Leather Luxe
Fairlady|May 2018

A beautifully crafted leather bag can last a lifetime, and South African leatherwork is world class. We spoke to two women in the bag biz who produce the ultimate in arm candy.

Shireen Fisher
Leather Luxe

Erin-Lee Petersen used to be a radio journo reading the traffic reports on GoodHope FM’s breakfast show.

Being a freelancer, she supplemented her income with a job as a part-time sales assistant at designer clothing store, Paul Smith.

‘I was there for three years, then moved to Apsley, where they sell shoes and handbags by luxury brands like Bottega Veneta, Céline and Christian Louboutin.’

Erin-Lee has always loved bags, and began to wonder why South Africa wasn’t producing the same high-quality, high-end products.

‘I tried to find manufacturers that could make the product I wanted and couldn’t,’ she says. So she decided to buy off-cuts from leather factories and try to make them herself.

This story is from the May 2018 edition of Fairlady.

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This story is from the May 2018 edition of Fairlady.

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