the most popular handbag in the world?
Unless you're an avid follower of fashion, you probably haven't heard of Mansur Gavriel.
Founded in 2012, the New York-based label is the namesake of Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel. The duo, who both have design degrees, met at a The XX concert in 2010 and quickly discovered they shared a dream to develop a brand from the ground up.
"Both Floriana and I felt we couldn't find a beautiful, classic bag below the designer price point range," Rachel told The Telegraph in 2013. Thus their range of beautifully simple and practical leather bags was born, starting with their signature bucket bag - a roomy drawstring-fastened tote with a bold-coloured lining (black outer, red inner is the flagship combo) and an understated embossed 'Mansur Gavriel' in gold, which retails at £395.
A star was born; the bag quickly sold out everywhere it was stocked, becoming something of a illusive cult item - an impressive feat for a product without a major fashion house attached to it.
That was almost two years ago and demand for the bucket bag hasn't waned. Lyst.com - an online fashion aggregator and e-tail platform with more than 11,000 partner retailers and designers - has revealed that since the start of 2015, 56,732 customers have tried to purchase the bag through Lyst.
The demand is so high that for every one Mansur Gavriel bucket bag that becomes available on the site, 288 people try to buy it. That makes it nearly 30 times more popular than any other bucket bag on offer from Lyst's partner retailers and designers.
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But what makes its appeal so strong? The price is certainly something to do with it. In a market where a similarly-sized bag by Gucci will cost you upwards of £1,500, £395 is practically a steal for something that provides a similarly hefty amount of sartorial clout.
"When designing the collection we decided to emphasise cost in the quality of leather and craftsmanship, and minimise cost in areas such as lining and hardware. We simplified in order to accentuate quality and keep the price point manageable," explained Rachel.
Owing to its success, the winning bag is now available in a mini version and a rainbow of colours, and also in canvas form - alongside the brand's other bag offerings, which include an also-popular tote and backpack (one writer tried to get her hands on the backpack earlier this month - it sold out within six minutes of being restocked on Mansur Gavriel's e-commerce site).
Of course, bigger brands have jumped on their coat tails, introducing their own similarly-styled bucket bags, but the thirst for the Mansur Gavriel design still appears insatiable. So if you want one, prepare for a fight.
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