Follow your three “Rs”: reuse, recycle and refashion. Designer Shannon South has stood by that credo using found and vintage leather to handcraft leather bags out of her San Francisco studio. Her company is ReMade USA, and is built around that idea that lovingly worn, sentimental items can be repurposed into something new, spawning new memories and new stories without sacrificing quality or style. Her company, she writes, “sees beauty in the past, praises a lifestyle of ‘making do’ and has a deep appreciation for things have been cultivated by hand.”
That’s evident in her collection. Shoppers can choose from her “Ready to Order” collection of hobos, duffels, shopping totes and clutches, named aptly enough after San Francisco streets (Mariposa, Sutter, Ashbury—you get the picture). Pieces run from $125 for the clutches to almost $500 for the bigger totes. Want a custom “One Off” item by South? Pluck from your closet that unworn leather jacket and hand it to South, who’ll use the material based on one of her current designs. You’ll get $20 off your order for supplying the leather, and a truly unique-to-you piece.
South’s design background taught her to value “the story” of products and hers tell several: she’s been commissioned by two sisters to make a clutch from their father’s old jacket, worn on his honeymoon. Another customer donated his 20-year-old motorcycle jacket that morphed into a bag for his wife.
She loves to “let the details guide the design” and goes so far as to highlight her craft with a 15-photo slideshow, from jacket to vintage scarf-lined bag, on her site. It’s demonstrative of the kind of care she puts into each distinctive bag, matching the quality that’s desired from newer bags without ever buying new. The company has a mission to create beautiful products that positively impact the environment, and South, who calls herself a “creative entrepreneur,” hopes to lead by example.
“I see reMade USA as part of a back-to-basics, holistic approach that is in line with the way I try to live my life.”
