Vintage-Inspired Handbags with a Modern, Ethical Twist: A Conversation with MR Label

COVID has made it difficult for many recent graduates to find employment, as companies are laying off employees or closing altogether. MR Label founder Maddy Ritholz saw this declining job market as an opportunity to start her own handbag company, which maintains an ethical chain of sourcing and production.

“I’ve always known that I wanted to start my own business at some point,” said Ritholz. “At school...I always found entrepreneurialism so exciting and I always thought that it would be so rewarding to start my own company, but I definitely thought that I wouldn’t really get to that point until a few years after college.”

She came up with the idea of making handbags back in July, inspired by her time thrifting while studying abroad in Copenhagen during her junior year of college. “My favorite thing was going to these little hole-in-the-wall stores or markets around Europe, and I would always find the most unique, fun bags.” 

Ritholz wanted to find a way to bring that quality handbag experience back to those in America who might not have thousands of dollars to spend on brands like Louis Vuitton. “[The vintage bags’] colors, materials, and styles were so different,” she emphasized when discussing the gap she saw in the handbag market. “There are contemporary brands that have that fun, playful vibe and style, but they’re not really affordable.”

In the current handbag market, finding cute, quality bags that are also inexpensive can be a challenge.  Ritholz started her brand with the objective of making vintage-style bags affordable, while still maintaining a high standard for sustainability and quality.

“That’s the concept that I came up with - that playful vintage vibe, but also something more affordable and appealing to a younger consumer, like girls my age.”

Ritholz started out as a fashion design major while studying at Washington University. “I’ve been taking fashion design classes since I was ten years old,” she remembered, “So I’ve kind of always known that I wanted to go into the industry.” She later transferred into the business school as a marketing major, while keeping design as a minor. 

Her passion for designing and making handbags runs deeper than her design courses she took as an undergraduate, “I personally am obsessed with handbags,” she gushed. “If you’re gonna start your own business, then what’s better than to center it around something that you’re interested in and love?”

Her passion for handbags required dedication to turn her dream into a reality. After hand making the bags at her home in New Jersey, she began selling them through Instagram. “I ended up selling 30 bags in one month, which gave me the confidence to go into manufacturing and build a website, and a whole marketing platform.” 

Gaining traction over the course of a few short months allowed her to begin marketing her products outside her circle of family and friends. In early November she officially launched her brand, which involved the outsourcing of production to a manufacturer in New York, finding models, and creating a photoshoot.

Ritholz now travels into New York City from her New Jersey home twice a week to oversee how the bags are being manufactured, and ensure first-hand how to do so ethically. Ritholz's standard of ethical sourcing and manufacturing is something that many new entrepreneurs struggle to maintain, especially while still sticking to a smaller budget. In order to do this, she had to find the right manufacturer.

Finding a manufacturer who could meet these standards was not easy. “It was a ton of networking and talking to people in the beginning.” Ritholz had to expand her network, in order to find someone who was able to fabricate the bags she wanted to sell. 

Eventually, she settled on a New York-based manufacturer. “She’s incredible. I’m so grateful that I magically found her; it was such a random five-lines-down connection.”

“Every step of the way is such a learning process,” she explained, detailing all of the challenges she had to deal with learning how to start her own company, from the legal aspects of owning a business, to production, to advertising, all while right out of college. 

“The key is just to talk to anyone you can. I call any contact I have, even a friend of a friend, who I think could be helpful and from whom I can get advice.” 

Ritholz has also been directing photoshoots to create original content for her brand and reaching out to Instagram influencers to introduce her bags to their own audiences, in order to spread the word and expand her consumer base.

“I want the brand to go beyond the product.” Ritholz wants her marketing on social media to reflect a vision of a light-hearted and whimsical approach to fashion. “I think that a lot of fashion brands have a lot of very stoic models, and there’s no personality. I want my brand to have personality.” 

In her brand photoshoots, the models are smiling and doing fun poses, which she hopes will reflect how consumers feel. “My bags are really fun, so I want the girls wearing them to play around with their style when they’re wearing them.”

Not only do the bags reflect what consumers feel, but also what values they hold dear. In the fabric of this emerging brand, conscientious standards are woven in. Ritholz hopes to slowly increase her margins in line with her brand’s sustainability mission going forward.

Ritholz has a bold vision of growth for the future of MR Label, by evolving her collection and searching for sustainable materials. Her recently launched spring 2021 collection was made with all-recycled fabrics. “It’s definitely a balance,” said Ritholz, of managing the brand’s ability to stay ethical and affordable. “The whole core of this is what I think will make it special is sticking to those values, which is something that I don’t think most brands try to do because it's really hard.” 

Staying true to her ideals has helped this young entrepreneur develop a brand that combines the magic of a vintage handbag with an ethical and sustainable fashion future.

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