Crystalyn Kae Blog

Our Spring 18 Look Book featuring Meg Shop!

Today, Franny is helping me today in the studio, for a Spring photoshoot with one of my dream stores: Meg shops! I couldn't be more pumped to work with this indie label . . .and I recently found out that we share a common start-up story: we BOTH started our businesses at the tender age 👶 of 22 and lived in the back of our shops. 🏪

Doing the wholesale market OUR way

This season, we took a bold choice to NOT pay thousands of dollars for a booth amongst thousands of other vendors - and instead book a showroom within walking distance of Javits Convention Center. We offered it as an alternative for our stores to escape the din of trade show lighting,

Lead-Free, Non-Toxic Handbags Made in the USA

Apparently, the Center for Environmental Health found that many faux-leather handbags contain unsafe levels of lead—even from big-name designers. At Crystalyn Kae, you never have to worry: our bags are lead-free, vegan, and made in the USA.

Real Simple: 6 Clever items to organize your bag

Our headphone tacos are featured in the most recent roundup on Real Simple "Headphones can become a tangled jumble in your bag, wrapping around everything else inside. Keep them contained in these adorable leather cord holders. "

New year's reflections: please take our survey!

Spending the week reflecting on 2017 and looking towards new things for 2018. I created a special survey, that I'd love your help with

In the bag: 4 loyal crystalyn kae fans give us a peek inside their bags

Meet four amazing women who also happen to be proud owners of Crystalyn Kae handbags. Hear what they have to say about their arm candy by clicking the image below.

Autumn Adventure - Upstate Leaf Peeping and store visits

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!

Our biggest Pop-Up ever at Chelsea Market NYC!

We can barely contain our excitement! We will be popping up at Artist & Fleas in Chelsea Market September 11-24 for two full weeks! That's 14 straight days of accessories awesome-ness!! We have been planning for months and can't...

A colorful way to organize my patterns

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?

Our Top 10 Moments of 2016

2016 was a year of big moves and even bigger leaps of faith, and we couldn't be happier with how it all turned out! As we roll headfirst into a new year - we thought we would take a few moments and celebrate all the awesome that came in 2016

From Hot Mess to Handbag Hero: Headphone Tacos

Oftentimes, a new design idea comes from a purely functional need. I was inspired to create the headphone tacos because I was getting frustrated with having to rummage in my bag for my earbuds only to find them in a tangled mess.

From Scraps to Showcase: How I Helped FABSCRAP Prove That Fashion Waste Has Value

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.

Our special collaboration with Fab Scrap will debut November 17!

Did you know... *NYC residents throw out 200,000 tons of clothing, shoes, accessories, and linens every year. It's 6% of NYC total waste stream. That's 14x the weight of the Brooklyn Bridge and 2x it's suspension capacity. *Nationwide, 12.65 million...

vegan handbag, eco-friendly, zero waste, mini cross body bag, crystalyn kae

Easy Essentials: Our Limited-Edition Crossbody Bags

We believe that there should be measured thought that goes into making a bag. A bag is one of your most personal accessories, one that requires thoughtful consideration to pack with all your day’s essentials. A bag is something that requires the perfect mix of style and functionality which can be tricky to get just right. Over the years, we have come to perfect this process.Therefore, with an emphasis on rich texture and variety, we remade the classic cross-body bag we introduced a year ago into four updated styles.

Learning to Unplan: A Rainy Photoshoot in New York City

Filled with the excitement of new bags, it was time at last for our Fall/Winter lookbook photoshoot! We at Crystalyn Kae wanted to get everything just right.

Photoshoot preparations can be a lot of work. The location planning, the outfit steaming, the logistics of exactly who, what and where...Emily, our photographer, flew in from Arizona just for the shoot. It was her first time in NYC and she had countless ideas about the mood she wanted to capture. She brought along her friend Elisa to help move everything along.

We were all set for a big Friday production with our favorite model, Alli, when we looked at the forecast: rain all day!

Join our birthday club!

Everyone deserves to be celebrated we'd like to help out with that! Please fill out the form below to be automatically added!

Throwing it back to 2001, when these were our very first handbag designs made...

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

Featured in: Vegucated - a documentary

Such a treat to meet loyal fan for 10+ years Marisa @vegucated stop by our #craftsoncolumbus booth today with her Charleston large hobo! #veganhandbags #madeinusa #craftshow