Help the UK’s oldest satchel-maker create a design tool to allow customers to design their unique satchel online with infinite choices.
The Leather Satchel Company started in Liverpool in 1966. On July 23 that year, my Uncle Stephen sat at his makeshift roadside stall – a blanket spread out beside his camper van – outside Wembley Stadium, for the World Cup game between England and Argentina. Stephen was working away making leather bags on his Singer sewing machine when he was approached by a teacher at Hammersmith school, who enquired about the possibility of ordering 200 satchels. And that’s how our story begins.
By the 1980s we were the only satchel manufacturer left in the country. Most British manufacturing had been dismantled, machines were taken away, prices went down, businesses went bust and anything left moved abroad. We couldn’t move abroad because we’re a family business – we couldn’t move our labour abroad; we couldn’t reduce costs. It’s a piece of the tale – about grit and determination.
In 2016 we celebrate our 50th birthday as the Leather Satchel Co. We’re still run by the Hanshaw family in Liverpool, shipping our Made in Britain products around the world, and we occasionally use Uncle Steve’s old Singer sewing machine to make them.
To mark our 50th birthday, we’re asking for you to help us kickstart the next 50 years of our journey by supporting our Kickstarter campaign to raise £50,000 – Your Bag, Your Way, Your Story. Our Kickstarter campaign will help us to create a state-of-the-art customisation tool that allows you to choose your own design.
Each bag we make tells its own story, because of the unique way it ages. But this will make each one so distinctive; a completely bespoke bag for its owner. Our satchels last for years and age beautifully. The Kickstarter campaign will really help that idea of a story come to life, with each one telling its own tale about the life and adventures of its owner.
Rewards for helping us do it
Personalised keyring = £15 (RRP £21 / SAVE 25%)
Personalised tablet case = £30 (RRP £40 / SAVE 25%)
Our tablet cases fit three brands: Apple, Samsung and Kindle
Personalised mini Bag = £60 (RRP £80 / SAVE up to 25%)
Choose from our small Pixie (MRP £75), mini Festival Satchel (RRP £80) or small Sporran with card pocket (RRP £80)
Early Bird Personalised ‘Bag It Early’ offer = £100 x 250 (RRP £180 / SAVE up to 45%)
Choose from our music case (£150), medium Pixie (£150), medium Sporran with inner and outer pockets (£165) or a 12.5” briefcase satchel (£180) and customise your colours on any of them!
Your personalised Everyday Bag = £125 (RRP £180 / SAVE 33%)
You’ll get 1 x Everyday bag (£180) AND a 15” personalised and customised double-pocketed briefcase Satchel in premium leather (£246) with a wide shoulder strap.
Lucky Break = £888 (RRP = £1400 SAVE 50%)
Heritage Tour = £1,966 (RRP £3284 SAVE 40%)
Not only will you get a priceless lifetime Blind Membership to the Satchel Club, you’ll have a weekend in Liverpool you’ll never forget.
Enjoy a weekend Trip to Liverpool and our workshops to meet Keith and spend the weekend with him working on your bag, whilst he also takes you on a 5-star whistle-stop tour of Liverpool (RRP £750).
Choose your bags from one of: the Bundle package (RRP £454) OR the Couples package (RRP £426).
Your weekend schedule (RRP £1080) includes: a stay at a top Liverpool hotel; Friday Night – dinner and drinks at the Titanic Hotel (RRP £100); Saturday – breakfast at your hotel (RRP £200) followed by collection to visit the factory for a tour and to do your initial prep work. You’l have lunch in a local pub, (RRP £60), and then return to LSC to inspect progress. After that, we’ll take you back into town for one of the city’s waterfront events (RRP £60, the event will depend when you come), before dinner and drinks at the Panoramic restaurant (RRP £160). On the Sunday, you’ll enjoy breakfast in bed (RRP £200), followed by a Liverpool Heritage Tour (RRP £100) and lunch in Liverpool at Albert Dock’s Maritime Dining Rooms (RRP £100). After lunch, we’ll take you back to our workshops, where we’ll complete your bags, personalise and pack them. You’ll leave with your bags, plus a Gin Party gift (RRP £100), and we’ll drop you off at a destination of your choice.