California Apparel News

Shadi Askari and Su-Lyn Tay are practical designers who keep their passion for high fashion in check.

In recent months, their hand-crafted collection of earth-tone embossed leather handbags and bohemian-chic wrap dresses called t-bags has been featured in just about every hip fashion publication on the newsstands. But, you won’t find an ounce of fashion diva in the designers. Instead, they prefer to remain humble about their profession.

“We see ourselves as customers more than designers. So, we really try to match our own expectations,” Tay explained.

Askari added, “We take it for what it is and we’re happy because it wasn’t a goal for us in the beginning—everything just kind of fell into place.”

Askari, a Boston University graduate who bowed out of law school at the University of Southern California to study fashion product development, said her partnership with Tay, who attended Nottingham University in the United Kingdom before earning a certificate in merchandising, began as a common interest in building a contemporary accessories business but developed into friendship. After completing a year of fashion education at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in downtown Los Angeles, Askari and Tay decided to collaborate on t-bags.

The designers launched their business by creating a small collection of leather handbags with topstitching and calico prints, which are handmade in Thailand. Askari and Tay said they knew what they had in mind long before they took a trip to Thailand to look for sourcing. Then the duo came across a small jewel of a boutique that sold handmade accessories...and the rest is history.

Now the designers are selling their wares to specialty boutiques, with wholesale prices ranging from $52 to $108 for tooled-leather handbags and $68 to $138 for suede fringe bags. Several Southern California stores, including Emma Gold, Dimani and Madison in Los Angeles and Erica Dee in Corona del Mar, carry the collection. Also on the duo’s resume is a unique collection of hand-woven rattan bags with horn handles and resin stones that they designed exclusively for Bergdorf Goodman.

Creative but also business-minded, the duo try not to take their common love of all things fashion-related for granted.

“The most fortunate thing about designing the line is that we both share the same vision of what we want for the company in terms of concept, direction and the idea of how we want to achieve all of this,” explained Tay. “We definitely [have a] love for fashion, but we also realize that that is not good enough to make the business work.”

Much of the designers’ time is spent thinking about new and fashionable items they can add to their collection. Last fall, they launched a contemporary collection that combines ethnic nostalgia with eclectic tastes—brightly colored sundresses with spaghetti straps, gauze tunics and cotton skirts with ruffles and embroidery.

This time around, they said the collection will make a departure from Moroccan-inspired gauze blouses and simple cotton sundresses. “We are using a conventional Fall heavyweight fabric and offering our customer an alternative way of wearing it,” said Tay.

One outfit Tay recommends from the collection is a deconstructed tweed skirt paired with a pin-striped blouse with ruffle-trimmed Mandarin collar. “It’s for the more adventurous customer,” she said. Or, for the more conventional customer, Tay suggests combining a pair of white pin-striped culottes with a basic “Fresco” shirt, made with a cotton/spandex blend.

The collection also includes brightly colored polyester/spandex pin-striped pants with contrasting saddle stitching and a stretch-poplin “pin skirt.”

Most retailers who carry the line say t-bags is retail-friendly because of the designers’ unique perspective on current trends.

“They’re on top of all of the key trends, and the line is really cute and fashionable,” said Erica Dee owner Erica Burge, who recently sold out of her t-bag items at a fashion show that featured the line.

Delivery dates for fall are from July 30 to Aug. 30. Wholesale price points range from $55 to $66 for shirts and $65 to $75 for bottoms. T-bags’ handbag collection is at the Fragments showroom in downtown Los Angeles. T-bags’ contemporary collection is at Kathy Walker Salesin suite 405 of the New Mart and Supplements in New York’s fashion district. For more information, call (323) 623-8870 or (212) 290-0091 or (213) 489-3055.