All about Matt and Nat

With our new season Matt and Nat now up for grabs, we thought you might like to know a bit more about this company who think about the planet first.

Matt & Nat Schlepp Shopper Bag | Cork

 

The idea behind the company was originally conceived in 1995 in Montreal, Canada. With Matt and Nat standing for MAT(T)erial and NATure their core values are love authenticity and responsibility. They are inspired by the textures and hues of nature; which they do their best to protect at the same time with a mandate to use eco/recycled/upcycled materials wherever they can. 

Matt & Nat Riley Bag | Cognac

Inspired by Eastern philosophies, creative director and founder Inder Bedi felt compelled early on to create a brand that is completely cruelty-free. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and with no formal fashion training, Bedi set about making bags with local craftsmen, learning early on about the importance of quality workmanship. Inspired by everyday life, architecture and graphics, Inder gradually developed the vision behind MATT & NAT. Following her philosophy of, creating beautiful things that have a positive impact the company still has a strong emphasis on environmental awareness 17 years later. The linings inside MATT & NAT products are always made out of 100% recycled plastic bottles. Introduced in 2011, the use of cork, a renewable resource, is used for the labels inside each bag and is another great sustainable feature of MATT & NAT designs.

Matt & Nat Motiv Small Purse | Tangerine Orange

Live beautifully is the mantra at the core of MATT & NAT. Living beautifully means appreciating beauty, humanity, creativity and positivity. We are proud to bring you this latest season and hope you love it as much as we do. 

All featured bags are available online here - http://bit.ly/YvS9FS

New Wanderlust range from Wild & Wolf

We're very excited to get in the new Wanderlust range from Wild & Wolf. A beautiful tropical design adorns satchels, make-up bags, passport covers, notebooks and more! The gold satchel is a current favourite, it's a perfect size and in a lovely vintage gold and flashes of exotic flamingoes and zebras line the inside. The umbrella is also top of our wishlist, it's guanateed to brighten any rainy day! Take a look at the whole range here!

Know your Paul Smith

We recently had a lovely visit from two Paul Smith accessories reps, Noel and Kim, for some training on the new season products and a really insightful look into how many of the Paul Smith pieces are made. We were led through the materials, the reasons behind the choices of colours, prints and fabrics and a sneaky peek at what to expect next season.

The first fascinating thing we learnt was that all of the prints across the men's bags are printed in the UK using a special sublimation process. This means the print is actually sucked into the fabric and won't ever come out or scratch off. So your bag may get a bit grubby but the print won't ever be affected! For this season Paul has started using a polyester mix (on the cycle components print) which I think really shows off the quality and details of the prints brilliantly. Another addition to the bags this season is the introduction of a cross-grained Saffiano leather on the straps. This leather is much more hard wearing and durable than previous choices and will ensure your bag will wear well, whatever you throw at it!

This season there is also a good number of items that are made in the UK, which we've noticed people are increasingly looking for. It's nice to know that a British designer is utilising our great traditions and workmanship. Some notable pieces are the women's cable knit snood, hat and mittens. This cute set was all knitted up in Scotland, with a beautiful mix of knit styles on the snood and hat, you just know this is going to be cosy! Just look for the 'Made in the British Isles' swing tags on pieces for items that are made right here. 

The knitwear, both men's and ladies, always have a nod to the signature stripes, usually in a more muted tone. But as a great example of how the accessories are linked to the main fashion lines - we were told that one of Paul's inspirations this season were jellyfish (???) and you can see some neon flashes throughout some of the knitwear. 

We were also told that the signature Paul Smith stripes and swirls are being pulled back a bit, you can already see that this season. Don't worry they aren't dropping the stripes, but want to be more selective with how they use their signature. This is evident in the women's handbags, looking at the collection the swirls are mainly confined to the edges and trims allowing just a hint of the swirling colours. Personally we think this is a nice move as it makes that hit of colour a bit more subtle and elegant. Check out this Globe bag for one!

Pro tip - If your covetable Paul Smith handbag should get dirty then a tiny bit of washing up liquid in warm water lightly applied should help lift out marks, also a spit polish will lift out subtle marks.

Something else to look out for this season are the special pieces with the 'Daydreaming with my Camera' swing tags. These pieces feature a photo print taken by Paul on his trips around London. So the beautiful hankies we have in store are all shot by Paul - we really like the close up Number 20 as this is the Paul Smith head office front door!

As for next season look out for dark prints and colours and the use of more upholstery style fabrics. We all cooed over some beautifully heavy striped fabric that was going to be used on bags and shown the next Mini on location prints...think spotlights...

Summer Sale Picks

Our Summer Sale is in full swing and we know many of you have been enjoying it! There are still some great deals to be had, here are a few of our favourite picks!

This summer seasons accessories collections from Paul Smith and Ally Capellino have given some great classic shapes and colours which will last you a life-time. The summer sale is a great way to buy investment pieces at a snip!

Storm in a Tea Cup

It's so exciting when we start to get new ranges in from some of our favourite suppliers. Here are the first few items from the new Disaster Designs ranges Sea Breeze and SongBird. As always they are adorned with beautiful prints and illustrations. Sea Breeze is a summery nautical themed illustration with pirate boats and compass's ahoy. Whilst SongBird mixes ecclectic love letters and vintage illustrations to create a cute feminine print. Can't wait to see what else we get in!!

beautiful sea breeze flask and compact mirror

loving the ecclectic songbird tote bag

Matt & Nat new season 2012

Beautiful new bags and purses from vegan company Matt & Nat are now instore and online. Fusing form and function together to create gorgeous women's accessories using completely recycled materials, these bags ooze style and leave your conscience clear!