IT’S ALL ABOUT THE HANDBAG….THE PASSCHAL HANDBAG!

I wish you all could meet my co-worker, Linda….she is a total sweetheart and no matter what she is going through, a new handbag makes it all better….to say that Linda LOVES handbags is truly an understatement!  When Linda came back to work after the holidays, of course she had a new handbag to show us…all I could say was ‘OMG…where did you get that handbag from’…..to my surprise, Linda told us it was designed by a company right here in Richmond, VA called Passchal….and get this…the handbags are made from recycled inner tubes….AMAZING……and so wonderful for the environment!!!!  Trust me ya’ll…these handbags are GORGEOUS and I contacted the owners immediately.

I’m so excited to introduce you to the Angela Greene and Ken Korbrick, the founders and designers of Passchal…check out my interview with Ken and please visit their site to see their gorgeous collection of handbags and to read about their story…Enjoy!

TBC:  Tell us a little about Passchal and how it was started? 

Ken:  My partner & boss, Angela, purchased a backpack made from inner tubes back in 1999 & proclaimed that we can make our own styles out of this unique material (inner tubes are you kidding?).  We experimented with basic shapes in the beginning such as square, circle, triangle etc. 

The first designs were awful.  Neither of us quit our day jobs & the bags slowly evolved.  In 2004 I got laid off from my welding job & we decided to dive in full time.  We had no formal design or business training so we went in with eyes wide open not knowing how tough it would be trying to compete with the big guys.  We wanted to create styles that were upscale versus crafty.  Combining fine leather with the inner tubes was key in doing this.

Ken:  When someone who has never heard of us sees a bag, their response is always the same, disbelief that that bag is made from tractor inner tubes.

TBC:  What has been the highlight of your career to date?   

Ken:  Before we contracted the factories that we use to help produce our bags, we made everything ourselves by hand.  In 2007 Neiman Marcus contacted us and wanted to include one of our styles in their Incircle Catalog.  A very big deal for us considering we were still making these in our 900 sq. ft. home at the time.

Ken:  Stephanie Johnson, Bottega Veneta, Little Earth.