A Brand to Watch: The Bag Chic
“It’s actually The Bag Chic, and I really love that people sometimes pronounce it wrong and say it like the bag chick, because I mean I am like the bag chick. I chose chic though because it reminds me of boutiques and luxury and everybody wants to be chic,” said 22-year-old designer and owner Emily Hernandez.
The Bag Chic sells purses, jewelry boxes, and coasters all made out of resin.
“I’ve always wanted to be a fashion designer, ever since I was younger, I loved art and fashion, but what was really holding me back is the fact that I didn’t know how to sew, creating my purses with resin was a way for me to still be able to design without having to learn to sew,” said Hernandez.
The Bag Chic was born at the end of July 2019. At the time Hernadez was not working fulltime or attending school, and all the money that she had saved up was beginning to run out. That’s when her older brother, Fabian Hernandez stepped in.
“He told me that I needed to do something to make money, he told me to pick something, start my own business, and if I did he would be my first investor. He was actually the one who introduced me to resin, and he showed me pictures and videos of countertops being made with resin, and he showed me a purse made out of resin. After that I was hooked,” said Hernandez.
She picked her first three molds, which are currently all the shapes that she offers on her site. As of right now, her purses come in heart shape, circle shape, and a rectangle shape.
At first, before she even had her website out she would only sell to friends and family and their friends. All of her customers came from word of mouth, and she was only selling locally in Los Angeles County, but one day she decided to tweet pictures of her designs, and overnight she gained over 5,000 new followers.
As the business began to grow one of Hernandez’s friends helped her design and set up her website so she could begin selling and shipping her purses across the United States. Her friend also helps her by taking pictures of her purses for her site.
Aside from that The Bag Chic is a one-woman show, Hernandez designs all of her purses by herself, and runs her own Instagram page for the brand as well as ships all the orders herself, and does all the customer service. There are set styles and collections that she offers, but she also does custom orders as well through Instagram direct message.
“Currently everything is made to order, so it takes about 4–6 days to make a bag as well as ship it out, just in case there are any mistakes because anything can happen, and I like to make sure all my pieces are perfect before shipping them out,” said Hernandez
Hernandez describes her brand as classy, fun, and girly. If she were to design for an influencer it would be @iluvsarahii because she loves her style, and she is a Latina as well. Two celebrities she would love to see in her bags are Doja Cat and Ari Lennox because they give off the perfect pink girly vibe, and she believes her bags would match their aesthetics.
“I want everyone who wears my bags to feel like a bad bitch, there isn’t just one type of girl who can wear my bags and that’s what I love about my brand. You don’t have to be a girly girl and it is perfect for the girl who likes switching up her style, as I do. Sometimes I want a more tomgirl kind of vibe, and I have a bag for that, but other times I’m girly and I have a bag for that too,” said Hernandez.
As far as the future for The Bag Chic, Hernandez plans on eventually adding new shapes to her site, and she is currently in the works of designing another collection. She hopes to one day be able to open her own boutique, and begin making bags out of other materials, and possibly designing clothes as well.
