Swaine Adeney Brigg, the St James's Street retailer of luxury leather goods and supplier to the Royal Family since the early 1800s, is known for classic umbrellas and equestrian accessories.

Today heralds a new departure for the company. On board The Orient- Express Train, the former accessories designer to Alexander McQueen, Dominic Laurelli, will unveil a luxury travel collection.

The launch of Laurelli's refined and stylish designs signals the beginning of Swaine Adeney Brigg's journey towards more contemporary collections. The latest designs combine new, lightweight technologies with soft luxury leather. The result: unstructured luggage collections for young professionals.

With a provenance for traditional leather goods (earned over the last 250 years) this Royal Warrant holder is now hand crafting British-made, contemporary luggage. A handful of Britain's fashion journalists are now poised to preview these beautiful new pieces on board The Orient-Express Train: an appropriate setting befitting a new voyage.

Whilst maintaining its hallmark of supreme craftsmanship and flawless elegance, Swaine Adeney Brigg's new collections strip away superfluous detail to reveal a refined simplicity.

Paying homage to 1920's and 30's luxury travel, the new brown soft leather luggage collection embodies exclusivity, heritage and a return to refined tastes in a modern world.

Consisting of lightweight holdalls for both business and leisure travel, the collection marks several new developments for the company: the use of hi-tech construction materials; the addition of wheeled luggage and lightweight modern suitcases.
The main body of each bag is constructed from traditional, natural soft saddle leather -tanned with a natural vegetable extract. (This environmentally-friendly process has long been used by Swaine Adeney: decades before a Green Revolution.)

Stripes and ribbons of valour
Whilst Laurelli treats the 20s & 30s nuances of his soft brown leather collection in an abstract and conceptual sense, his striped luggage collection eschews the conceptual in favour of the visual.

The visual is born from the practical: in a sea of suitcases, how does one identify one's own luggage? The aristocracy came up with an answer to this eternal conundrum: you paint your own heraldic colours on trunks and cases. As did travellers venturing east on ocean liners and trains, Laurelli leads modern travellers to painted stripes. The Lord Lyons' Collection of soft brown leather is the result.

The strong visual identifier of stripes, a nostalgic and classic detail, is reborn into a 21st Century context.

The colours of the stripes on The Lord Lyons' Collection are themselves significant. They relate to the ribbons of the medals awarded in the Crimean War: a reflection of the company's long-standing reputation as a supplier to the British Army and Royal Navy. Indeed, Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons, G.C.B., K.C.H. was a British naval commander and diplomat who led a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, which culminated with the Crimean War.

Designer, Dominic Laurelli, explains: “The collection draws together the traditional skills and craftsmanship of the brand with modern materials and concepts to create true luxury products that are effortlessly modern.”

Women Business Travellers
In direct response to Focus Groups held in-store this October with leading British businesswomen, comes a lightweight business attaché case.

Great attention has been paid to the Focus Groups' feedback: a rounded, soft leather handle ensures comfort when carrying, whilst a longer leather shoulder strap ensures portability. The attaché case is light yet sturdy too: a re-enforced carbon fibre frame, handmade in the Cambridge workshops, provides a hidden, rigid core.

This round-cornered attaché case takes a two-tone approach, created in black and tan (a combination never before seen from Swaine Adeney). It brings contrasting features to the forefront, making this a statement piece at sotto voce.

Referred to as “a beautiful, well-thought out business case, perfect for a professional woman – both practical but with a modern, edgy style” (Anna Nash, The Orient- Express), this prototype product is now being rolled out as a key collection for Swaine Adeney Brigg.

Luxurious Indulgence

When travelling in style with Swaine Adeney Brigg, luxury is never far behind. The new classic Champagne Trunk ensures the bottle is kept secure, at the right temperature and beautifully presented - whatever the occasion.

Created with solid brass fittings, boasting a stainless steel cooler and housed in a case of the finest quality hide, this truly refined piece is an extension into lifestyle products for the luxury leather goods company.

Swaine Adeney Brigg is now working to a reservations list, to create these hand made items that have been pre-ordered by a number of clients.

These new collections promise to spark a highly exciting time in the already illustrious history of Swaine Adeney Brigg, as the company develops its journey with quintessentially British, luxury products.

Expect to see many more of these exciting new ranges in the coming weeks and months.

Swaine Adeney Brigg’s London store is located at:
54, St James’s Street
London SW1A 1JT