Looking back on the one-year anniversary of Kaai
On the 5th of October, Kaai Bags will exist for exactly one year. This will be celebrated with bubbles and sweets during the birthday weekend on 5 & 6 October. We would like show you what our first Kaai-year looked like. Expect elegant selfies and an exclusive look behind the scenes.
The desire to start our own handbag brand was born in 2017. For a year we have been developing our handbag concept for the woman on-the-go. We travelled around the world looking for the best materials and manufacturers. Sketches started to come to life in felt fabric and the first Kaai shoot took place at the Mas in Antwerp.
We've been studying the inside of several women's handbags in order to create a smart design that brings order and tranquillity. We interviewed and followed several women on the job to find out which essential belongings they carry with them everywhere. We asked them about their opinions on certain design features. Gaining inspiration abroad is of course a must for every designer. In June 2018, the time had finally come. The first Kaai handbags were shot by Marie Wijnants. The following period we started with the rebuilding of the shop in the Nationalestraat.
In August '18 our studio store was ready to receive its first customers. The first Kaai bags were sold to order. In October our first stock finally arrived in Antwerp. This was the real start of Kaai. From that moment on our bags started to pop up in the streets. What a great feeling. We were part of several events such as the Straffe Madammen and were actively looking for nice retail partners in Belgium and abroad. After our first year we are very proud to already have 20 retail partners in Belgium and beyond.
We gathered many great memories over the past year, too many to write down. Think of our pop-up in Knokke and the launch of the Heroine shoulder bag that happend recently. When running a start-up in the fashion world, you don't just have happy moments, you also experience high levels of stress. Passion is the driving force behind Kaai. We look forward to the future. Thanks to all #kaaiwomen for being part of this.
