Travel Like An Editor: Exploring Newport With Brahmin
Last week, I escaped the hustle and bustle of New York City for a few days, and took and trip to Newport, Rhode Island with one of my favorite handbag lines. Brahmin, a line known for its attention to detail and beautiful construction was founded in 1982 when Joan and Bill Martin set out to make the perfect handbag. Today, the company is headquartered in Massachusetts where each bag is given the same attention to detail as it was when they were being handmade on a kitchen table so many years ago. I was lucky enough to get a behind the scenes look at what really goes into the construction of these beautiful bags, and I have to tell you, it was incredible.
There are so many steps that go into making one of their bags. Most you wouldn't even think of. But it is this sort of labor and love that sets Brahmin a part from its competition.
We were blessed with beautiful weather for our first day in Rhode Island, it felt more like fall than winter, but, I'm not complaining. Walking into the building it was easy to see that every employee loved their job and working for the Brahmin family. My favorite part of the tour was walking around the different parts of the factory and seeing the bags in various stages of production.
From paper to product- a sample of each bag is produced out of paper but with the exact metal hardware it would actually have. Since Brahmins factory is right in their headquarters they can actually take a bag from design to production in just one day. Instead of other brands whose factories are overseas, it can take them weeks to get feedback on a product or re-work a design, whereas Brahmin can get immediate feedback and immediate results!
During our factory tour, we were all allowed to select a fabric to be made into a bracelet. And in about one hours time, our fabrics were set into beautiful gold bangles- talk about fast turn around time!
And after our tour, we were given time to explore Newport. So I, of course, had to go twirl around under the prettiest red tree I could find. From there, we were treated to an incredible boat tour of Rhode Island and sailed past stunning mansions as well as the vacation home of Jackie O.
