Warrington’s Lorna Nixon has spent the past 13 years building her bag brand in New York and has now opened a shop in her home town where customers can create and style their own designs.
Creativity is Lorna Nixon’s bag and visitors to her new shop in Warrington can create their own designs
A little piece of New York's fashion industry is landing in the North West as a local maker expands her business back across the Atlantic.
Lorna Nixon from Warrington has spent the past 13 years building her bag brand in Brooklyn. An internship led to a role as senior designer across leading houses in the historic Fashion District before taking the big leap to launch her own venture called I Made That Bag.
Lorna’s idea was born from her years of experience in the industry along with her fine making skill set obtained from the prestigious Cordwainers in London whose alumni include Jimmy Choo.
I Made That Bag allows customers to build their own bag, from easy to make DIY kits through to a range of finished accessories that pair interchangeable pouches, allowing them to freely style and build their own bag.
The roots of the brand were all about DIY, make your own accessories, hence the name. The idea of passing on these age-old skills of leathercraft in an accessible way is Lorna's small nod of appreciation to a craft that has allowed her to flourish in New York. The maker can gain a new insight into handmade goods, the time and effort that goes into the craft and also learn a fun new skill and hobby.
Quality of materials and design integrity has always been top priority for Lorna who sources fine materials from Italy and round Europe and makes sure no scraps are wasted. Any leftovers from bags are used to create fun smaller accessories, the most popular of which are her dog bags that turn out as unique as your four-legged friends.
Lorna is a former student at Great Sankey High School and later Priestley College where her passion for all things art saw her land top marks. In 2009 at the age of 19, and a novice when it came to bags, a sketch landed her in the Independent Handbag Awards in New York. With little to no experience in the field, she painstakingly brought the design to life and scooped top prize and received sponsorship with Swarovksi, launching and selling out of her debut first collection in their stores in London, New York and Shanghai.
In 2010 Lorna was shortlisted again for the Independent Handbag Awards and was scouted by a leading accessories company. What began as a three-month internship quickly turned into a thriving career which saw her become senior design title at the age of 25. Her years spent in the industry were valuable for her to grow and learn, however she felt stifled behind a computer when she possessed the maker skills.
Taking the leap in 2016 she left the corporate world and spent a year working with a hub of shoe makers in the heart of Brooklyn called Brooklyn Shoe Space, gaining access to the machinery and space needed to bring bags to life, as well as the much-needed community that shares a passion for making. It was during this time Lorna garnered a whole new appreciation for locally made products.
She said: 'It's incredibly important to support your local businesses, there is so much power in where you choose to spend your money. It's pretty amazing to be able to talk to and meet the person that has hand made the product.’
Within a year of launching I Made That Bag, the brand was picked up by a major retailer in Chelsea, New York and landed a partnership with Snoopy. The launch was so successful the retailers reached out to partner two times over when they expanded and took over a floor of Macys leading flagship store, with a dedicated space inviting customers to take part in making their own brand on site.
The brand has continued to grow, even during lockdown when the DIY kits were a huge success as so many found themselves at home. During the pandemic, Lorna dedicated her spare hours using her machinery to cut over 50,000 masks while working with a local makers group to stitch and distribute them to those in need.
In 2021 she was invited to participate in an episode of television show Project Runway, where I Made That Bag was selected as one of the top emerging accessories brands. The episode was provided as a platform for smaller businesses that survived through Covid and came out thriving on the other side. During this episode Lorna introduced her higher end The Moda collection, which received rave reviews from fans of the show and beyond. This collection opened the door for Lorna to create more wearable art pieces.
The flagship I Made That Bag concept store is Cairo Street, in the centre of Warrington. As well as shop-able accessories there is a dedicated space for hosting bag making parties and events.
