I’ve been working with Da Bao Real Leather for a few months now, and I’ve always wanted to see where and how all their beautiful handmade leather bags were crafted. Yesterday, the day had arrived when Tram was so kind to take me to the house where it all happens. So I’d like to share my impressions with you.
Located in a quiet area, just a stone throw away from the famous Hoi An Old Town, I found this lovely bunch (and a few more that continued to work on their customers’ orders) in a casual 2-story building, next to other tailors and factories producing the clothes, shoes, and bags sold in town.
I was welcomed in Vietnamese style, very warmly, and was happily shown around to meet the team and take some pictures.
I met about 20 friendly and hardworking men and women, sitting at their workstation, focusing on the task at hand. For some this meant measuring and cutting slices of buffalo leather, others were skillfully sewing the pieces together, and another group was responsible for the final touches like cutting off long threads of bags.
Bao, owner of the leather shop (2nd from the right standing on the photo above) is supervising the whole team while coming up with new bag and shoe designs.
It’s due to handcrafting the leather bags locally, that Da Bao is in a position to offer a short turn-around time of only 3 hours for made-to-measure products and bespoke designs if customers approach them with special requests.
It was great to see them all functioning as a team, with flat hierarchies, in good spirit.
Thanks, Da Bao, I’ll be back soon.
Are you interested in seeing our full range of leather bags? Click here to see our catalog.