Crystalyn Kae Blog

Once relegated as an upholstery fabric until made fashionable by Coco Chanel in the 1950's this textural fabric called Boucle has become a classic staple of French style. Popularized further in the 1960's by Jackie Kennedy, boucle has become a mainstay of today's fashion.

 

While thrift shopping in Seattle, Crystalyn discovered an entire roll of unused boucle fabric that just begged to be made into bags.

 

 

The decision that changed my business, my creativity, and my life. For 8 years, New York was the city that shaped me. I scaled up my handmade bag business there, made lifelong friends, and fell in love with the hustle...

Zippers are one of the most overlooked components in a handbag — and one of the most important. With decades of experience designing bags, we explain why YKK zippers matter, how they’re chosen, and how small decisions like hardware can shape long-term wear.

I started my internship with Crystalyn Kae in January and what first caught my attention about the opportunity was Crystalyn’s dedication to socially conscious style! I wanted to be a part of a brand that valued its resources and did its best to genuinely be environmentally conscious! Crystalyn’s practices of upcycling and recycling fabric is a huge benefit to the planet and helps divert fabric and textile waste out of landfills. Using as much of the material as possible (hello adorable card cases and headphone tacos) really helps to keep her manufacturing as zero-waste as possible. 

Volunteering at FabScrap has been on my NYC bucket list ever since Crystalyn mentioned that that is where she gets a lot of her upcycled leather and unique fabrics.  Crystalyn, being the super cool boss she is, allowed me to take an afternoon off and volunteer at FabScrap! This amazing *woman founded* business is dedicated to recycling fabrics and repurposing them to keep them out of the waste stream. They have thousands of pounds of fabric that they have collected from apparel design companies in New York City, about 40 bags a day weighing 50 pounds each, which volunteers then sort to be recycled or sold at very reasonable prices to designers or students! 

Ever take a walk around the section of Midtown between 34th-42nd street between 7th avenue and 9th avenue? (Just mere blocks from Times Square. . .yikes!)  Without even knowing it, all those tall skyscrapers are full of small workshops and manufactures contributing to the fashion industry and made in America products.

In May 2018, I spent nearly a month in Tuscany, immersed in a region renown for olive oil, wine, truffles and leather. Inspired by a culture so connected to the land in a mindful way, I relished this rare opportunity to explore an ancient tradition working with vegetable-tanned leather.

I am a material driven-designer, with longevity and timelessness being paramount to my aesthetic: any object of value has to tell a story.  Working with this pliable material in its natural state enabled me to combine my skills in textiles and woodworking in the most exhilarating way.⁣

Here's a peek behind the scenes of creating the collection.

Selecting fabrics for a new handbag collection is like a treasure hunt. Crystalyn regularly shops flea markets, antique shops and her favorite local source for sample fabrics: Fabscrap to select pieces of fabrics. Either she finds textiles that get on well with what she already has in mind for the next collection, or what she discovers gives her even more ideas for a future collection.

Leather is a very long-lasting material, it can last thousands of years. So, why should we produce new when we can up-cycle? In New York City, the heart of American fashion manufacturing, I have access to a plentiful supply of exceptionally rare swatches, mill-end rolls, and even production leftovers from major designers and manufacturers. I have had the pleasure to collaborate with a local non-profit, FabScrap, to obtain my leather (and textiles) for my current collection.’ 

In New York City, the heart of American fashion manufacturing, I have access to a plentiful supply of exceptionally rare swatches, mill-end rolls, and even production leftovers from major designers and manufacturers. I have had the pleasure to collaborate with a local non-profit, FabScrap, to obtain my leather (and textiles) for my accessories collections.  

All sacrilege aside, I truly cannot find a better way to describe the atmosphere of my exceptional residence this week.  Tucked just outside the city walls of San Miniato lies a 14th century monastic nunnery, Monastero di Santa Chiara, which will be our home base for the week while we explore the vegetable-tanned leather region of Tuscany.

 I was recently invited to participate in first-person full-sensory experience to the cultural context of vegetable-tanned leather in its birthplace in a tiny village in Tuscany called San Miniato. 

As an artisan, this invitation is obviously a bucket-list opportunity and a welcome catalyst to experiment - to stretch myself in ways I don’t usually have opportunity or resources to try.

All of the products we consume make an impact on the environment. We cannot fight the nature of consumption and our exponentially growing population. How, where, and with what materials things are made determine just how much of an impact a product's lifecycle can create.

We spent the past week visiting local boutiques in Upstate New York and New England that carry Crystalyn Kae handbags. Needless to say, this new atmosphere has really given us inspiration! Peep through our fall-filled adventure to follow the fun!

I recently spotted a cute shop on etsy that creates custom hanger dividers for children’s clothes. . . .and I got to thinking: could they customize a set for me with each of my bag’s names on it?  

 

When FABSCRAP was just an idea, I was handed a box of discarded leather and asked to prove that waste could be beautiful. Two days and ten products later, we had our answer—and the beginning of a circular fashion revolution.

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Throwing it back to 2001, when these were our very first handbag designs made out of vintage wool pants! It wasn't always vegan, but we kept it sustainable all the way. #tbt #CrystalynKae15 #SustainableAccessories photo: @jgomer circa 2001

Using the lovely English morning light to pair zipper tape with swatches of new colors in the works for fall. #sneakpeek #airbnb #design #veganhandbags (at England, Manchester)

We source over 30% of our recycled leather for our bags at McPherson wholesale leather supply in Seattle. They collect leather scraps from suppliers all over the country and allow designers to purchase at a discount.  This provides us guilt-free access to gorgeous leather scraps, which we rescue to create our recycled leather handbags.