LUCKYNELLY has been a pioneer in sustainable luxury handbags since 2012. How have you observed sustainability practices evolve over the last decade, and what notable advancements have you witnessed?
First of all, I would like to explain how LUCKYNELLY and our name came about.
As founder & fashion designer of LUCKYNELLY - BERLIN, I have always been very interested in fashion, design, interior, painting, colors, new trends, and creating unique and exclusive things. So I studied fashion design at the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld and successfully graduated and founded the brand LUCKYNELLY in Berlin in 2012.
The concept of my thesis was about sustainable fashion. The name of my diploma in 2004 was "Maerchenreif", a word that doesn't exist and means "to be ready for fairy tales". I wanted to remind people of the good old days when children sat with their grandmothers listened to all the wonderful fairy tales and enjoyed family life. I used old laces handmade by my grandmothers for my dresses and homemade prints for screen printing and printed the fabrics by myself. My concept was to show that time passes too quickly. In life as in fashion. In 2024, sustainability is the most important fashion concept and I hope it will last.
The brand name is inspired and created by my beloved Bearded Collie dog "NELLY" and my rabbit "LUCKY", which were the muses for it and also for the decision to use only non-violent and vegan materials and to do without animal materials.
I "found" my rabbit Lucky in a hardware store. He was sitting there in a glass cage together with a guinea pig - these two species cannot communicate with each other. A sign next to the cage read: "Hello, I'm Lucky! Please take me with you quickly, I'm already 6 months old!"
I realised that he would surely be killed soon because it is more profitable to sell baby rabbits, so I spontaneously took him with me. Once home, he immediately ran to Nelly and hid under her, and from then on they were inseparable.
After two years of hard work, British Vogue contacted me and wanted to present me and LUCKYNELLY as one of the new talents among the world's designers. The unique style also attracted attention and recognition from British ELLE, Harper's Bazaar, and Cosmopolitan, published in print editions.
With my fashion accessories, I want to show that vegan fashion is very luxurious, unique, and the sustainable trend for our future.
I take my inspiration for new handbags and collections from nature, from animals, these beautiful creatures with a dazzling look like the rose beetle and iridescent snakes. And there are so many more beautiful things you can discover in nature - wood structures, fields, flowers, everywhere, even in the city.
For my designs, I am inspired by the beauty of nature, as it already carries the perfect design within itself. I always have my Canon camera with me to capture all the beautiful facets of nature and the animal kingdom and incorporate them into my designs.
When we started developing vegan handbags and accessories, there were not many alternatives to animal leather that met our requirements. We focused on cork, which is very similar to leather, but it is the bark of the cork oak. At that time, cork was only available in wine cork colors and dark brown. So we dyed the material with curry and other plant pigments to be able to use a wider range of colors for our designs. Because it wasn't enough for us to work with cork alone, we researched alternatives all over the world and then found sewable wood, a thin wood veneer that becomes flexible and therefore sewable thanks to a vegan carrier material.
In 2014, we won the PETA VEGAN FASHION AWARD with a belt for women made from this material. Through continuous research, we then discovered sewable slate stone and used it to design and manufacture products for men and women.
LUCKYNELLY handbags are made from vegan materials like Piñatex and apple skin. Can you discuss the performance and durability of these materials?
When we discovered the material Frumat "Apple Skin" by Hannes Parth at the Future Fabrics Expo in London in 2017, we were thrilled and used it to make a vegan luxury handbag in white. Hannes Parth explained to us that he had spent years making this innovative material from apple scraps so that it could be used like leather.
He also told us that, in Italy, the leftovers from apple juice production normally have to be incinerated, which can produce carcinogenic substances. We felt very honored to be able to use this groundbreaking material for our collections. It can be processed like leather and the quality also convinced us.
We have made bags and accessories, even for Barbie dolls, from Piñatex, Fruit leather, Malai, Palm Fiber, Muskin, Desserto (Cactus Leather), Washable Paper, Mirum, and many other innovative materials. We have recently started working with the material start-ups Oleatex and Wastea and have already produced several bags from them.
We are also very impressed by the new material Banofi Leather, made from the remains of banana production, and are planning a cooperation with the likeable female founders! We conclude that the newly developed materials are becoming better and more sustainable and also more environmentally friendly, even plastic-free.
We think there is still a long way to go in terms of material development. Fortunately, there are more and more start-ups that are committed to this and continue to research it, and we are always happy to work with them.
How does your brand effectively balance the customisation process for handbags with sustainable practices, ensuring minimal excess inventory and waste?
We manufacture our handbags and accessories in our atelier, our manufactory here in Berlin, and of course everything is vegan or bio-based in the highest quality down to the smallest detail. This saves us unnecessary distribution channels and we stand by our promise to be a slow fashion company. Our founder and fashion designer Christine Rochlitz has acquired the skills of a bag maker herself through countless hours of work and dedication - our bags speak for themselves. Even the production manager Ruben Montero from the Pinavall manufactory in Ubrique, which we visited in 2019, was fascinated by the quality and realization of our products.
Our handbags and accessories are "one of a kind" pieces that are designed and manufactured by hand with the greatest passion and love. The patterns are also all developed and created by Christine Rochlitz herself. We strive to use "zero waste" patterns for our products, such as this handle handbag, which is made exclusively from rectangles.
What are the challenges LUCKYNELLY faces in promoting vegan and sustainable luxury in the fashion industry?
Since this year we have a new brand concept, which has just been published as a press release at Fashion United: LUCKYNELLY 2024 VEGAN ART - NOT FOR SALE!
The success of LUCKYNELLY is not only due to the unique and innovative design of our bags, but also to our tireless commitment to sustainable production and consumption. All designs and bags are developed by ourselves and carefully handcrafted from sustainable materials.
This process is laborious and reflects the emotional connection we have with our bags. A production time of up to six months is not uncommon. Each bag is unique, made with passion, love and quality.
Our tireless commitment to a more sustainable fashion world and over ten years of experience in working with vegan materials, from strawberries to tea leather, is what makes our label so special. This is appreciated - among other things by recognized awards such as the Green Product Award 2023.
For us, sustainable consumption is not at odds with the ever-changing trends of the fashion world. The LUCKYNELLY bags known for numerous covers and editorials are still available for exclusive fashion shoots, fashion shows, red-carpet events, and film productions. Through renowned PR addresses such as the Copper Room by Flying Solo, NYC, or Gallery Malina, Berlin, we continue to lend our unique pieces to registered fashion and art professionals.
Despite the change and the focus on more sustainable consumption, we will of course not stop producing new bags. We continue to develop exclusive designer models from innovative materials. This process is important to promote the visibility and use of vegan fabrics, such as the Berriestex and PLANTFUR (vegan fur made from plants) materials we have developed, in the luxury fashion world. At the same time, it offers space for creative and innovative new, exclusive designs. On request, we also produce new models according to your individual ideas. We focus on made-to-measure production, not mass production.
Our founder and designer Christine Rochlitz takes the time to work with you to create the perfect model: sustainable, vegan, unique. There are no limits to the material, color and design. The result is a high-quality and innovative unique piece that will accompany you for a lifetime. Change is key in the fashion world, which is why we are taking this step. We are paving the way for more sustainable fashion, focusing not on sacrifice but on innovation and creativity.
LUCKYNELLY stands for vegan luxury paired with artistic and extraordinary designs.
Looking to the future, what is LUCKYNELLY's long-term vision for sustainable luxury fashion, and how do you plan to continue leading and influencing the industry towards more ethical and environmentally friendly practices?
We have just discovered a biodegradable insert/fixing made of wood to make the bags more stable and are looking forward to developing a new handbag together with a material start-up, which is still a secret, and presenting it soon. We will continue to research vegan, sustainable, and innovative materials for the fashion world ourselves and continue to design and manufacture trend-setting and cool handbags.
We follow our own motto: Our handbags are made to order "one of a kind" unique pieces of art - made for a lifetime - made just for you!
