Lauren Cecchi tackles the tough handbag market

The handbag market is extremely competitive. However, there is a new designer who is managing to differentiate herself from the crowd: Lauren Cecchi.

Cecchi launched her line in spring 2014, and put her life into the brand, literally. She sold her stocks and her car, then she found a factory in NYC that specialized in leather goods. Since she had a leather connection, she knew that she would end up doing either shoes or handbags, and in the end, she decided on handbags.

She was no stranger to the fashion world though. Before she took the plunge and launched her handbag line, she had experience as a buyer, event planner, and stylist. She has been a visual stylist at Bloomingdale's and a fashion planner and Badgley Mishchka. She also held a stint as a buyer for fifteen department stores at one point in her career.

Given her background in luxury and high-end goods, it's easy to imagine that Cecchi's bags aren't exactly running with small price tags. While she does have small accessories like tassel keychains for 25 dollars, and her standard leather bags can ballpark around 500 dollars, her most luxurious items, like her crocodile and deer skin bag with a mink pom pom key chain, retail at 16,000 dollars.

Designer Lauren Cecchi is shaking up the handbag market with her unique and rare offerings

With Cecchi, you're really getting your money's worth though. For starters, she makes everything in New York City. It's part of the soul of her business. In addition, she also makes sure she takes the time to personally build a rapport with each and every client.

"Clients like shopping with me because I actually get to know them," Cecchi says.

Trunk shows are the "bread and butter" of her business. It allows her to find out about her customers and their lifestyles, and really get them the kind of bag offering that will be best for them, whether it be a functional day-to-day handbag or a stylish backpack.

She keeps the wholesale small as well. This year she was in 10 boutiques across the country. To focus on hopefully eventually getting some international presence for her bags, she has also done the Capsule Paris trade show.

E-commerce is a huge part of her business, and while she did not provide exact sales figures, Cecchi says "I make more money selling online than I do in-store."

To date, Cecchi has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Vogue.com, Self, and Pop Sugar. Her bags also made a cameo appearance in a Vogue video featuring Miranda Kerr's closet.

Despite coming from a traditional fashion background, Cecchi doesn't take the traditional seasonal approach to showing her line a season ahead. She's all about see-now-buy-now.

She's a designer who knows how to handle business, and is quite impressive to watch.

photo's courtesy of designer Lauren Cecchi