purpose

The han­d­bags and acce­sso­ri­es are desig­ned and made in the ate­li­er in Bru­ges. Here, desig­ner Mar­li­es her­self makes all the desig­ns by hand. You can take a look behind the sce­nes at the brand your­self, as the ate­li­er and wor­k­shop area is loca­ted in the shop.

This way, we can be sure that every bag is made with love and atten­ti­on to deta­il, all ethi­cal and local!

pur­po­se. uses lef­to­ver leat­her for its col­lec­ti­ons, almost exclu­si­vely cowhi­de. The brand mainly uses trim­min­gs from other bran­ds but also dead­stock or hides that were rejec­ted due to minor defec­ts. pur­po­se, can buy sus­ta­ina­ble, high-quality mate­ri­als wit­ho­ut con­tri­bu­ting to the leat­her indus­try’s nega­ti­ve envi­ron­men­tal impact.

The use of resi­du­al and dead­stock mate­ri­als also means that pur­po­se. can­not find out which che­mi­cals were used in the leat­her’s pre­vi­ous pro­duc­ti­on pro­ce­sses. Never­t­he­less, the brand tri­es to take this into acco­unt by also buying vege­ta­ble-tan­ned hides that were rejec­ted due to colo­ur dif­fe­ren­ces or minor defects.

To mini­mi­se tran­s­port, all leat­her is sour­ced from Euro­pe­an pro­du­cers. Unfor­tu­na­tely, the­re is lit­tle tran­s­pa­ren­cy in the leat­her indus­try, so this is no guaran­tee that the ani­mals have lived in Europe. 

Want to know more abo­ut sus­ta­ina­ble leat­her and the issu­es in the leat­her indus­try? Then be sure to read our arti­cle on sus­ta­ina­ble leat­her!

The pur­po­se. col­lec­ti­on con­sis­ts enti­rely of recy­cled leat­her deri­ved from cuts and dead­stock. Pro­ce­ssing the­se mate­ri­als into han­d­bags, acce­sso­ri­es and inte­ri­or deco­ra­ti­on, pur­po­se. pre­vents this leat­her from ending up in lan­d­fil­ls. More­over, by doing so, the brand ensu­res that fewer new ani­mal skins are needed.

The Bru­ges-based brand also offers a reco­very ser­vi­ce to clo­se the cir­cle fur­t­her. If stit­c­hing comes loose or has any other defect, you can cer­ta­inly visit the ate­li­er for repa­ir or main­te­nan­ce. pur­po­se. also con­si­ders cir­cu­lar prin­ci­ples in the­ir desig­ns by often using no lining or zips. This makes the bags easi­er to repa­ir and makes the bags easi­er to recy­cle after use.

pur­po­se. has a short sup­ply cha­in beca­use the bags are han­d­ma­de in its Bru­ges ate­li­er. More­over, the brand buys its mate­ri­als from Euro­pe­an pro­du­cers to keep its sup­ply cha­in short.

pur­po­se. uses cow and pig leat­her, so it does not appe­ar to be an ani­mal-fri­end­ly brand at first glan­ce. Yet, the brand does well regar­ding ani­mal wel­fa­re by not using new hides. The brand exclu­si­vely uses recy­cled hides from cuts and dead­stock. pur­po­se. can use high-quality natu­ral mate­ri­als and avo­id ending up in a landfill.

pur­po­se. may have a fixed col­lec­ti­on of desig­ns, yet no two han­d­bags are iden­ti­cal. Each bag is made depen­ding on the mate­ri­al, so every bag is unique! 

More­over, the brand wor­ks lar­gely made to order. This means that the bag is made after you order it. This way, you can assem­ble the bag of your dre­ams, and the brand pre­vents over­stock. Of cour­se, pur­po­se. does have some bags in stock in its shop and webshop.

Would you like to work with leat­her your­self, or are you looking for a fun acti­vity to do with fri­en­ds, family or col­le­agu­es? You can join pur­po­se. for a fun wor­k­shop. The brand runs pri­va­te and gro­up wor­k­shops, ide­al as a bir­t­h­day gift or bac­he­lo­ret­te activity!

Sin­ce purpose.‘s stu­dio is loca­ted in the shop, you can easily take a behind-the-sce­nes look at the brand your­self. Top for tran­s­pa­ren­cy! The brand also sat down with COSH! to sha­re more infor­ma­ti­on abo­ut its mate­ri­als and pro­duc­ti­on techniques.

Unfor­tu­na­tely, the­re is still a huge lack of tran­s­pa­ren­cy in the leat­her indus­try. This is detri­men­tal for small bran­ds like pur­po­se., as it makes the exact ori­gin of the leat­her untraceable.