I read every single comment on this site and one of the reoccurring comments is readers looking for new brands. We all know the storied handbag brands and though many of us love them and come to this site for them, plenty also crave something new. We are handbag lovers after all and many times we want to be carrying and showing off a new brand. Plenty of new brands take the route of placing their bags on the arms on every influencer and celebrity they can, but there’s something so pure about the Massaccesi thread on tPF. This brand is relatively unknown however in our handbag loving corner of the internet, the dedicated Massaccesi thread has over 1,880 pages with over 28,200 responses. The fans of the brand believe in its bags and the founder so much that multiple members have implored me to share it with other handbag afficionados of the world. And with a brand that stays true to the craftsmanship roots, along with a founder whose passion in his works, I had to take a deeper look and share.
I’ve always said that our PurseForum members rank among the most knowledgeable in the handbag world. If you want to know something about a particular bag, go to our forum. Chances are not only do they know more than most, often they know more than many brands’ sales associates themselves. The same can be said on the brand Massaccesi.
Recently, the brand was facing the harsh reality of needing to stop production because of rising operational cost, especially in the manner they produce their bags. I wanted to learn more about the brand to share with you, so I reached out to founder Marco to ask him some questions as well as spotlight a new brand for you to discover.
Admittedly, Marco hasn’t spent a lot of money on fancy ad campaigns to showcase his designs. Personally I’d love to see his bags in person to touch, hold, and inspect – a bag in my hands does more, especially for a brand I don’t know, than simply reviewing online. What I can tell you is that thousands of forum members have become devout Massaccesi lovers.
The designs are clean and from the photos you can tell the leather is incredibly luxurious. The brand name can be spotted on the bags, but not in an in-your-face type of way. My personal favorites are the Aurora, Luna, Zhoe Legend, and Rua Angelica.
Tell us about how you got started in the handbag world:
I officially started working with my father in 1990, when I was 18. Actually I started learning how to work leather when I was still a baby. My father retired at the end of 2001 and I started managing Pelletteria Massaccesi at the beginning of 2002. At that time we were external manufacturers for some of the most famous Italian fashion designers and for 2 different companies specialized in bespoke handbags production. To create my own brand has been a sort of natural evolution of our technical growth other than our deep knowledge of all traditional skills needed to produce a high quality leather handbag. I know the fashion accessories market very deeply and I know how today it is ruled by twisted rules that I don’t share, so I’ve managed my Massaccesi company with a business philosophy that, since the very first day, has been somewhat unique. I’m totally convinced that profit can’t rule everything. There are some kind of crafts that can exist just if they’re built on an incredibly big love, passion and respect for what you’ve become able to do. It’s like a treasure that you receive, you take care of and you leave to your co-workers for the future. To work this way requires a total and deep devotion but I feel every day that each person who receives a bespoke bag from us somehow feels a bit of that devotion. I think that this is what makes Massaccesi so different and unique. Here at MM to make each customer proud to carry one of our bags is a sort of mantra. It’s our first rule, always. That’s why we take care of our customers 7 days a week, often even when here in Italy is late night. We have a profound respect of our customers so each little request, each detail becomes important to us and we do all that is possible to create what each woman expects from us, not what we want them to carry.
I’m totally convinced that profit can’t rule everything.
PB: You’ve faced financial hardships recently. Can you share a bit about that and your future plans?
I can’t hide that, from a financial point of view, my way of working is too “customer oriented” and not very profitable. This has limited so much the possibility to invest in marketing and our market raised extremely less than it could have done. During summer 2018 it seemed that there was no financial hope for MM and I was ready to close the company. When I announced that we had to stop accepting orders we received such a big quantity of orders from our customers that I had to put on hold any decision. Customers reaction has been so strong, intense and heartwarming that it became evident that it would have been crazy to stop such a fascinating and addictive project like my Massaccesi Handbags one.
Today I’m obviously still trying to find financial support for the company but MM customers support remains huge so it has been possible to restart creating new styles, to restart working on the website, to do a bit of marketing and to work on new interesting new projects for AW 2019-20 season.
Prices for the bags I saw are all under €500. Marco is offering PurseBlog readers a 20% off code until October 6th. Enter PURSEBLOG (all caps) at checkout to receive 20% off your order! Shop Massaccessi handbags at this link and keep in mind you can email Marco, [email protected], as he offers basic personalizations as well.
