A shared love of making: Introducing Brady Bags

Brady is one of England’s great heritage bag makers. Founded in Birmingham in 1887 and still handcrafted in Walsall, the brand brings together traditional craftsmanship, practical design and an understated sense of style.

Originally created for country pursuits, hunting and fishing, Brady’s distinctive bags have found a natural place in the modern wardrobe. Their simple silhouettes, hard-wearing materials and beautifully considered details make them as relevant today as they have ever been.

A meeting in Paris

We first connected with Brady when we were both showing our collections at Première Classe in Paris. We met their Production Manager, Chris Thompson, and immediately found ourselves swapping stories about workshop life, skilled makers and the realities of producing beautiful things by hand.

There were stories about production deadlines, demanding materials and the funny moments that naturally come from spending your working life in a factory. We talked about Paris trade shows, working with Japanese customers and partners, and what it means to be responsible for guiding a product from an idea through to its final stitch.

Being a Production Manager requires a very particular mix of skills. You need to understand the product, the materials, the machinery and, most importantly, the people. You must know who is best suited to each process, how long something should take and when a construction needs to be reconsidered. It takes patience, instinct and years of practical experience - something we immediately recognised in Chris.

The people behind the product

A workshop becomes its own small world. The people within it are often like family, each bringing an individual skill that is difficult to replace. One person may have an exceptional eye for cutting, while another can guide a difficult material through a machine almost instinctively. Someone else will know exactly how to achieve a beautifully bound edge or how to make a complicated construction feel simple.

It takes a certain kind of person to thrive in this environment: practical, patient, precise and quietly proud of doing things properly. Much of the knowledge is difficult to put into words. It is learned through years spent handling materials, solving problems and working alongside other makers.

Our conversation with Chris quickly moved into the details - the construction of a bag, the qualities of different leathers and the best way to bind a seam. These are small things to many people, but to makers they can inspire a surprisingly long discussion. Few people in England share these experiences today, which made meeting Chris feel both rare and personal.

A history of British craftsmanship

Brady was founded by brothers John and Albert Brady, who began making leather gun cases in Birmingham in 1887. The collection later expanded to include fishing and game bags, establishing Brady’s reputation for beautifully made sporting goods.

In the 1930s, Ernest Brady designed a collection of fishing bags named after English rivers. Many of the styles created during the 1930s and 1940s are still produced from their original patterns, proof that good, functional design rarely needs reinventing.

Brady’s manufacturing later moved to Walsall, the historic centre of England’s leather industry, where every bag continues to be made by hand. The company came under Japanese ownership in 2018, but production and its specialist skills have remained firmly in England.

Each bag passes through seven stages of production and is made by craftspeople who have spent years refining their skills. The materials are chosen for performance as well as character, including strong canvas, English leather, solid brass fittings and durable cotton webbing. Every detail has a purpose, from a carefully bound seam to the placement of a fastening or pocket.

This combination of function, durability and skilled making gives Brady bags their distinctive character. They are designed to work hard, age beautifully and be carried for years.

Why we love Brady

As fellow British leather makers, Brady’s values immediately resonated with us. We understand the care behind the finished product, the knowledge held within a workshop and the importance of keeping specialist skills alive.

We also love the bags themselves. They are practical without feeling purely utilitarian, traditional without being old-fashioned and distinctive without trying too hard. Their sporting origins remain visible in the honest materials and functional details, while their clean shapes feel completely at home in a contemporary wardrobe.

Most of all, we love that every bag has people behind it. It carries the hands, knowledge and character of the workshop in which it was made.

We can’t wait to visit Chris and the Brady team in Walsall once our own production season is over. We already know there will be plenty more to discuss, from leather and construction to binding seams, workshop characters and, inevitably, the stories that only makers truly understand.