The New American-Made Bucket Bag You Need to Know About
Just when you thought the bucket bag trend was over, a new designer duo is making us rethink this classic bag silhouette — and no, it’s not Mansur Gavriel. The name is Kozha Numbers — a new line of gorgeous, sculptural leather handbags that are all handcrafted in America. They are the perfect blend of minimalism and architecture for their simplicity in design, yet strong durability and attention to form.
The founders, Ilona Gerasimov and Lena Vasilenko, were just two friends on a spur-of-the-moment road trip to Big Sur, Calif., when their trek turned their dreams to reality. “Talking about our aspirations for the brand made our 17-hour drive feel like a mere five minutes,” Lena tells Yahoo Style.
At the time, both Lena and Ilona worked full-time jobs. After their road trip, they spent the next year working their jobs during the day and burning the midnight oil on Kozha Numbers at night.
Signature handbags from the collection include a mini and large black leather tote affixed with circular, metal handles from the “Staple” collection. Staple is a reference to the brand’s full name — “Kozha Numbers 0123456789” which is printed in small gold lettering on each of their products. The word “Kozha” translates to leather in the designers’ native Russian language.
“Numbers and the first 10 digits are used to represent our staple products, just like the first 10 fundamental digits that create every other number, we hope our bags will become a fundamental part of everyone’s wardrobe,” Lena tells Yahoo Style.
Other favorites from the brand include bucket bags with rubber chords threaded through eyelets on the bags themselves — available in olive green and black. Small leather wallets are also available in white and black. They feature a simple, rubber string enclosure. Prices range from $34 for the smaller leather goods to $495 for the large leather tote.
Art and architecture are highly influential in the designers’ work. “The emotions you feel when looking at a painting is what we hope to replicate though our own form of art: handcrafted handbags. We humbly consider our products as ‘wearable art,’” said Lena.
Comparing their work to the process of an architect — whose focus is on “materials, form, and durability” — Kozha Numbers runs down the same line. As Lena says, “The [high grade] leather is always the highlight of all of our designs. We keep our designs minimal without adding additional pockets/lining. Instead, we form and stitch in certain areas to create a desired shape.”
Adhering to hand-craftsmanship, top quality, and domestic materials is extremely important to Lena and Ilona’s brand ethos. The designers physically hand made every single bag during their initial launch.
The bags are still handmade, but now by their small team, located in Portland, Ore. “It has always been very important to us to keep all of our production in the States. We are very passionate about using the best naturally and locally sourced materials we can acquire,” said Lena. That is to say, not only are the bags American made, but Kozha Numbers also doesn’t use overseas factories for their materials, instead sourcing from U.S. companies.
At a time when businesses across the country outsource materials, production, and labor — Kozha Numbers represents the kind of burgeoning fashion company we need more of in this country.
So what lies in store for Kozha Numbers? Spoiler alert: Lena and Ilona will debut two new colors, nude and burgundy, in their next collection. In fact, they are hoping to introduce apparel and footwear under the Kozha Numbers umbrella, eventually. But for now, take our advice and head over to kozhanumbers.com to scoop up one of these exquisitely designed bags before you see them all over the streets. Confession: I already bought two!
Trust us, Kozha Numbers has fashion stardom written all over it.
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