Radley bags have taken the UK marketplace by storm. Although only on the fashion scene since 1998 the designer bag maker has quickly attained "must have" status
Ironically, the makers of Radley bags shirk away from their image as a fashion brand even going as far as saying they do not want their bags to be "it" items and they create their bags out of a desire to be original.
The founder of the Radley bag is Ms. Lowell Harder who started selling bags on Camden Market, London. She started off designing her own bags and then getting them manufactured in Asia.
Her quirky designs quickly caught the attention of some major retail chains and she was soon approached by the John Lews retail chain.
However, without any financial backing, Ms Lowell Harder knew she didn't have a financially viable way of producing large quantities and so agreed for her company to be taken over by Tula.
With Tula now subsidising the operation, Ms Lowell Harder was free to focus on her creative designs.
The first Radley bags did not go down to well with her first retail customers as the men in suits considered the designs too colourful. Despite pressure to change her style, Ms Lowell Harder refused to compromise her creative principles and even went as far as indulging her own love of dogs by including images of her favourite dog, the scottie, onto her bags. The public adored the designs and the scottie dog quickly became the recognisable logo of Radley.
Radley bags are now carried by celebrities such as Myleene Klass, Natasha Bedingfield and Cameron Diaz.
