Business of Fashion Founder Imran Amed Breaks into the Handbag Bussiness Thanks to a Collaboration with Bill Amberg

Imran Amed, the founder and editor of the website The Business of Fashion, has teamed up with the leather craftsman Bill Amberg to create a new line of unisex totes designed with the globe trotting fashion follower in mind.

The bag was a year in the making and Amed – who says in his article on his Business of Fashion website that he did not design the bag but just gave “input from a loyal consumer”- was particularly keen on making the bag gadget friendly.

So the tote which has be baptized Calgary – after the city where Amed was born and grew up- has been given a neoprene padding to protect the owner’s state of the art gadgets and pocket are cut to just the right size to hold iPads, iPhones and Blackberries.

But Imran’s astute understanding of the online universe has lead to the addition of a number of collaborative elements into the launch of the new line. The brand is letting its online customers decide what other materials should be used for future Calgary totes. Through customer feedback via crowdsourcing, the brand will discover which of three versions of the tote – in gray patent leather, classic black or a rich brown – will be put into production alongside the six limited edition bags that are already for sale on the Bill Amberg website.

And just to spice things up a bit, everyone who takes part in the online vote will automatically be eligible to win a Calgary bag. The winner will be chosen randomly from amongst the participants.

But with this collaboration Amed has also cleverly brought a digital media element into the mix. He created, along with CraneTV, a behind-the-scenes video which shows both Amed and Amberg hard at work on the bags and giving mini interviews about the design process. The interactive touches – being able to vote on which of the three bags you want to have produced via the video or click through to the Bill Amberg website to purchase a tote thanks to an icon embedded into the film – make for a content rich package. This combination of ingredients will make it hard for web savvy and stylish consumers to pass up on spending 950 British pounds on the ultimate function/fashion tote.

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