It’s been almost a century since Moore & Giles began working with leather, but an 83-year history and traditional outlook on style hasn’t made the American label feel outdated at all. In fact the brand just released their latest collection, a series of accessories, bags and carry-ons, that feel right at home slug over the arms of today’s modern man. The label’s designer, Thomas Brennan, relies heavily on the brand’s heritage, traditional aesthetic and longstanding relationship with tanneries to create some of his contemporary pieces.
Perhaps it’s Brennan’s love of textiles, but the designer has one thing in mind when he begins to create a new collection for the brand: leather. “The leather leads the way and I am happy to follow along, designing in its wake,” he told JustLuxe. “Both the material history and the history of our own company add welcome layers of authority, grandeur, and natural beauty to our bags; my job is to simply accentuate the existing beauty of the material with understated designs that will age as well as the leather.” One glance at the new collection and its simple silhouette proves that his focus is fabric rather than form; the minimalist structure is designed to showcase the grain, patina and color of the leather.
The process starts by selecting the perfect leather for the collection, and Brennan has some of the best pieces in the world to choose from. “We are fortunate to have close relationships with a 150-year-old tannery in Italy, which means that our ‘product development’ begins with prototyping leather colors and experimenting with different finishes, various combinations of waxes and oils, milling times, and ironing treatments,” he explained. “These design decisions affect the finished product long before I ever sit down to sketch a specific silhouette. When I do sit down to design a bag, I tend towards clean exteriors, traditional shapes, discrete details—decisions that keep the natural beauty of the leather front and center.”
While the leather takes center stage, functionality and style is a close second. Tapping creatives for inspiration, he sees how men use their bags for travel, work and daily use, and converts those needs into a stylish piece that can be used for years. “I make piles of sketches on rolls of thin tracing paper that allow me to easily pull the good bits out of a sea of uneven ideas,” he noted. “As we are editing and picking apart these samples—adding a rivet, losing a corner detail, covering a zipper, playing with handle options—we are honing in on that how to fold well-considered features into a time-honored shell, looking for that timeless sweet spot between traditional style and modern convenience.” With each business trip he notes necessities and conveniences and makes changes with each collection to make pieces more adaptable for the modern man.
For those who share a passion for leather (or style), Moore & Giles does offer a bespoke program that integrates a large number of colors, grains and finishes not seen in the permanent collection. “The bespoke program is a great opportunity to see our bags in leather we love, but that are far too scarce to ever fully integrate into our main line. The leathers we offer through the program reflect the pinnacle of luxury: a collection of inconspicuously rare hides in understated colors. The leathers we’ve collected are exclusive to this program and are not available in our traditional offerings,” he explained. “Customers have covered the spectrum from understated monochromes to elaborate mixes of color. We’ve seen traditional takes on the modern shape of our slim Jay briefcase and dramatically modern updates to our classic weekend bag.”
Whether you select something from their permanent collection or decide to play designer and opt for a bespoke piece, Brennan wants it to be something that becomes a part of your wardrobe for decades. “The design process starts with us, but really picks up speed when a bag reaches a customer’s hands,” he said. “The scuffs and wear a bag accumulates over years of daily commuting, the oils on your hands, the way the back of the bag burnishes as it sits against your body: this is what makes the bag beautiful. We don’t design bags to sit on a shelf and be admired, we want them to be used. A well-loved Moore & Giles bag is the best evidence that everything gets better with age.”
