sells dresses for around $600-$900, is on the same page. “I don’t want this to be a mega-expensive bag,” he said. “At this point, I can’t just go in and say to my factory, ‘This is the bag. This is the price point.’ I’m still figuring out pricing, but it needs to be under $1,000.”
Gab Waller, who’s built a business on sourcing hard-to-find luxury products for affluent shoppers, pointed out that, for some brands, including Miu Miu, handbags are now priced lower than their ready-to-wear fashion products. “With the price increases we’re seeing across the board, handbags are entry-level items into some brands,” she said.
A bag also provides bang for the buck when considering its rewearability and identifiability. “A handbag is one of the most recognizable styles from any designer, so it’s a great way to buy into a brand or associate yourself with a brand,” Waller said. “That has a lot of appeal for a lot of customers.”
And it’s often easiest to identify a bag in a novel shape — like, say, the shape of a pigeon.
But not all brands are going the novelty route. For its part, with 12 of its 45 runway looks, Tibi showed oversized leather clutches and totes, though several came in a red-orange hue that made them decidedly distinctive. Up until now, Tibi has largely stuck to handbags via collabs, including with designer Myriam Schaefer. On its runway last September, it showed L.L. Bean Boat and Totes reworked with leather details. The brand’s press contact confirmed the spring styles are exclusively by Tibi.
Palomo Spain is currently testing the handbag waters with a brand partner. Its Saturday afternoon show featured its second capsule collection — inclusive of shoes, bags and jewelry — with women’s accessories brand Bimba y Lola. “[The capsule] last season was really successful for us,” Alejandro Gómez Palomo said backstage. “The [Bimba y Lola] team allows me to do whatever I want, and they have the resources and infrastructure to [pull off] a lot of things Palomo can’t.”
Such a careful approach is smart, considering a bag’s sales potential. “I’ve always wanted to make a handbag, but I wanted to wait until I knew what I wanted it to be and all the stars aligned: the production, the price point, everything,” Cowan said. “I prototyped probably 20 handbags that have never seen the light of day, other than being on my mom’s arm or on my arm. … With the bag we’re about to launch, loads of my friends have been carrying it for, like, eight months. We’ve made loads of [updates] to it, based on actual wear and tear and user experience. We’re taking it one step at a time and making sure everything that goes out is right.”
For many brands, a bag also needs to wow buyers, as well as consumers, to make a go of it — and, obviously, the competition is steep. “All of our buyers have been invited to the show — I want them to see the energy of everything before we meet them at the showroom,” said the anonymous designer. “I think they’ll see how everything works together, and I’m envisioning they’ll support [the expansion] and want to have the bags as part of their selection.”
Of course, a brand offering head-to-toe styles has head-to-to opportunities to win a customer’s dollars. “A lot of these companies want to push the full look,” said Scott Kerr, founder and president of Silvertone luxury branding consultancy, while sitting front row at Tibi. “It’s just more money to get.”
