The origins of LAC started about 3 years ago, when we moved to the tropical shores of Singapore. We were doing lots of travelling on our weekends and seeing so many amazing places just a short flight away. When travelling regularly for work or fun it’s important to have a good packing routine, and so often a big heavy handbag wasn’t the right thing to take to a place like Hong Kong or Bangkok where there is lots of walking to do or a security risk. So we got thinking about what would be a better solution for these types of trips - something small and light, just to hold the essentials, can be worn cross-body for more security, and better yet can have one look at lunch and then be a different bag at dinner. We of course then faced a typical entrepreneurial situation - we couldn’t find one we liked on the market so thought we’d build one! Maybe it’s cliched but whatevs.
So, given that we had so much free time (jokes, we had full time normal jobs), we wanted to get some prototypes made and see if we could create some kind of convertible handbag. Off to Vietnam we went!
Why Vietnam you ask? Why not - the food is amaaazing, the coffee is like rocket fuel, the Vietnamese are extremely friendly, and importantly there are many highly talented and experienced artisans that we thought could help us see if we’re onto something with our idea. Off we went to find a manufacturer!
Did we mention the food was great?!?
We first started with a design based on some of our inspirations and eagerly awaited the prototype that would leave all other handbags inferior. And…. it was rubbish. The care, quality and attention to detail of the team who produced it was amazing, but it was clear that our design skills belonged in kindergarten. We decided to keep our day jobs a little longer and literally go back to the drawing board to improve the concept.
We can’t bare to show you our first prototype so here is an edited version
After some time spent improving our design skills we then had the new prototype - and it was amazing! It was a good thing we already had a trip to France booked to give it a spin, where it held up to the rigours of touring Paris, performed admirably against Monet in the Musée d'Orsay, and held its own against the lavender of Provence.
Because a handbag belongs in Paris
So now we had a decent looking and functional bag that met our needs. We wanted to now get this in front of the people that would give us an honest opinion - family and friends. The feedback was great and helped us decide to get a modest quantity produced. It was time to roll the dice. Fast forward to early 2018 and we were in markets and popups around Singapore with a fully functioning website helping to get our handbags to customers further away.
We were delighted with the new design
This step was really important for us. Seeing the reactions from browsers and customers at markets, watching them look, touch and wear our handbags was such an amazing feeling. But more importantly we were able to get wonderful feedback and ideas around what else we could do to our little handbag - ideas and feedback that have gone into our new product. We’re so excited to offer this on Indiegogo early next year.
We hope you can join us on this journey. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and signup to get our news directly to your inbox. We’ll continue to share updates on this adventure of ours and will also give you access to exclusive discounts and Perks (even a VIP Club!!).
See you again soon!
LAC