Although there are people who think so, fashion brands are not born for no reason. Behind every creation, every brand, every product and every design there is a reason.
Umbrella Collection with Samanta Montaner is one of those firms that have plenty of reasons, character and personality. A trend-setting fashion accessory brand, ahead of the trends and communicating powerfully that there are ways to inspire with attitude.
A project full of empowerment and strength
The root of this project is a change of perspective. The change of Samanta’s prism, who tells us in first person how it all began:
Umbrella Collection was born from an impulse, from an extreme need to feel free. Free to be who I am (“Feel free to be who you are”). Because, although I consider myself a girl with character, independent and somewhat impulsive, I have not always felt that way. Neither now, everything being so different, do I feel this way all the time. I hate the idea of being able to feel vulnerable, to expose my feelings. But I also know, it is the most honest way to start our story. So, here it goes.
I remember that time just when I felt less me than ever. It was already a few years ago, when I was in my accounting training week in Madrid. I had joined a large auditing firm and they had advanced us part of our first salary. I went with my friend to a clothing store and thought “What do auditors wear?”. And so I did… I put aside my creative criteria and taste for fashion, to be someone I was not.
Closing that stage meant a change of life, of mentality. I am no longer afraid to feel cool with myself, to feel beautiful, confident, empowered. I’m not afraid to cry for the sake of it, to be afraid, to take a few minutes to feel sad and then go back to work. I am prepared to take care of myself, just as I take care of the people I love the most, my family.
And so my first Umbrella collection was born. In authentic cowhide leather, worked by the hands of leather craftsmen in Spain. The colors and the names are inspired by the volcanic soil, in the dark and cold sea, in the warm people and in all the characteristic aspects of the beautiful islands of the world. my origin.
Project objectives
What we have always liked about Umbrella has been the clarity to project and set objectives. They have things very clear and that is something unusual among brands. However, they propose projects with “meridian” guidelines. A luxury to work with.
When Umbrella Collection told us about their project and the twist they wanted to give to their brand, hundreds of ideas started coming to our heads, and at Global Leather Goods we like to aim high.
Umbrella Collection started from a brand development situation. This allowed us to work intensively from an advisory and consulting position with her, with the objective of providing solutions for:
- Reach more dynamism in their collections.
- Cover a more active product development.
- Establish manufacturing and launch schedules.
- Have prototypes for pre-sales and photo sessions.
- Break the limitations that other manufacturers place on brands, such as exaggerated minimum quantities or obstacles to the development of complex products.
- Control the times and the manufacturing process.
- Know in depth the materials and their possibilities.
And how can it be otherwise, the objectives set challenges. Goals that we must achieve or exceed.
Some challenges that Umbrella has faced
The process of change in a brand. Just as the development of collections in the fashion accessories sector is an equation “plagued” with highly complex variables that require timely solutions.
Designing the bags for the new Umbrella collection is a clear example of a project that involves the whole team. And when we talk about the entire team, we mean the brand team, but also the Global Leather Goods factory team and all the links in its supply chain.
On this occasion, Samanta throws us an idea, an image, a concept and an illusion. Catching it on the fly and putting the team to work on the patterns of this limited edition (Addict and Tulip) was to absorb her attitude and enthusiasm. Because things can be done in two ways and at Global Leather Goods we only know how to do them with love.
And so, the prototypes of this collection were born. And after that, we turn to find the raw material and select the best option.
All this, always, with goals in mind. Cost, raw material optimization, time, logistics, resources and sustainability.
During the process we encountered several challenges:
- We had to develop the skin from scratch.
- Adjust the colors (not easy at all) that the brand had chosen.
- Tint the “hand” (the touch) of the skin, the shine…
- In the meantime, the production colleagues were working out the unknowns of how to make those perfect pleats on the bags, which require many hours of work in a totally handmade task.
- Customize the hardware, outline the manufacturing process of the coin purse (the little brother of the leather handbag), refine the plushes and the changes in the hardware due to the scarcity of raw materials.
- Configure the marking zones.
- To design a packaging and develop its manufacture in fabrics with digital printing in flexible inks…
“With the new collection we invested in better quality packaging so that the good looks would accompany the high quality and complexity of the new products. Adding cards so that customers can write a message has made us part of the story behind each customer.
custom product.”
(Samanta Montaner, Founder – CEO of Umbrella Collection)
In short, a new project for this firm, full of challenges and satisfactions.
All fabrications raise questions. They are all different. And all of them, consequently, are motivating and provocative. This is what makes this work a positive energy for all of us who participate in it. It evokes emotions that translate into attitude. And that attitude has been the nexus for Umbrella Collection and Global Leather Goods to fit together in this way and today we can tell you that synergies make development possible.
What is Global Leather Goods for Umbrella Collection?
It is a seal of honesty, trust and transparency. A partner that accompanies you from the beginning and works to enhance and improve every idea and every project. Working with a company philosophy based on win-win is something that eliminates uncertainty in the relationship between customer and supplier. Having the guarantee of a responsible commitment is something very difficult to achieve in the market. Umbrella Collection is synonymous with freedom, and working with Global allows you to be free to create and enhance each phase of the project. Focus on the brand and let them do the manufacturing. I have full confidence in them.
(Samanta Montaner, Founder – CEO of Umbrella Collection)
