Photographs by Kazi Mukul
A two-day event at Amari was held to launch ‘Lidia May designer’ bags on the ‘La Rouge Shop’ e-commerce platform. The event brought in family, friends, social heavyweights, designers, media, business partners, artisan and also craftsmen all together, to grace the event. Both ‘La Rouge’ luxury bags and ‘Lidia May’ designer bags were on display and the event organisers, Mahjabeen and May Yang made informative presentations.
Six months ago Mahjabeen Hashim decided to take her love for handbags and turn it into a business. ‘Whenever I travel I would always pick up bags for my family, friends and myself,” she says. “When it comes to clothing, there are plenty of choices in Dhaka, but this is not the case for accessories,” she adds. Seeing this opportunity in the market together with her passion for handbags Mahjabeen launched her e-commerce store, ‘La Rouge Shop.’ They feature fashionable and luxury handbags for a wide customer base. ‘The Trendy Collection’ carries synthetic leather bags ranging from Tk2000- 4000 and ‘The Luxury Line’ have Italian leather products that start from Tk12,500 and upwards. The items displayed have gone through rigorous quality assessment and have been handpicked by Mahjabeen herself. The luxury line is produced in Italy and branded under the ‘La Rouge’ brand. The store has a 14-day return policy and the products, once ordered are delivered within three to five working days across Bangladesh.
‘La Rouge Shop’ has also decided to introduce a designer range. This concept brought the likes of Lidia May designer handbags and ‘La Rouge shop’ together.
Lidia May is a social start up, the brainchild of American designer May Yang who quit her corporate job in Hong Kong and moved to Bangladesh to work in an NGO, The Lidia Hope Centre Slum School. Working at the NGO she saw the potential of the local craftsmen and this inspired her to start a social enterprise. Bringing her designing skills together with local artists such as Ronni Ahmmed together with talented craftsmen in embroidery, the team began to create fashionable high quality bags.“The artistic influences are from Bangladesh and we use local craftsmen for hand embroidery” says May. Utilising the local skill base she has been able to successfully launch the ‘Lidia May designer’ handbags and currently exports to Los Angeles, London and Berlin. “It’s all about preserving the rich artistic heritage of Bangladesh and creating a sustainable business. Our mission is to empower everyone involved in creating and manufacturing a Lidia May bag,” adds May.
Bringing designer bags such as Lidia May to ‘La Rouge Shop’ provides great business opportunity for the two companies to further expand their growth potential. Both the young ladies are excited not only fulfil this market expansion but to be able to provide a bag for everyone, for every occasion and for every budget.