About us

The Founder

“Anything that is to age well needs special care –

including luxury handbags. That’s why we created Bagpad.”

Born in Finland, Marielle Kangasniemi moved to London to specialise in Luxury Brand Management at Istituto Marangoni after completing her studies in Business and Economics. Her fast-paced career in London included working with luxury brands like Armani, Max Mara, Roland Mouret and Amanda Wakeley amongst others. 

After gaining experience and knowledge about the luxury fashion industry Marielle decided to pursue her long-time dream to start her own business. The idea came as she started to buy more expensive handbags and noticed that they also needed something to keep them in shape when not in use, in order to protect the material from creasing and getting ruined. After researching she could not find a more elegant option than using plastic or tissue paper. Surprisingly, even the big luxury brands still sell their new handbags filled with plastic or paper.

So like any good business idea, which are usually born from the need to find a solution to a problem, this was also the case with Bagpad.

Read more about the founder of Bagpad here.

The Brand

Bagpad was founded in 2018 with the aim of creating a long-term solution for keeping handbags in their original perfect shape. The mission of Bagpad is to reduce the use of plastic and paper and hence provide a more sustainable and at the same time elegant solution.

“The inspiration for the design of the Bagpad comes from the iconic Hermès Birkin bag, which is a bag that really needs support when it’s not in use. So the first Bagpad was custom-made to fit the Birkin bag.”

The Bagpad is designed to keep your handbag’s shape and quality for many years to come, it even protects from humidity. Whether travelling, storing, or displaying handbags, the Bagpad is an easy, practical, and sustainable solution. 

All Bagpads are locally handmade in the UK with the finest craftsmanship and using only the best quality materials. The Bagpads are specially designed for each handbag and bespoke personalisation can be added with monogramming. 

Making an impact

Sustainability is one of the core elements of Bagpad - the idea is to offer a more long-term solution for keeping handbags in shape and thus reducing the use of plastic. What has currently been used is plastic or tissue paper, and as we know plastics are the most common form of trash in landfills, and the most dangerous form of pollution that greatly harms the environment. Therefore Bagpad collaborates with the One Ocean Foundation, which was created to raise awareness of problems related to the marine ecosystem. 

Bagpad is committed to do its part to save the planet: from using recyclable packaging and biodegradable materials—which keeps landfill waste to a minimum—to supporting environmentally-friendly initiatives. Plastic can also be harmful to the leather and the insides of the bag, which is why Bagpad only uses premium materials that are suitable for leather handbags. Bagpad also incorporates the Zero Waste philosophy when making their products.