Tusting is a British leathergoods maker known for its luxury

handbag A handbag, commonly known as a purse in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. It has also been called a pocketbook in parts of the U.S. Terminology The term "purse" originally referred to a smal ...

s and luggage. The firm was founded in 1875 and operates from a factory in the village of

Lavendon Lavendon is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is the northernmost village in the Milton Keynes UA and South East England, near Olney, about WNW of Bedford and N ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

History

Tusting began as a tannery and leather importer, founded in 1875 by Charles Pettit in

Harrold, Bedfordshire Harrold is a village, civil parish and Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Bedfordshire, England, nine miles north-west of Bedford on the north bank of the River Great Ouse, close to the county boundaries of Buckinghamshire and Northa ...

, a village known for its leather industry. The company would later move to Lavendon, a neighbouring village, where it remains today. The company continues to be operated by the Tusting family. Co-owners William and Alistair Tusting are the company's fifth generation, the great-great-grandchildren of Pettit.

Products and Sales

The Tusting factory employs 38 workers, mostly from surrounding villages. They use traditional leatherworking methods to create the company's products. These include travel luggage, briefcases, satchels, handbags, computer and phone cases and other accessories. All Tusting bags are entirely designed and manufactured in the Lavendon factory. According to fashion blog Merchant and Makers, Tusting bags exhibit "classic styles that are timeless". About 40% of Tusting sales are made to Japanese customers, as of 2014. The brand is also popular in China, where it has a store located in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

. Tusting launched a

pop-up store Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK, Australia and Ireland) or flash retailing, is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces that last for days to weeks before closing down, often to latch onto a fad or scheduled e ...

in London's

Jermyn Street Jermyn Street is a One-way traffic, one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing r ...

in December 2014, and is actively considering further stores in China, London and elsewhere. Tusting is or has been stocked by stores including

Fortnum and Mason Fortnum & Mason plc (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an Luxury goods, upmarket department store in London, England. The main store is located at 181 Piccadilly in the St James's area of London, where it was established in 1707 ...

, Budd and Pickett in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Hankyu , trading as , is a Japanese private railway company that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region. It is one of the flagship properties of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in turn part of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho G ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. It has also collaborated with other British brands including

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

and

Church's Church & Co Limited, branded Church's, is a luxury footwear manufacturer that was founded in 1873 by Thomas Church in Northampton, England. In 1999 the company was bought by Italian luxury fashion house Prada. Family Three brothers Alfred, ...

The Princess of Wales

Tusting garnered media attention when Catherine Middleton, later

Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (; ) is a title used since the 14th century by the wife of the Prince of Wales. The Princess is the apparent future queen consort, as "Prince of Wales" is a title reserved by custom for the heir apparent to the Monarchy of the ...

, was photographed with a Tusting Explorer holdall in 2007. According to the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'', ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' actor

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is known for playing the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Prince Philip in Netflix's historical series ''The Crown ( ...

is also a fan of Tusting.

References

{{reflist Companies of England Leather manufacturers