Reformation Debuts Handbags
Reformation‘s brand-new new handbag line comes with a sustainability-first supply chain.
The California brand officially launched its first collection of leather handbags on Monday, following a teaser social media campaign featuring actress Camila Morrone last week.
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Offering three shapes and varying sizes, the handbag range includes 19 SKUs ranging in price from $248-$698. Reformation chose a “distinct yet restrained” color palette of brown, black, white, cream, pink, light green, and metallic, and focused on timeless designs “that defy season-to-season trends.”
Reformation said it sourced exclusively from European farms, tanneries, and leather-working artisans for greater transparency and visibility. The cowhide leather handbags, made in Italy and Germany, were produced with leather from farms with a zero-deforestation policy. Leather Working Group-audited tanneries ensure that the leather is processed using environmentally preferred water, energy and chemical management practices. Designed with minimal hardware, the bags are easier to process through the RefRecycling program at the end of their useful life.
According to general manager of product innovation Alison Melville, handbags were a natural next step for Reformation, which launched footwear in 2021. While the supply chains for shoes and handbags are separate, “the strategy is very much the same,” she said. “For both categories, we started by looking specifically at geographic networks of best-in-class suppliers,” she added. “It’s a balance of identifying partners who meet our rigorous sustainability standards, but also can execute quickly, two attributes that are not easy to offer simultaneously.”
“We prioritized two things when building our handbag supply chain: deploying best-in-class sustainable leather practices and producing a luxury quality product that our customers can enjoy wearing for a long time,” Melville said.
The expansion represents a significant moment of growth for the brand, which launched in 2009 with upcycled dresses made from deadstock fabrics. Reformation is still known chiefly for its apparel. “Any time you expand into a totally new category you learn a lot,” Melville said. “You have to really rethink how you operate as a company across the board because it’s not just a singular launch moment, it’s an evergreen offering and a business in its own right.”
Handbags will become a part of Reformation’s permanent assortment, with new product dropping monthly online and in stores. “This is a category that our customer has been asking for for some time,” she said.
