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The story of the Paris/64 handbag brand began in a conversation on the sofa between a young couple from Zaragoza 7 years ago. The phrase “I would love to have a handbag brand” uttered by María Alfonso (1988) activated Chema Pozas‘s (1985) head like a spring. They both worked in marketing and left everything to fulfill a dream that seemed crazy. In 2019 they founded Paris/64 and today – five years and three children later – their luxury handbags are already sweeping the market one month before the end of 2024, the forecast turnover is 5.5 million euros, three times more than last year.
Affordable luxury handbags with a vintage touch
“We felt that there was a lack of a Made in Spain brand, with a timeless, high-quality product and a retro Parisian touch. This is how Paris/64 was born.”
Maria Alfonso, creative director of Paris/64
They started from scratch in the workshops of Ubrique (Cádiz), where the craftsmen have been the best at making bags for decades. Trial-error, trial-error… slowly but surely they managed to improve their bags, which were popular from the beginning for their vintage-inspired designs. When production began to grow – the brand was doing great – they moved from the workshops to the factories in Ubrique, where the vast majority of luxury brands worldwide, with large orders, produce their bags.
Two years after being born as an e-commerce, they opened a store in Zaragoza, followed by one in Madrid in 2022, Seville in 2023 and Bilbao in 2024. They have a pop-up store in Barcelona until mid-January 2025, the year in which they will open a store in New York.
From the beginning, Paris/64 had an international vocation. We did not want to stay exclusively in Spain. Our biggest market is in the United States, then in Spain, and our third market is Japan. The next store we will open will be in New York.
Chema Pozas, CEO of Paris/64
A factory of our own in the town of Illueca
The 70% of their online sales are now from foreign markets: the United States, Japan, Korea. and in the face of excessive demand – at Christmas 2023 they struggled to meet all the orders – they considered opening their own factory in Zaragoza.
The Paris/64 factory in Illueca (Zaragoza) where 40 people work. Courtesy of Paris/64
In the town of Illueca, and providing employment to 40 people who once worked in shoe factories that no longer exist today, the Paris/64 factory is operating at full capacity, manufacturing 100 bags a day.
María, the creative director, is committed to rather classic retro models – but not only that, the new Fleur model is proof of this – with the best leathers and in different sizes, although the small one is her favourite: “I admit that I have always liked mini bags much more” she says. And it must not be a mania of hers because the Prismatic model, which resembles a binoculars case, is the best-selling model in Spain, while in the United States the bestseller is the Mini Lumière.
With one month to go until the end of 2024, our turnover forecast is 5.5 million euros, three times more than last year.
Chema Pozas, CEO of Paris/64
Paris/64 also has a collection of clothing and shoes. Its romantic blouses, its masculine coats, its impeccable blazers, its leather garments, moccasins and ballerinas are the second temptation, in addition to its handbags, when you go shopping in its stores. Everything, one hundred percent Spanish.
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