We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Claudine Charles a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Claudine, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Fashion as an industry has lent itself to prioritising conceptual value versus worth for many years now. Examples are how relatively low-quality handbags can have a brand logo stuck on the front to triple the price tag. Je Suis Claudine is different.

As a University graduate, I began to understand very early in my academic studies that high-quality bags, perfectly customised to suit the owner, can be produced to an excellent quality without the designer handbag price. I spoke with my tutors to carefully construct a handbag-making process that exemplifies the industry’s top design criteria.

Since graduating from the University of the Arts London, I’ve spent years perfecting the designs of my bags, with astute professionals such as lawyers being customers of mine. In 2021 I created a bespoke line of handbags and purses based on my fascination with ancient Egypt. I’ve also created various handbags since then; some are very large travel bags purchased by a wonderful lady who works in pharmaceuticals, and another was a beautiful green leather handbag with a floral peacock fabric lining. All of these bags were embossed with the name of their new owners.

Looking into the future, I’m now delivering affordable one-day workshops where my treasured customers can engage with me to learn how to create their very own handbags themselves! Something that perfectly suits the type of person who loves to learn new things have tons of fun, and create their own handbag.

Claudine, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Living in Bradford, a city built on the great fabric mills of the 1800s, I was always surrounded by a community of talented artisans who would create clothes for their own families to use. My dad worked in demolition when I was a child, often coming home with holes in his clothes and tiredness in his eyes. As I grew up, I began to mend the holes and frays that my dad’s clothes had in them, gradually improving my ability and confidence to the stage where, when I was 16, I transitioned to study fashion at college.

College was a fascinating time for me as I began developing academic knowledge surrounding the fashion industry. This knowledge then became a basis for broadening my abilities in creating beautiful clothing items for my friends and family. We studied various modules and themes with things such as contrasts, colour palettes, historical figures, and techniques.

Unfortunately, North England doesn’t have any courses in fashion. So at the age of twenty, I found myself studying at the most prestigious fashion university in the world: the University of the Arts London. Here, I began to take giant strides in my ability, confidence, and expression. I constructed handbags from a wide range of leathers and fabrics, even using exotic items such as ostrich and crocodile skin.

Three years of higher education led me to open my own bespoke leather handbag business: JeSuisClaudine. My business centres around ethically produced and sourced materials being exquisitely crafted into individual, beautiful handbags. Each handbag is embossed with the name of its owner and can be personalised to the owner’s taste, and because I’m so proud of my work, I always sign the inside of the leather so that a piece of me lives on when the handbag finds it’s new home.

After successfully producing bags for lawyers and pharmaceutical executives, I began to evolve the business to solve the problem I had faced several years prior. Realising that at 20 I had no way of learning to craft handbags, I decided to begin delivering designer handbag leather workshops where my valued clients may come and learn from my experiences at the elite University of the Arts London.

Confident, strong-minded clients have very specific ideas on what they would like for their handbags, and rightly so, as handbags are an extension of their owners. JeSuisClaudine works to produce these bespoke pieces precisely as my beloved clients request. I encourage anyone struggling to find the perfect handbag to get in touch and get linked into our creative process!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a significant financial support network when I opened my business as I had recently moved from London back to Yorkshire. As such, the business start-up was entirely self-funded, with profits being directed back into the business to generate growth. On a positive spin, the requirement to manage the financials myself has made me competent with many financial resources whilst having a robust financial vocabulary.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

I always find that the people at craft fairs become amazing customers as their passion for being creative and their interest in supporting local businesses means they fully engage with JeSuisClaudine on every level. Craft fairs are also an excellent resource for customers because of the opportunity of providing your items to potential customers in real life, rather than trying to take the perfect photograph and posting it on social media. The product speaks for itself, and seeing it in person is the best way to make sure people see the quality JeSuisClaudine provides.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jsclaudine/?hl=en-gb
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jsclaudine1/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/je-suis-claudine-52856220a/?originalSubdomain=uk