Bellroy

Today is World Ocean Day. For a company founded and still operating out of Bells Beach Australia – and staffed by a bunch of surfers, beachgoers and bona fide ocean lovers – it’s a day to appreciate what the ocean means to us, and how we can best protect it. And, this World Ocean Day, we’re excited to announce a new fabric that incorporates recycled ocean waste! The three bags in our Laneway collection are made from our new durable Ocean Regen fabric, SeaWeave, which comprises 50% recycled fishing nets and 50% recycled post-industrial nylon.

We’re excited to be at ISPO’s OutDoor trade show in Munich, Germany this week! Showing off a bunch of Bellroy gear that’s optimized for travel and touching base with our beloved retailers on their latest adventures. We’re here until 6 June.

Our Co-founder Andy sat down with Jonathan Simcoe recently to discuss inspiration, research, design process and more. Read on for the full conversation…

We’re super excited that our Phone Case for iPhone 15 is now stocked in 1000+ Best Buy stores across the US. Being a growing global brand with no bricks-and-mortar stores means our retail partnerships are super important to get our products in front of customers in a tangible way. It also lets shoppers compare our products against our competitors side-by-side: a challenge we happily accept.

Since we launched 13+ years ago, we’ve grown significantly, and now release about 50 new products a year (give or take), shipping them to 187 countries and stocking them in over 1,200 retailers worldwide. As we continue to grow, we’re constantly on the lookout for talented people to help us take Bellroy further than ever before. Are you a copywriter, a sales or supply chain analyst, a wholesale account specialist, or a retail experience lead? You currently have the chance to join this dynamic work environment that’s built on a mantra of: smart people with good intentions getting sh*t done. Join a B Corp committed to using business for good, and find out why we’re a certified Great Place to Work®. Check out our current vacancies. https://lnkd.in/gsexgRca

Bellroy co-founders and co-CEOs, Lina Calabria and Andy Fallshaw, have been delving into some mental models and thought processes that help them in running the business – and recording those conversations in a podcast: “What Have I Missed?” If you’re interested to learn more about how they make decisions and what they care about in business, you might care to take a listen. Their discussions thus far cover topics such as thinking fast vs thinking slow, the meaning of ‘quality’ and the analogy of taking the stairs instead of the elevator. And they dive into the three elements that feed our workplace culture: smart people, good intentions, getting sh*t done. As these conversations continue to evolve, we’d love to know what topics you’d like to hear us talk about. You’ll find the first season on Spotify – with more to come! https://lnkd.in/gMVnPzVy

Every one of our collaborations with Carryology has been a marriage of our design signatures with Carryology's exacting standards. For our latest limited-edition collab, we once again took inspiration from Greek mythology’s great hybrid: the Chimera. To deliver on the brief of creating the ultimate Carryologist’s sling, first we harnessed the layout of an award-winning Bellroy bestseller, the Venture Sling. Then we dialed up the design, adding technical yet luxe materials and custom hardware – including composite ripstop leather from ECCO, and a Fidlock magnetic buckle. Features like the padded ambidextrous shoulder strap, key lanyard with a Trimmers T3 Clip Hook and added secure pocket elevated the experience even further. The result: our limited run sold out in a day. We’re super proud of the outcome and believe that just like the mythical Chimera, this collaboration is more potent than the sum of its parts.

It’s a well-known tenet of design: searching for simplicity beyond complexity. So when our customers ask us how our designers take an idea from a sketch through to final execution (a question we’re asked often) the short answer is, there is no short answer. Or shortcuts. Even – or, perhaps, especially – our simplest designs are afforded deep periods of consideration followed by long processes of experimentation. Take the Tokyo Folio: a delicate balance of structure, shape and volume. We asked Bellroy designer Rowan to walk us through some of the complexities on the way to this simple, yet thoughtful, design. Scroll away to find out how he got there.

When Carryology asked us to be part of their Maker’s Mystery Box challenge – one designer making a brand new bag from unseen fabrics in a single day – we knew we wanted in. After all, at Bellroy we believe the best way to create better ways to carry is by making things. With our hands, and scissors, rulers and sewing machines. We do it every day. And we pride ourselves on the fact that we can make our prototypes in-house while we resolve our designs. Because if you want to iterate fast, working in-house is the best way to do it. On the day, our soft goods designer Aaron was paired up with textiles from CHALLENGE SAILCLOTH – not exactly traditional backpack material. But this was no traditional challenge. Watch the full video here: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gH5UwgVt