bellroy
fallshaw says bellroy also tailored its japanese web content to appeal to a local audience .
i tried two different styles of bellroy carry products: the elements phone pocket and the travel wallet .
bellroy' s nude approach results in wallets made of almost nothing but vegetable - tanned leather and thread .
your favorite bellroy wallets have been given a fun new color mash - up. shop the range here: |
bellroy was co - founded in 2009 by andrew fallshaw, a serial entrepreneur out of the fallshaw wheels & castors founding family .
like blundstone, bellroy has enjoyed international success. according to the business' s co - founder, andy fallshaw, it sells into at least 130 countries each month. bellroy has found a strong market in italy, the spiritual home of leather accessory making .
bellroy is a melbourne - based business that was founded in 2010 with the core objective of slimming down and simplifying the male wallet .
“we never stop trying to get every detail better. if a customer has put enough faith in us to buy a bellroy product, we feel a genuine sense of responsibility to give them a great experience. ” - bellroy co - founder and ceo andy fallshaw... .
the first thing i wanted to do was test of course, whether bellroy products actually do slim down what you carry as much as they claim .
the latter are required in part for carryology, a “carry culture
online community that fallshaw says “would never have been created if accountants were running bellroy
.
to solve this problem, the team from bellroy has set on a mission to slim down the way you carry your everyday essentials, by making it functional yet elegant .
a feature stitch on some bellroy wallets recently failed, but fallshaw says as long as a genuine “no questions asked
replacement policy is in place, customers will be forgiving .
fallshaw won’t reveal bellroy revenue, but with 50 employees, he claims headcount is running at “about half to one - third of what a company our size should be
.
bellroy puts its heart, soul and countless design hours into helping the world carry with greater simplicity and ease. every piece has been deeply considered to help you get the best of life’s little moments .
it was a big year at bellroy. we might be wiping the sweat from our brow, but we can' t wipe the smiles from our faces. here are some highlights. enjoy! urltoken
one of investling’s businesses is bellroy, a wallet designer, although for its first 12 months, bellroy was all about bags. “we developed branding, an approach, we were most of the way through the product when as a group the senior crew all of a sudden realised that the wallet market was much more open to innovation ,
he said. “it would be easier to... get noticed .
bellroy’s founders travelled to the world’s leatherworking hub in south - east india, working with suppliers to adapt machinery so that it could shape and control leather for wallets in a way that eliminated the need for extra supportive materials .
nevertheless, fallshaw says he is struggling to find enough “world - class people
to join bellroy – whose second office is near victoria’s bells beach – with software engineers, product designers and digital / graphic designers in particular demand .
ten years is a long time. being part of a fast - growing startup, you learn to plan well but have flexible plans. i hope to continue to learn and be part of the incredible adventure that is bellroy and carryology .
the family of engineers behind bellroy has adapted a manufacturing philosophy originally used on wheels and castors to produce a wallet that’s shrunk with the times, is now sold in 120 countries and has the start - up seeking more engineers to support its sales growth .
andrew fallshaw, co - founder of bellroy, says: ‘we deliberately make lots of mistakes. about a 50 per cent failure rate is the fastest way to find information, so if we fail constantly in small cheap ways, our successes should be bigger. ’
for us, and all those who’ve held one, we think you’ll notice the smile. this wallet just feels great in your hand. the leather, the details, there’s an elegance to it that we’re incredibly proud of, “ said bellroy’s design team .
you can get weighed down by baggage, bulk, stuff. it can slow you down and narrow your view. but it doesn' t need to be that way. bellroy products are designed to make your life easier, smarter and more seamless. see how ...
close friends, andrew fallshaw and hadrien monloup founded the company in melbourne australia. with offices in bells beach and fitzroy, the brand bellroy was born. the brand now sells in over 500 retailers in over 100 countries. since first starting, the offering has expanded from 5 to 11 styles .
what i like about bellroy is their purpose driven approach to product design. the purpose to make wallets that are slim, yet functional enough to carry everything you need, while making you look and feel good. it may sound common, but many brands have lost the artisanal trait of designing with the consumer in mind .
bellroy has three categories of wallets: everyday, travel and elements. as the names suggest, ‘everyday’ products are designed to be carried day to day as you normally carry a wallet; ‘travel’ products are for the times you are travelling by land, sea or air and ‘elements’ are for those times when you may encounter rain or even snow .
in the early 2000s, as slim tailoring became popular, bulky wallets couldn’t hide anymore. so, a team of designers and creatives (who also happened to be friends) sat around a kitchen table in bells beach, australia, to design a slim wallet with fewer layers of leather and better card positioning. the release of this product in 2010 signaled the birth of bellroy; we’ve come a fair way since then…
we have built a great, fast - growing wallet brand and business. now we are working really hard on the bellroy of tomorrow. and that will include some very interesting products. one example is that we' re expanding our outdoor offerings, which we call our elements range. we found that the thing most people want to protect is their phone. so our elements phone pocket is getting sized up to accommodate phones of similar sizes to the iphone 6 and 6 plus .
its history dates back in the early 2000s, when a team of friends (who just so happened to be designers and creatives) came together to design a slim wallet to suit the slim tailoring trend - one with fewer layers of leather and better card positioning. the release of this product in 2010 signaled the birth of bellroy. now, seven years later, their range has moved beyond pockets and includes pieces for your tech, work and more – right down to your keys .
when you are part of a fast - growing business, a week is like a year in a normal job. we operate bellroy using an agile approach, which means if we need to change something, we change it quickly and effectively. sometimes this gets hard, and it' s often uncomfortable as you search for the best way, rather than the easiest way. i' ve learned during these times to stay focused, stay flexible and remember that everything is a draft. don' t aim for perfection, but get the product out there sooner, so we can have the most up - to - date feedback from the market .
our mission is: promote better ways to carry. use business as a force for good. help the world, and our crew, flourish .
but that' s easier to think of through our mantra, which is better ways. if there is a better way to do something, then we should do it. we are relentlessly hunting for better ways to create better products and pretty much everything around it .
i originally wanted to be a graphic designer, but i was convinced that it was a saturated market in the' 90s. so i went completely the other direction and studied medical biology for a couple of years. one day, my curiosity pushed me to go and visit a new design school that had opened around the corner from where i was living at the time. i came out of it so inspired that i couldn' t stop talking about it to friends and family. i went again and again to look at the projects displayed on the walls. i became obsessed with the idea that this is what i wanted to do .
my first design job was as a junior designer in a small design agency in paris, designing perfume bottles. but my first full - time job was at rip curl europe, designing watches and bags .
in bags, it' s dana gleason. i' ve been following dana' s work beginning with dana design packs all the way until his current work at mystery ranch. his approach to pattern - making and material is very interesting and innovative. the tri - zip opening, for example—what a great idea !
cote & ciel is another of my favorite bag brands in urban / office styling. their pattern - making approach and styling is impressive. also, arc' teryx for outdoor packs .
we have an open - plan office space, right by bells beach. we also have an office in fitzroy, a vibrant inner - city suburb in melbourne. so we have the best of both worlds, really! our spaces are primarily designed to generate ideas and interaction between people, so there' s generally a nice hum .
pen and paper, a good coffee, music... and my cintiq 15 - inch hd .
having the chance to create purposeful work. being part of a brand i love and am proud to share. being part of a culture that is impacting our customers, our staff and our suppliers. it is an ecosystem of collaboration and sharing, and we are building it each day. it' s more than our products; it is our way of thinking about products and brand .
procrastination is a sign of fatigue or boredom for me. so i try to give my mind some space. if i feel i am drifting to la - la land, i try to at least get something out of it. so i use pinterest and various blogs like 99u or seth godin' s blog for new ways to think, get inspired and stimulate my mind. i don' t think it' s good to try to work at full capacity all the time. i' d like to think that to do good work you need to have some fun, too .
define what matters or what will have the biggest impact for your project and just do that. the rest will come after. it is actually harder than it sounds. you need a great feedback loop, and you need to be sure that you don' t try to resolve everything yourself and don' t take anything personally .
a deep desire to make something better, rather than making something original or perfect. the best designers do this by focusing more on the job to be done, rather than on proving that they are a good designer. and they learn that there is a difference between a naïve
simple
and a highly resolved
simple .
the later one is much harder to achieve .
for me, i get uncomfortable when the image of the star designer is overcoming the actual work. most great design in this world has been made possible by a group, not by a single person. that is why a brand is so interesting. it represents a group of talented, hard - working, problem - solving people. and that is what creates a desire to participate, to be part of a community. we should remember that designers are part of a bigger picture—a very important part, but not the only one .
the elements travel wallet has a passport slot and includes a micro travel pen .
i don' t have a very possessive personality. but i have my dad' s design work from his career as an opera set designer. this not only has sentimental value, but i have to say that the care, the details and the love that flows through his work is so inspiring. it reminds me how important it is to care about making great products in our constant over - producing world. we must care .
there is a shift in products that are connecting work and play. before, there was a very strong distinction between urban, fashion and outdoor products. now we shift from activities faster and we need products that can adapt easily. we are more than what we do at work; we are not just climbers or cyclists. we can be all of these and more. so how can one thing reflect our active life, without feeling like it is out of place in the other world? products that improve our user experience between work and play are very interesting to me .
i love soft - goods design. so i' d love at the right time to go back and design bags again. there is so much to be done. even though we can see interesting bags like cote & ciel' s isar, a massive part of the bag market is still very much a variation of the same theme. i' d like to work on the smartphone of bags, i guess. originally, phones were used just make calls; now there' s an app for pretty much anything. i just wonder what a bag that can do that looks like ?
anyone with low ego and those that have big dreams and have found ways to realize them. they tend look at the world differently. the title or trade is not as important. hard - thinking, life - loving, achiever - type people are my kind of people .
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mason currey is a former core77 editor and the author of daily rituals: how artists work. previously, he was the executive editor of print and the managing editor of metropolis. his freelance writing has appeared in the new york times and slate, among other publications. he lives in los angeles .
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“we’ve reinvented the wheel ,
declares that company’s slogan, and fallshaw claims he and co - founder hadrien monloup have their product, with wallets that eliminate the woven plastic and cardboard reinforcements that bulk up most traditional designs .
the pair had worked together at the equipment division of rip curl, and noticed that leather crafting techniques used in footwear and bags had not been applied to wallets before .
“the wallet was the most broken of all carried items, so that’s where we started ,
fallshaw says .
“wallets were expanding into early last decade with the boom in shopper loyalty cards, now that’s all moving on to smartphones. unfortunately leather only stretches, it doesn’t go the other way. guys are walking around with big lumps in their pockets and there’s no need for it .
adhering to the lean manufacturing principles employed at fallshaw’s western sydney wheel and castor factory, fallshaw says all of the products get a minor update every month or two, often on a binary - tested basis .
“we deliberately make lots of mistakes. about a 50 per cent failure rate is the fastest way to find information, so if we fail constantly in small cheap ways, our successes should be bigger .
the reason for this is extensive outsourcing, with two third - party logistics firms handling all order fulfilment .
the site advances fallshaw’s theory that greater mobility leads to more travel, and more travel leads to greater harmony between nations .
i cover tech and startups that work between the u. s. and china
over time our wallets can really start to bulge, to the point it becomes unattractive, dysfunctional and even a little embarrassing. credit cards, loyalty cards, travel cards, cash, and coins, receipts all tend to get shoved in. when a wallet is not designed to withstand the pressure, it will lose its shape and style .
all the products are made from leather and come in a range of earthy and natural toned colors. the case designs are indeed elegant and sophisticated and are suitable for men who like to be both practical and stylish .
the designs are rigorously tested and made to a standard, which they guarantee for up to three years. it’s uncommon for a wallet brand to offer that kind of warranty .
i tried the elements phone pocket for a couple of weeks for everyday use. it carried my phone, cards and cash. i found that although it was convenient to carry everything in one, the need to constantly unzip the travel case made it a little inconvenient. especially when i needed to take out a public transport card, it actually slowed me down .
i believe that, if the case was being used in harsh weather conditions or simply when cycling or at the beach, it would do exactly what i needed as a water resistant case. it would offer security, safety and compactness. another thing to adore about the wallet is the smell of the leather. sometimes i just lifted it up to my nose for a whiff .
the passport travel case is beautifully designed. it holds everything you need when going through an airport and even when you arrive at your destination and want to keep your passport on you. i especially like the small pen that is included to fill in all those forms and the extra spaces for hidden cards and a sim card .
the new carry out is the latest release in their everyday range. it can zip up your life into a single wallet, fitting almost all global currencies and passports. the style can also fit most smartphones – including the iphone 6 + and size equivalents like the galaxy note. the removable sleeve inside doubles as a fully functional wallet, when you want to head out with just the essentials on hand .
strong international sales is the dream for many brands. but it can be a marketing headache if the brand means different things in different places .
blundstone ceo steve gunn has faced this problem over the past three years as the company' s international sales have trebled .
while the boot maker has experienced significant sales growth in scandinavia, canada, italy, germany, israel, britain and the us – while also opening up new markets in eastern europe, china, chile and mongolia – its positioning in these markets is very different .
like australia, in canada blundstone is considered to be a work wear brand. but throughout western europe and the us the brand has struck a chord with a young, creative, urban crowd .
in europe blundstones are a quite a colourful affair with boots featuring bright reds, blues, yellows and greens. in italy the company' s newest boot the scrambler 800 – a collaboration with world - renowned motorcycle brand ducati – was unveiled at pitti uomo, a major men' s fashion show in florence, italy .
in the us, the original blundstone boot is available at fashionable retailers like steve alan and j crew. this year the brand was the official sponsor of the sundance film festival in salt lake city .
the main change to the blundstone brand happened in 2010, when the company decided to take steps to make sure there were fewer restrictions around its international and domestic marketing .
gunn says that in germany, australiana was used to market the company. he wanted to move away from that because it limited the brand .
we see ourselves as being an international brand that just happens to be headquartered and designed in tasmania, and we' re now using tasmania more in our messaging both here as well as overseas, rather than [ a more generic image of ] australia, because it softens the brand ,
he says .
as a result of blundstone' s move to consolidate and urbanise the brand' s positioning it has started selling some of its more urban style boots in australia. this means the days of' blunnies' simply being a pair of hard - wearing work boots might be numbered .
while blundstone has succeeded in marketing its products to far - flung corners of the globe, the time frames in which it developed new markets are in stark contrast to another, much younger, australian company that found itself reaching offshore on only its second day in business .
while the business has benefited from an online sales strategy from day one, like blundstone it has allowed plenty of room for its products to develop organically in different markets .
in the us and australia and many other countries, you say just don' t put coins in a wallet and everyone says,' yeah ok, that' s cool,'
fallshaw says .
whereas in japan they don' t accept this as their coins have a greater value, and because there' s less acceptance of credit cards many of their transactions involve coins .
and so when we launched our wallets [ in japan ] there was only one wallet that took coins and then we had to find subtle ways to give functionality to wallets before the japanese would really start to buy them .
while the' placeless - ness' of cyberspace can often give marketers the impression that going online is the elixir to dealing with regional and cultural differences, peter guenther, a lecturer in marketing at melbourne' s rmit university, said this was a flawed approach. people in different countries will often value different things about a product .
even if it appears there is not much difference between markets, businesses should always test and take an analytic approach ,
he says .
if you want to do it right, you' ll probably end up with very different versions of your website and very different versions of your selling proposition .
food for thought for the many businesses presently building their business internationally with e - commerce strategies .
local start - up entrepreneurs will argue that australian businesses need to talk about, accept and encourage failure if they are to prosper, at an event as part of sydney’s vivid ideas festival this week .
“the most important thing we’ve learnt is the principle of fast failure ,
the co - founder of online job marketplace for creative professionals the loop, pip jamieson, said .
ms jamieson, with her co - founder matt fayle, will tell the audience of failcon about “the highs and lows
of starting their business. an early “rookie mistake
included structuring the business as a trust, instead of an incorporated entity. when the two took on equity investors, they had to go through a “painful restructure
, which cost in the “tens of thousands
.
the loop has embraced the idea of “fast failure
when adding new features to the website. “in the early days, for the features that we’d come up with, we’d spend a couple of months building them and then launch them ,
she said. “some were hugely successful and some our users didn’t use at all. now we launch very basic versions and if anyone is bothered to use them, then we build them out. it’s about learning as we go .
an early website feature the pair thought was “a genius idea
allowed users of the loop to showcase their 10 favourite creatives on the website. “it never got used ,
she said .
andy fallshaw is similarly a fan of the “fail small and often rather than big and infrequently
model. the co - founder of start - up investment group investling said he tries to foster a “culture of experimentation
and revealed he does not pay his staff bonuses. “by taking out performance and kpis [ key performance indicators ], it leaves managers freer to try things ,
he said .
the new direction “feels like it’s working
and might not have been taken if the company was uptight about failure, mr fallshaw said .
in addition to embracing failure within business, mr fallshaw wants to widen the debate. “most businesses fail ,
he said. “people just don’t understand that because they continue to hear the success stories .
mr fallshaw said if there was more discussion of failure, aspiring entrepreneurs might hold back or refine their ideas before launching to the market. “through a series of our businesses, we’ve pulled back to [ identify ] what sort of ingredient is needed for us to increase our [ levels of success ] ,
he said. “i want to talk more openly about it [ failure ]. [ entrepreneurs should ] fail in smaller ways rather than putting your whole life savings into something that goes wrong. that sort of failure is really brutal .
mick liubinskas has given himself the role to capture “all of the energy [ from failcon ] and turn it into something ongoing ,
he said .
“i’m trying to put action points down and ask ‘what happens tomorrow? ’ that’s really important to me that we don’t just talk about it .
the co - founder of technology incubator pollenizer, with phil morle, mr liubinskas said failure was beginning to be embraced by the local start - up community, but needed wider recognition. “it’s about challenging the core culture of australia. it’s easy to do it when you are with your peers, but it’s harder to do it with the government and the media .
failure was not encouraged in australia, as it was in silicon valley, he said. “a lot of it comes from the sense that ‘life in australia is pretty good so why be ambitious? why try and take the risk of possibly failing? ’
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we recognized pretty early on that we could use business as a force for good. so, as a certified b corp, we constantly pursue better ways to source our leathers, reduce our impact on the environment and make sure our products last as long as possible .
our range has moved beyond pockets and includes pieces for your tech, work and more – right down to your keys. because as long as there are things to carry, we want to find better ways to carry them .
we' re at home in both bells beach and fitzroy. bells is surrounded by world - class surf and marks the beginning of the great ocean road. fitzroy is melbourne' s creative hub, overflowing with incredible art, brands and bars. we love moving between these different worlds - the city and the sea, our inspiration and nature .
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considered carry goods for the best of life' s little moments. check out our new bag range here :
our latest brand campaign is the most ambitious and vibrant thing our creative team has ever created. today’s journal takes you inside that creative process. take a look here: |
in true pitti uomo spirit we’ve shown up with a fresh new look and our latest styles. we’re on the ground in florence right now. find us at stand 13 of i play, padiglione cavaniglia. @ pitti _ immagine urltoken
we’ve ‘popped up’ in san diego’s moniker general, and our range has never looked as good as it does in the bright socal sun. come and say hi. moniker general, north end of liberty station, before june 15th. urltoken
our made for google collection is expanding to include our best selling phone case! your pixel 2 and 2 xl can now live harmoniously with your most - used cards in the phone case 3 card. find out more here: |
striding into the office, at a meeting, traveling business class. these are the moments to put your most professional self forward. your most composed self. the laptop brief is the bag to help you be just that: |
we can learn a lot about someone from the material objects they rely on. for locksmith aaron smith, his tools hold a history (and some secrets) like few others. read the full story on our journal: |
when you ask someone if they own a tote, they probably cast their mind to the cotton canvas thing they got free and full of leaflets at an event. but the tote is more than capable of holding its own. the tokyo tote is here: |
we’ve all been there. one minute you' re innocently deciding to reach for your pen, charger, earbuds or shopping list. next minute, you' re swimming around the depths of your bag without a life vest. our pouches will save you from that nasty looking tangle :
to celebrate the best in short films shot on phones (that’s right – phones !) – including $ 15k in amazing prizes to you, our favorite film buffs. watch, vote and win here: |
new colors are coming soon! see them first. (right now .)... our bags are being released in full color. hit the link to sign up for an exclusive preview: |
there are certain items that you carry to make your day easier. our pouches are here to help you gather your daily essentials, organize them and keep them right where you need them. because they’re too important to be anywhere else. find out more here: |
love bringing creativity and mobility together as much as we do. so when they invited us to be part of their 2018 film festival we couldn’t wait to jump onboard. there' s plenty of opportunity for you to get involved too: |
podcast. our head of staff flourishing, charlie simson, joined host mike davis to talk workplace wellness, motivation, failure, peak performance, and a whole lot in between. …
all dressed up and ready for @ pittiuomo in florence. how do we look? we’d love for you to drop in and say ciao. # pittiuomo urltoken
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bellroy is a company that designs thin wallets ; it was founded in 2010 in melbourne , australia by designers hadrien monloup and andrew fallshaw , after receiving funding from fallshaw 's startup investment group investling . the name " bellroy " derives from the towns of bells beach and fitzroy , where the company was started . as of august 2016 , bellroy had about 70 plus employees . and sold eleven styles of wallets at retailers in 120 countries . bellroy wallets typically feature 3 types of leather : naked leathers for character , dressed leathers for a lasting finish and all-weather leathers for tough conditions . 
bellroy is a company that designs thin wallets; it was founded in 2010 in melbourne, australia by designers hadrien monloup and andrew fallshaw, after receiving funding from fallshaw's startup investment group investling. the name " bellroy " derives from the towns of bells beach and fitzroy, where the company was started. as of august 2016, bellroy had about 70 plus employees. and sold eleven styles of wallets at retailers in 120 countries. bellroy wallets typically feature 3 types of leather: naked leathers for character, dressed leathers for a lasting finish and all-weather leathers for tough conditions.
bellroy is a company that designs thin wallets; it was founded in 2010 in melbourne, australia by designers hadrien monloup and andrew fallshaw, after receiving funding from fallshaw's startup investment group investling. the name " bellroy " derives from the towns of bells beach and fitzroy, where the company was started. as of august 2016, bellroy had about 70 plus employees. and sold eleven styles of wallets at retailers in 120 countries. bellroy wallets typically feature 3 types of leather: naked leathers for character, dressed leathers for a lasting finish and all-weather leathers for tough conditions.