Brave Brown Bag story from Bermuda

One of my favourite BBB stories (and stores) from the archives is Jeremy Hartley's whose family owns the Irish Linen Shop in Bermuda.    He writes:

It must have been in about 1996 or 97 when I was in London and was looking for a handy packable bag to take on a trip to Provence as I was planning on bringing back some bottles of Olive Oil.  I wanted something that I could roll up, that was strong and would accommodate large bottles.  I was rummaging around in a shop called The Holding Company in the King's Road looking at leather bags, baskets etc. and couldn't find anything that was just right.  Then the sales lady said: We do have one these bags left and produced a Brave Brown Bag (Maxi) in Ginger.  Well It was absolutely perfect. Love at first sight.  Just what I was looking for and the colour was so chic.

I drag it around everywhere I go.  At a trade show I would be absolutely lost without it.  You know how one collects catalogues.  At the end of each day my BBB is so laden down I can hardly drag it back to my hotel.  While everyone else is carrying around the promotional carryall handouts I have my BBB.  And then in January 2004 (I think) there I was at the NYIGF staggering along in the Javitts Centre with my BBB filled with catalogues, then all of a sudden I was in front of a booth filled with my BBB in every colour under the sun.  At the same time you(Charlotte) spotted my BBB and the rest is history!

We got chatting about Bermuda and found we had many friends in common as you had made many ocean crossings in the Newport-Bermuda yacht races.  It seemed like it was just meant to be.

I am often amazed at the amount of attention it draws.  In the smartest of West end London shops I often get stopped and asked: What a wonderful  bag!  Where did you get it?  Several of our salesladies have at least one or two each and have also had experiences with people asking where they bought them.  When a customer buys one I say " make sure you choose the colour carefully because you are going to have it for a very long time".