A welcome excess baggage

MANILA, Philippines - It may not have the most classically Italian- sounding name — blame the post-war pro-American exuberant spirit of the ‘50s for that — but Bric’s embodies the very Italian heritage of fine materials and exquisite bag craftsmanship.

“When my father Mario Briccola founded this company in 1952, he immediately identified the brand name with the words industria, valigeria, fine: industry, travel luggage, and quality,” Bric’s commercial director Attilio Briccola says as he tours a small media group around the brand’s boutique at the Shangri-La Mall’s new East Wing. Briccola has been flying all over Asia for the past two months, overseeing Bric’s expansion into the Asian market. His last stop before Manila was Jakarta; the day after this tour, he’ll be off talking to more press people at Bric’s second store in the Philippines, located at the freshly opened SM Aura Premiere.

“Travel luggage has always been at the core of our brand, and that is how the market recognizes us,” he continues. “But of course, it’s important to combine function with fashion.”

“Fashion” doesn’t mean trendy shapes, silhouettes, and colors. While Bric’s releases seasonal collections twice a year (spring/summer and fall/winter), their basic catalogue released every January makes up 70 percent of the business. And in their basic catalogue, style is played up through the material of choice.

Their classic Life collection, a line-up of chic handbags as well as traveling luggage (coumpound trolleys, shoulder and wheeled carry-ons, and business briefcases), is known for its signature material. The soft PVC and cotton blend looks as expensive as leather, with the added felt-like texture adding sensual luxury to each bag. “It looks delicate but is strong and waterproof,” Briccola remarks. He proceeds to demonstrate the material’s durability by zipping open a Life wheeled carry-on. With the bag open, he folds and rolls up the distended flap, then releases his grip; the material springs back to its original form, and everyone oohs and ahs.

“Because the material is flexible, durable, and can stand on its own, the luggage doesn’t come with any frame anymore, making it light and ideal for travel at about 2.8 kilos,” Briccola says. “We combine the PVC with cotton with other compound materials, making each luggage very light yet stable.”

Another chic factor is Bric’s signature leather. Sourced from Tuscany, the natural vegetable leather ages over time. Briccola runs his hand over a tan Life Pelle tote. “Natural leather isn’t perfect-looking all the time,” he explains. “Since the leather we use has been treated for two months, it becomes shinier and darker through use.” Though he concedes that the overall uniformity of synthetic leather is preferred by some people, Bric’s  takes pride in the patina that their leather acquires.

The signature leather is a constant across all of Bric’s collections, either as accents and trimmings or as the main material. “This makes it easy to mix and match our bags,” Briccola says. He puts side by side a Life handbag, a Sintesis trolley (made of high quality polycarbonate that is as flexible and durable as the PVC and cotton blend), and a nylon X Bag; the tan leather trimmings somehow make the disparate combination look cohesive. “We understand that with different kinds of travel, people need different kinds of luggage made of different materials. With this signature leather, they don’t need to worry about buying just one style for all of their bags.”

Bric’s colors also remain on the sensibly chic side. “For the past 17 years, olive has been the most important color in our Life collection,” Briccola shares. “We use three basic colors: olive, camel and green. But for a seasonal collections, we introduce a new color for our bags.” For the S/S ‘13 line-up, Life handbags also come in sweet shades of dust blue, honey and white.

“We don’t really come out with trendy designs,” he admits. “Our handbags still maintain an everyday functionality.” What Bric’s does research on and plays around with, aside from the materials they use, is how they can stretch the use of their bags into beyond what is expected. The aforementioned X Bag, for example, is as much a way of carting around stuff as it is a design concept. “It’s three bags in one,” Briccola describes. Through strategically placed clasps and closures, the nylon handbag can easily become a shoulder bag and even a tote with a strap that is worn across the body. Briccola opens the bag to reveal a detachable pouch; inside it is another leather strap. “That’s actually four bags in one,” he says with a laugh. The X Bag comes, naturally, with Bric’s signature leather trimmings.

Though 70 percent of Bric’s market  is comprised of women, the company also recognizes the growing men’s market. Eight years ago, the luggage brand collaborated with Pininfarina, a famous car design company in Italy that is best known for their work with Ferrari, Maserati, Peugeot, Alpha Romeo, and many more. Designed for men, the Bric’s Pininfarina collection carries trolleys, wheeled carry-ons, briefcases, backpacks, and shoulder bags. Their nylon material, in no-fail coal black, is reinforced with another kind of nylon, one that is used in fishing lines, and their zipper closures are waterproof. No-nonsense at a glance, the collection reveals the design savvy of the two brands behind it through its luxurious details — including that signature leather patch, this time in black.

The collaboration was the first of a number of partnerships that Bric’s would soon make. After a successful tie-up with Italian liqueur brand Campari for the latter’s 150th anniversary in 2010, there came the Bric’s Missoni collection of travel luggage, featuring the fashion brand’s iconic zigzag print. “It was a collaboration that was meant to last for two years; we concluded it last December after a very good reception,” Briccola says. The latest fashion-geared collaboration for the brand is one with the Central Saint Martins-trained Francesca Versace, daughter of Santo Versace and niece of Donatella and the late Gianni Versace; the patterned FV Bags were released last February at the Bric’s flagship stores and selected specialty shops.

The bag business has remained very much within the family; the Briccola patriarch remains the company’s de facto president, with the various aspects of the business divided between seven of his eight children. Attilio Briccola, second to the youngest, has the job of working closely with Bric’s Asian distributors in order to strengthen the brand’s presence in the growing Asian market. “The US is still our biggest market, but South Korea is now our fourth biggest for both travel luggages and handbags,” he reveals — a good sign for a two-year-old expansion. Last November, they opened their first Bangkok store, and barely two weeks ago, one in Jakarta. In China, Bric’s already has three boutiques (at Shanghai, Yiwu, and Guangzhou).

Funny enough, Briccola is optimistic about the possibility of his family’s brand entering the pantheon of counterfeited luxury brands. “Well, I hope they try to copy our bags because that means we’re doing well, right?” he says, laughing.

Of course, some things can never be duplicated.

* * *

Bric’s has boutique stores at level 2/3 of the new  East Wing of Shangri-La Plaza Mall and at the ground floor of SM Aura Premier. Visit www.brics.it.