Ten years ago Paulien founded O My Bag with the aim of changing the world, one bag at a time. Creating timeless leather bags and accessories that are built to last while supporting those in India. With your help, we have been able to positively impact 7,630 lives!
Here we are, eleven collections later, and many more to come, we look over the past 10 years. From Paulien’s very first trip to India to opening our first store and now, celebrating our 10 year anniversary.
First trip to India
Paulien travelled to India for the first time in 2011 and met with 15 potential producers, but none of them were suitable for the fairly made and sustainable brand we had in mind. It took her a second trip to find the perfect fit! It was during this visit that she found our first production partner EMA and our sustainable leather partner Patrick Lee, both partners we still work with today.
First ever sketch
O My Bag was set up with two key aspects: eco friendly and fairly made. With this in mind, Paulien was able to come up with a first sketch for a design that already looks like our timeless Dirty Harry - the one that will start it all, a few months later.
First ever bag
Dirty Harry is the bag that started it all – O My Bag’s very first design! A true original. Dirty Harry stayed in the collection right through til 2020.
First ever logo
The very first O My Bag logo was designed by a friend of Paulien's, it featured Omybag as one word. Over the years the logo evolved to be more refined and elegant, like the one we currently have. Often we switch up during special occasions - as we have for our ten year anniversary.
First ever photoshoot
Now that we had a collection, it was time to show it to everyone else! The very first photoshoot was taken in Soesterduinen, a tropical looking area in the Netherlands that was perfect to showcase our first collection.
First ever fair
We were very excited to attend our very first fair at Modafabriek, in Amsterdam as part of Amsterdam Fashion Week.
First ever Instagram post
O My Bag goes social! We posted our first Instagram post in 2013, in the good old days when using the built-in instagram filters were all the rage.
First catwalk
O My Bag hit the runway at The Green Fashion Competition, a contest launched by Amsterdam International Fashion Week to highlight talented entrepreneurs who are trying to change the fashion industry.
First laptop sleeve collection
Two years after the start of O My Bag, our collection was ready to grow again! We added laptop sleeves and small leather accessories - the first step towards our business collection that would come the following year.
First collection with STC
STC began producing our very first business line, using sustainable leather, we were very excited because STC share the same values as us. They are a family business with around 500 employees, who all have access to healthcare and social benefits, such as retirement funds.
First international fair
In 2014, Paulien and her mom represented O My Bag at their first international fair in London and the Ethical Fashion Fair in Berlin.
First US retailer
O My Bag went stateside, Uncovet in LA was the first O My Bag retailer in America - at one point they were selling 100 Sleazy Janes a month!
First ever award
In 2015, we were awarded our first ever award. O My Bag was crowned the winner of the Sustainable Leather Awards! It felt amazing for all our hard work to be acknowledged.
First time at SEEK
After years of applying, we were invited to SEEK fair in Frankfurt, this was THE fair to be in Europe for upcoming brands. All the most innovative and young brands we there. It had this cool, young, urban vibe, and here we were with O My Bag! We loved it and we've been going ever since!
First ever store
Things really started to feel official, as we opened our first store in The Hague. And naturally, we had to kick things off with an opening party!
First large celebration
And we couldn't stop the party there! It was our 5th birthday, and we threw a party to celebrate and thank all of our hard working staff, and loyal customers.
First flagship store
A year after our first store's opening, it was time for O My Bag to grow again! This year saw us opening our first Flagship store and Headquarters of the company in Amsterdam - a store that is still up and running nowadays!
First Annual donation to Brickfields
Started in 2007, The Brickfield School Project aim to give access to education to the children of brickfields workers. In 2017, we were able to visit the project and start a partnership with them. We donated 3000 backpacks to children that attend the school, providing them with a place to safely keep their school materials. We're really happy to be able to give back to communities in such ways, and you'll see that this is just the start!
First Pre-Loved bag sold
Following our values of creating timeless designs that will last, we decided to shine a light on those beautifully aged bags by creating our Pre-Loved Program. Still running today, our Pre-Loved Program gives an opportunity to our customers to switch up their bags in a sustainable manner, and ensures that all of those vintage O My Bags get new homes!
First big magazine feature
We were featured in Forbes! In an article retracing the beginnings of O My Bag, from the first struggles to the first wins, Paulien talked about what starting the company meant to her, as well as the goals we had in mind back then - coincidentally reaching the Japanese market was mentioned, something we managed to achieve later in the year!
First trip to Japan
Another milestone for O My Bag as our sales manager Loes headed over to Japan! Throughout her stay, she was able to explore many places, experience the Japanese culture as well as visit Quorinest, our first Japanese Retailer where O My Bag would be available at, later that year.
First Sustainability Manager
In 2019, we welcomed Leonie to the team! Our first Sustainability Manager, and within the first few months she was off to India alongside Jessica and Paulien to meet our producers and partnered factories. Exciting, right?
First International photoshoot
For the first time, our campaign photoshoot took place abroad (offsetting our carbon emissions, of course). Shot by our photographer Mark Manzi in Morocco, this felt like the perfect place to bring the summer vibes to our Spring Summer campaign images and get everyone ready for some sun!
First annual sustainability report published
Transparency is a pretty important value at O My Bag, and this is why we were proud to be able to share our First Sustainability report with our customers and retailers! By releasing such a report we hoped to give more insights into our impact as a company, the ways in which we hope to grow further and finally reflect on our business practices from the past year.
First green friday
Black Friday turned Green at O My Bag! For a full weekend, all sales revenue contributed to our Green Friday Fund. Our original goal was to raise €15K for The Brickfields School project to fund three schools. We ended up donating €19K, needless to say, this first Green Friday Fund was a success!
First Vegan Uppeal™ collection
It took us some years of research to get there, but we did it! Our first vegan products are ready to launch right on time for our Fall Winter 21 Collection. Made of residual apple waste, soft to the touch and as beautiful as ever, our new Vegan Uppeal™ collection is built to last.
Second store opening in Amsterdam
As you've seen, O My Bag has been on quite the journey, and it's far from over! To celebrate this decade, we're opening a new store in the 9 Streets. We can't wait to see you there.
Love,
Team OMB
