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| GAZA luxe satchel, shown in Bittersweet Italian shrunken lamb, $598 |
ANA frame bag, shown in Plum Brazilian cow leather trim, $325 |
HUDSON triple strap satchel, show in Cocoa, $468 |
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| I’m a die-hard fashion lover cross-bred with the mind
of an industrial designer. I devoured ELLE, VOGUE, and vintage fashion as a
child, but loved to learn how things worked...how they could be improved. I love
creating bags that are beautiful, unique, but extremely functional for modern
and busy lives. I’m a huge fan of utility marrying form...women should have bags
that have style, elegance, and attitude, but make the realities of getting
around on a daily basis very simple. Style + function is my design philosophy.
I’m finishing up our A/W’07 collection...very excited about the line! I think
it’s our best to date...very lovely surprises coming for fans of the line, new
and existing.
Ben (my partner) and I source unique leathers that we feel will fit the
Hayden-Harnett line best. They come from many places: Italy, France, Brazil,
upstate NY. We also use many vintage and unique prints we create in-house for
many of our linings. We like having something unique and special inside the
bags. We try to use as many natural materials as possible...some of our leathers
are vegetable-dye and our canvas is 100% cotton. We use pigment inks to print,
which is less harmful to the environment. I’m continually inspired by art,
music, and film...the Velvet Underground, My Morning Jacket (fellow
Kentuckians!), Night of the Hunter, Gene Wilder, Mark Rothko. It all comes
together in really unexpected ways during a season. It all filters out into the
collections each season. I love metal-smithing and sculpture...we create
and custom-mold many of our hardwares and use unique finishes for antique or
colored effects. For F’07, I’m working on this cool colored glossy ceramic-based
finish. Came out quite nice.
Ben and I started Hayden-Harnett on April Fool’s Day, 2005...kind of a joke. We
were sitting at out kitchen table and I drew the logo on a napkin. Later that
day, I really thought about it and decided I was ready to make the leap into the
wild world of fashion accessories sans parachute. The freefall was intense, but
the landing has been totally worth the effort and lack of sleep. We were
both working ourselves silly for large fashion companies and knew we wanted to
do something for ourselves...something that we believed was truly “the right
thing” and would be somewhat beneficial. It all goes back to the obsession with
improving the existing and a love of fashion. I felt there wasn’t enough
function in many of the better (or worse) handbags on the market. Also, the
quality was missing if the functionality was there. We decided to create a line
of fine accessories that was everything I couldn’t find: high-style, amazing
quality, functionality, and a non-inflated price for all of the above.
Hmmm...the only nightmarish thing that’s ever happened has been with beading. We
have a new style for Spring’07, the NOLAN satchel, that uses these amazingly
chunky (heavy) colored resin beads that we created. Wow...it was a ton of work
to get the beads and color developed correctly. Then, just getting the
cord weight and the technique for sewing on the beads so the pattern would lie
straight was astoundingly difficult. Many, many hours of development work and
sampling! We finally nailed it...the NOLAN turned out pretty cool and durable,
despite looking delicate, fab, and hand-crafted.
I think our greatest achievement is that we’ve succeeded in a flooded
accessories market despite being 100% independent. We do not belong to any
showroom, we have done zero tradeshows to date, no advertising (outside of blogs),
we have no investors. Most of our business is by word-of-mouth... that’s
amazing! We love and respect our customers and retailers and they love us back.
It’s that simple. I think many young designers get too caught up in trying
to find out “how to make it” and how to be like other companies. There is no
point in repeating the past, only to improve for the future. We felt the best
approach was to take a leap and follow our own instincts... Ben and I had two
small goals: pay our rent every month and feed ourselves and our cat. We also
wanted 100% creative freedom. Low expectations, yes, but we have a
super-high work ethic. Every time we make a bag, we put our reputation out
there. We always try to uphold the style, originality, quality, and function our
customers expect. We won’t put anything out there that we wouldn’t use and love
for years to come.
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What is your name? |
Toni Hacker |
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Where are you from? |
Kentucky |
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Where do you live now? |
NYC (Greenpoint, Brooklyn) |
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How old are you? |
33 |
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Do you have a design background? |
Yes...product design, accessory design, and sculpture |
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Do you still have a day job? |
Nope (yeah!) |
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What year were your bags born? |
2005. |
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Bag brand name: |
Hayden-Harnett |
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What is their retail price range? |
$200 - $600 |
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Where can a shopper buy your bags? |
www.hhbags.com, Barney's NY, Nordstrom |
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For more information, contact: |
www.haydenharnett.com |
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| 1. | wow - the hudson is far nicer than any label bag I have seen in a long time. - maria from nyc, March 03, 2007. | | 2. | I like HH bags! The leather is great and the designs are truly unique! - Sophia from NY, December 21, 2008. |
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