Telfar to Launch Real Leather Bags

Telfar is moving upmarket.

Next month, the 20-year-old independent brand will introduce a line of totes called The Carry. Made from full-grain pebble leather, it marks Telfar’s first line of bags not made from its signature vegan leather.

The line will be priced from £470 ($523) for a small tote to £1,145 for a large, more than four times higher than Telfar’s vegan leather shopping totes, which run from $150 to $257.

To debut The Carry bags, Telfar is opening a pop-up boutique inside Selfridges from Sept. 30 to Nov. 2. The concept shop marks Telfar’s latest attempt at a physical store. In 2022, the company opened a pop-up in New York and announced a permanent store in the city the same year, but one has yet to materialise.

The brand will also launch a capsule collection of leather apparel, including maxi skirts and a full-length trench coat, made in partnership with clothing and accessories maker Wilson Leathers.

In the past decade, Telfar has grown into a venerable competitor in the accessible luxury handbag market. Its vegan leather totes, sold directly to consumers on the company’s website, have become status symbols among Gen-Z shoppers, earning it the nickname of the “Bushwick Birkin.” Telfar Clemens, the brand’s namesake designer, won the CFDA accessories designer of the year award in 2021.

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Editor's Note: The article was revised on 30 September. The story has been updated to accurately reflect the prices of Telfar's Carry bags.