Padfield England
I meet many emerging fashion designers and brands in my day to day role, and I admire them all for their determination, courage and dedication in entering such a difficult and challenging industry. Creating fashion product is challenging enough, but there is now an increasing number of brands who are also passionate about creating a brand with purpose, or one that has an impact in their community. One such brand is Padfield England, which creates beautiful handcrafted, leather lifestyle accessories exclusively in England from British leather.
Founder Loren Taylor named the label in memory of her father, who built their first family home in Padfield Park, and she wanted to build a brand that represents an entrepreneurial spirit and authenticity that he would be proud of. When developing the brand concept, Loren wrote down her ultimate values of “Authentically British, Quality not Quantity and Sustainability”, and set out to accept nothing less.
Founded to be sustainable, purposeful and fairly priced, Padfield is committed to keeping Britain’s rich heritage of craftsmanship alive. Loren is really passionate about giving back to her environment and local communities, “I believe that sourcing and crafting locally is the most sustainable option. With the majority of British brands sourcing their leather and manufacturing abroad, the British leather industry is declining. The UK once had over 4,000 tanneries and now there are just 23 remaining, a significant decline considering the UK and global market for leather accessories is growing. With strong family ties to British farming I also feel passionately about being authentically connected to this community. This meant not just calling the brand Padfield England, but by crafting our accessories at home in England.”
I was really impressed with Loren’s passion to create beautiful accessories, make a difference by choosing to support local craftsmanship and businesses, but also her drive to ensure that the brand gives back to local communities, the environment and globally. To start to achieve this, she has also chosen to be part of the Planting Trees Together campaign, an initiative close to her heart, and for every Padfield tote bag sold online, the brand plants a tree in a UK Forest. Padfield England authentically combines strong brand values with thoughtful design and better value prices, something that is quite unique in a market full of brands that are green washing and using misleading ‘ethical’ statements to market products.
Designed in London, Padfield England’s luxury tote bags and small leather accessories are timeless, practical solutions for busy modern lives. By owning a Padfield, a customer will not only own a beautiful, sustainably made accessory, but they will also be helping to support a traditional British industry.