{"id":7447,"date":"2019-04-11T01:02:13","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T17:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/young-alumni-stories-its-not-just-a-bag-its-a-buckle-seam\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T13:09:19","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:09:19","slug":"young-alumni-stories-its-not-just-a-bag-its-a-buckle-seam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/young-alumni-stories-its-not-just-a-bag-its-a-buckle-seam\/","title":{"rendered":"Young alumni stories: It\u2019s not just a bag, it\u2019s a Buckle & Seam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nothing says quality and sophistication like a leather bag. Unfortunately, premium leather often comes with a hefty price tag. Enter Buckle & Seam<\/a>, a direct-to-consumer start-up company that produces bespoke leather bags and accessories for prices that won\u2019t break the bank.<\/p>\n

But Buckle & Seam is about making a social impact as well as a style one. For every bag sold, Buckle & Seam donates three per cent of its revenue to a girl\u2019s school in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

The company is the brain child of Marco Feelisch, a Curtin international business<\/a> graduate and Berlin native. In 2016, he started creating designs for a leather briefcase with his then colleague, Georg Wolff, while living and working in Karachi, Pakistan.<\/p>\n

\"Founder
Founders of Buckle & Seam, Georg Wolff (L) and Marco Feelisch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI thought the style of business bags in the market were too boring or clumsy for my taste, but the leather bags were too expensive for someone like me, who was straight out of university,\u201d Feelisch says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo together with a local craftsman in Karachi, Georg and I designed and manufactured two bags for our own use. The epic response we received from friends and family motivated us to think about our bags as a business opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The duo must have known they were onto something, as that same year they quit their jobs and launched Buckle & Seam. Their start-up has since sold over 15,000 products and earned glowing reviews from GQ, Vogue, Forbes and Business Insider.<\/p>\n

\"Man
Customers can personalise their bag by choosing their own inner fabric lining and adding engraved initials.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Feelisch says the success of his company is down to the simple yet quality design of its products. Every bag is made from full grain cowhide and finished with a vegetable tanning process known as \u2018crazy horse\u2019. The result is a leather bag that is twice as thick and durable as conventional bags, and one that will adapt to the owner\u2019s individual habits.<\/p>\n

Products include briefcases, messenger bags, laptop cases, dopp bags, wallets and belts. Customers can personalise some products by choosing their own inner fabric lining and adding engraved initials.<\/p>\n

\u201cPracticality and clean lines are our formula for creating timeless classics meant to last and accompany its owner for years, regardless of trends,\u201d Feelisch says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take into careful consideration the usability of our design, making sure it\u2019s practical and can be easily used in daily life. From commuting to work or flying to your next holiday destination, the goal of our products is to add an element of ease to all that you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feelisch and Wolff own their own production factory in Karachi and employ local leather craftsman to create their pieces.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up
Buckle & Seam craftsmen are paid three times more than the market standards, receive bi-annual bonuses, and are all officially employed with working contract and social protection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe wanted to stay connected to the country we called home for about one and half years \u2013 that\u2019s why we decided to produce in Pakistan and have an impact there,\u201d Feelisch says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy opening up our own factory, it gave us the opportunity to introduce ethical work standards, train our workforce and develop high quality leather products for a lower price.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe savings we make by cutting out the middle man are directly transferred to our customers, as well as our workforce, who we pay up to three times the local average wage.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to its fair work practice, the start-up supports girl\u2019s access to education in Pakistan through its \u2018One Bag One Child<\/a>\u2019 project. The initiative fully funds Anum School in Karachi, including teachers\u2019 salaries and students\u2019 tuition.<\/p>\n

The project has been so successful that more girls want to attend Anum than can be accommodated, so Feelisch and Wolff are preparing to open their own school.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of us take our access to education for granted,\u201d Feelisch says. \u201cFor women in Pakistan it remains a big challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to get our own facility and keep spreading education to as many children as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Girls
The start-up is working to improve the curriculum of Anum School in Karachi, and aims to open a larger school to accommodate more students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Buckle & Seam represents a new generation of businesses that are incorporating social responsibility into their practice and products. The transformation is driven by a growing demand from consumers<\/a> for businesses to have a purpose beyond turning a profit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always lucky to be surrounded by value-driven people, both in my childhood and during my time at Curtin. It fostered in me the belief that anyone who starts an initiative, movement or business should aim to make a change in society.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, being an impact entrepreneur means giving back to the community and ultimately making the world a better place for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feelisch and Wolff were recognised for their social contributions by being named on Forbes\u2019 30 Under 30 Europe list 2019<\/a>, which celebrates young disrupters, visionaries and rising stars from across the region.<\/p>\n

Like any good start-up, Buckle & Seam won\u2019t be slowing down on the back of its Forbes success. Feelisch says the company has plans to expand its product line and will continue to learn from business challenges, while aiming to be the number one brand for personalised leather goods in Europe.<\/p>\n

Judging from the company\u2019s trajectory, this goal seems in the bag.<\/p>\n

\n

This story is part of Curtin\u2019s Young Alumni Stories<\/a> series where we celebrate the achievements of Curtin graduates 35 and under. Learn more about the Young Alumni Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Turn your degree into a real career. Discover Curtin Commerce and study online in semester two.<\/strong>
\nLearn more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International business graduate Marco Feelisch is making a social impact as well as a style one with his start-up leather goods company, Buckle & Seam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4182,"featured_media":7450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-7447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"Graduate snapshot","content":"

Name: Marco Feelisch<\/p>\n

Studied: Bachelor of Commerce (International Business)<\/a><\/p>\n

Graduated: 2015<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":8736,"id":8736,"title":"MF_2018-3.jpg","filename":"MF_2018-3.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/young-alumni-stories-its-not-just-a-bag-its-a-buckle-seam\/mf_2018-3-jpg-2\/","alt":"","author":"4275","description":"","caption":"","name":"mf_2018-3-jpg-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":7447,"date":"2022-07-01 07:19:27","modified":"2022-07-01 07:19:27","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1620,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3-740x370.jpg","medium-width":740,"medium-height":370,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3-1000x500.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3-1536x1024.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3.jpg","2048x2048-width":1620,"2048x2048-height":1080,"small":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3-480x240.jpg","small-width":480,"small-height":240,"xlarge":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3-1260x630.jpg","xlarge-width":1260,"xlarge-height":630,"xxlarge":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3-1520x760.jpg","xxlarge-width":1520,"xxlarge-height":760,"hd":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3-1620x960.jpg","hd-width":1620,"hd-height":960,"uhd":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/MF_2018-3.jpg","uhd-width":1620,"uhd-height":1080}}},"related_courses":[{"title":"International Business","qualification":"Bachelor of Commerce (International Business)","link":"https:\/\/study.curtin.edu.au\/offering\/course-ug-international-business-major-bcom--mjru-intbu\/","description":"","faculty":"Curtin Business School"},{"title":"Entrepreneurship","qualification":"Bachelor of Commerce (Entrepreneurship)","link":"https:\/\/study.curtin.edu.au\/offering\/course-ug-entrepreneurship-major-bcom--mjru-entrp\/","description":"","faculty":"Curtin Business School"}],"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Feature-1-e1556764252122.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Zoe","last_name":"Taylor","display_name":"Zoe Taylor"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 20:43:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7447"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=7447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}