I am Ian, the founder of Two Green Ladies. I am also a husband and a father. Have you ever bought a handbag for the price of a car? My first wife had a passion for handbags, and I remember that summer day in Paris in 2012 when we were staying at the Hotel Plaza Athenee. I loved the flowers flowing down the outside of the building. We were walking down the street when my wife spotted a little bag shop and went inside. It turns out the store sold the best handbags in the world! Not that everyone agrees, but many people do. So rare was the brand you could not even get a knock-off in those days.
In 2014, I learned from my daughter that you could not buy a luxury vegan leather handbag because, at the time, all vegan handbags were overpriced plastic bags. Just because you paid more for the design or brand, the vegan leather would not last. The bag would peel, rip, and fall apart in a few short years.
In 2019, I retired from consulting.
2020 came along, and, surprise, the freedom of retirement seemed not to be the same. I was living in Melbourne, Australia, and we were locked inside our house for over a year. What do you do? I know some made bread, and so did I and every other new fad that came along. What are you supposed to do with that room full of toilet paper?
Eventually, my brain had had enough. So I asked myself what I could do. The problem with the luxury vegan handbags came to mind, and in all my bravado, I thought I could fix this in three months. As a consultant, I ran huge programs in a three-month timeframe that had made a significant business impact.
In 2022, I discovered that you could still not buy a quality luxury vegan leather handbag.
The list of complaints I found is as follows.
- I had to throw away so many of my "pleather/faux leather" items because they didn't last
- Plant based leather does not have the quality of animal leather.
- No matter how you slice it, at the end of the day, it is plastic that ultimately comes from petrochemicals.
- A lot of vegan leather bags are expensive plastic bags.
I found the challenge: -
- a suitable substitute for leather;
- a nonplastic handbag;
- a plant based leather that did not rip or peel;
- quality made, then independently tested, and
- a bag that lasts at least 20 years.
Vegan leather has changed a lot in the 10 years since she told me this story. There is now plastic free vegan leather, but each one comes with a different set of challenges.
The truth is it took two years and a range of people and companies from across the globe to get our first quality luxury vegan leather handbag.
We have made a few. English designed, Italian made hardware, Mirum® from Peoria, Illinois. Our manufacturing takes place in New York City with pride. We had them destroyed, some would call it tested, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and now we know they will last a lifetime.
Now, you can enjoy the guilt free pleasure of owning a Two Green Ladies High-end Quality Luxury vegan leather handbag because every person who wants a luxury vegan leather handbag deserves to own one that is plastic free and lasts a lifetime.
Because every person who wants a luxury vegan leather handbag deserves to own one that is plastic free and lasts a lifetime.