The A-Z of Sbri

There are always so many things we want to tell you about Sbri - from the intricate designs and ideas behind our personalised products to our sustainable business values and where and how we make our leather accessories. So many cool things, in fact, that there are enough for every letter of the alphabet. 

If you’re anything like us, it’s probably important to you to know a bit about the small business you’re buying from before you commit your hard earned pennies, so we are here to help. This is the A-Z of Sbri: the ultimate Sbri fact file, filled with all the info nuggets you need to know about what goes on in the Sbri Studio.

A is for Accessories

Starting right at the beginning with a very literal description of what our small business is for -  accessories: purses, wallets, bags, keyrings, travel accessories, pet accessories, desk accessories and more. The dictionary people call accessories “an add-on, usually for decorative or useful purposes”. Sbri accessories are definitely both - little extras that put fun into function.

B is for Bespoke

All our accessories are personalised and handmade to order, uniquely made for each individual customer. We also offer a completely bespoke service, if you’re looking for something more customised than the products in our core collection. Fancy one of our current designs in a different colour or print? Need a custom size or something logo branded for your company? We can almost certainly do that - all you need to do is ask.

C is for Charities

1% of all our revenue is donated to some brilliant charities and organisations. We nominate a different charity every quarter and at the end of the three month period 1% from all Sbri orders is sent their way. That’s total revenue too, not just profit, so 1% of whatever you spend with us goes somewhere to make a difference. In 2021 our charity donations supported The Young Women’s Trust, The WONDER Foundation and The Girls Network.

D is for Design

Everything at Sbri is designed in-house by our little studio team. It’s a pretty collaborative process with people from different areas of the business contributing their expertise in our weekly design meetings. Designing in this way means that we get the best ideas from all angles, creating well thought out products that we all love (and our customers will love, too).

E is for Emily

Emily is our founder. She’s a fluent Welsh speaker, a trained pharmacist, a mama to two (babies and businesses!), and she dreams in leopard print. She started our sister company, Create Gift Love, in 2012, almost by accident when her handmade Christmas gifts turned out to be more popular than she expected, and eight years later launched Sbri (this time not so accidentally). Naturally when Sbri launched we had to name our leopard print collection “Emily”, too.

F is for Fair Pricing

We operate on a direct-to-consumer basis, which basically means that there’s no middleman or ridiculous markup when you buy from us. Lots of luxury leather brands often charge 10x the price of what their products actually cost to make, but we don’t, because we don’t need to. When you shop at Sbri you still get the same high quality materials and luxurious finish of designer brands but we charge a fair price, because we don’t think your purse needs to cost more than you can hold in it.

G is for Gifts

Sbri accessories make the perfect gift for her, whatever the occasion. They’re luxurious, they’re personalised and there’s a design for every personality. Whether you need inspiration for your birthday wishlist or you’re having a Christmas gift shopping dilemma, Sbri is the place to start. We’ve even created a Gift Finder to help you narrow down your lovely leather options.

H is for Handmade

Everything at Sbri is handmade here in our UK leather workshop. We don’t have a factory in our chain of production or lots of automated machinery, everything is done right here by real people who are great at what they do - and you can really tell from the quality of our products. Handcrafted and it shows.

I is for Independent

Sbri is an independent small business, the best kind of business if you ask us. When you shop with us you’re supporting a small team with great values, not a faceless corporation who puts profits before people. Small businesses are great (and so are small business customers) - you can read more about our favourites here.

J is for Joy

All our leather products are designed to add a little extra joy to the everyday, to make the ‘meh’ more memorable and to accessorize your life with pieces that reflect your personality. We’re all about finding joy in the small things that make you smile. We named one of our coin purses “Joy” too.

K is for Keyrings

Keyrings are a staple in the Sbri product range - they’re a little bit of fun to take wherever you go and they’re the perfect personalised stocking filler treat. We make tassel keyrings, leopard print keyrings, colourful keyrings and inspiring keyrings. Everyone needs keys, so why not have one to match your Sbri collection?

L is for Leather

We love working with leather - it’s such a versatile material, full of character, high quality and hardwearing. All our leather is sustainably sourced and prepared naturally in the UK, the very best materials to make the very best leather accessories. L is also for Leopard Print - we’ve got plenty of that, too.

M is for Made to Order

Our studio storeroom is full of leather hides and boxes of fixings, not shelves and shelves of finished products waiting to be bought - that’s because everything's made to order. We work in this way not only because it adds an extra personal touch, but because it means we only make what’s actually needed - minimising waste and maximising our materials. When we say made for you, we really mean it.

N is for Natural

One of the main reasons we use leather is because it’s a beautiful natural material and we love how the character of each leather hide becomes part of the products we create, with individual scars, freckles, creases and beauty spots making each piece unique (just like its owner). We’re all about natural beauty, after all.

O is for Origami

Our iconic leather coin purses are made from a single piece of leather, carefully folded using a clever origami design that requires absolutely no stitching. Lots of our products are stitched but we love the simplicity of the origami technique and we’ve used it across other products too, like our pouch bags, pet accessories and Airpod cases. It’s very Sbri.

P is for Personalised

Personalisation is a huge part of Sbri - it’s one of the main things that sets us apart from off-the-shelf accessories brands and it makes our pieces all the more special (and more you). We offer complimentary personalisation on (almost) all of our products, usually with gold foiled monogrammed initials, and secret personalised messages hidden inside our coin purses. P is also for Purse - the product that started it all.

Q is for Quality

Our products are designed and made to last, not just to end up in landfill after just a few years (or worse, uses), and we think that’s how fashion should be. We believe in quality over quantity and encourage our customers to invest in well-made pieces that will stand the test of time. Sbri leather gets better with age, and we’re sure once you’ve found a Sbri piece, you’ll still be loving it for years to come.

R is for Ringwood

The Sbri Studio is tucked away in Ringwood, a small market town just on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, UK. We’re only a short drive from beautiful Bournemouth beach and the Dorset countryside too, so it’s a pretty great place to be. 

S is for Sustainable

Being a sustainable leather brand was always a must for us - if you’re going to make stuff in 2022 it has to be done in an environmentally friendly way, no question about it. That’s why all our leather is sustainably sourced and chemical-free, we’re completely plastic-free and our UK studio where we make everything to order is powered by renewable energy. 

T is for Traditional

We specialise in bright funky colours and cool contemporary prints, but at its core our product range is very traditional. We use traditional leathercraft techniques and processes to make our products, our studio is filled with traditional tooling and equipment, and our vegetable tanned leather is prepared using a traditional method that are centuries old. If you ask us, old school is pretty cool.

U is for UK

As you might have gathered by this point in our A-Z, we’re really proud to make all our products here in the UK, in our Ringwood studio on the south coast. Being British-made supports local people, the local economy and the other small businesses we work with nearby. Plus it keeps our carbon footprint small as we source our materials as locally as possible.

V is for Vegetable Tanned

The leather we use at Sbri is all vegetable tanned, which means it is prepared using natural materials like roots, bark and leaves rather than harsh chemical treatments. It has minimal impact on the environment as all the waste can be safely recycled and has no danger to tannery workers (unlike polluting chrome-tanned leather which is much more common on the high street). Vegetable tanning is a slow process, often taking months to tan a single hide, but it’s definitely worth the wait - the quality is second to none and it celebrates the natural beauty of each hide.

W is for Welsh

We might be based on the south coast of England but “Sbri” is actually a Welsh word that means “fun”. Our founder Emily is from south Wales and speaks fluent Welsh so the name seemed a great fit for a brand that’s all about spreading joy. Plus, it combines two of Em’s favourite things - being Welsh and having fun.

X is for XX

XX marks the spot. It’s the brand mark you’ll find stamped into all the products we make, reminiscent of the traditional stitches that help craft our pieces and of the love that goes into making them. It’s our mark of approval, sealed with a kiss kiss.

Y is for You

So much of our inspiration comes from you, our customers. We love interacting with you all on social and hearing your feedback when you’ve bought from us - it helps us make decisions about how to develop our ideas and which products to design next (our pet range was highly requested by our community). Basically, without you there would be no us.

Z is for Zebra

And finally, like all good alphabet round ups, Z is for Zebra. (And no, not just because we couldn’t think of any other words that start with Z - Zodiac was another contender). Our zebra striped “Savannah” Coin Purse was added to the Sbri collection last summer, finally giving us an excuse to play with white leather. We just love an animal print, and sometimes leopard alone isn’t enough.