BrandBritish
Mulberry
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A kitchen table, £500 from his mother, and the memory of mulberry trees lining his route to school. That was all Roger Saul had when he founded Mulberry in 1971, but it proved enough to launch what would become Britain's most distinctive luxury leather goods house. From the start, the brand's identity was rooted in the English countryside, not the manicured kind, but the working landscape of hunting, shooting, and fishing that Saul translated into rugged, beautifully made bags and accessories. His sister designed the tree logo that remains the company's emblem, and by 1973 the first factory had opened in Chilcompton, Somerset, an area already steeped in leather craft through its association with Clarks shoes.
The early Mulberry was a lifestyle brand with a distinctly rural English accent. Poacher bags, binocular cases, and dispatch bags drew on field sports heritage, and the phrase "Le Style Anglais" became the house's unofficial motto from 1975. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Mulberry expanded steadily but remained something of a well-kept British secret. The real transformation came in the 2000s, when a succession of creative directors turned the brand into a global handbag powerhouse. Nicholas Knightly introduced the Bayswater in 2003, a structured tote named after the London district, built around the signature postman's lock and Mulberry's vegetable-tanned leather. It became an instant classic and remains the house's most recognizable design. Stuart Vevers, who joined as creative director in 2005 and won British Accessory Designer of the Year in 2006, further sharpened the brand's appeal before departing for Loewe.
The most dramatic chapter came under Emma Hill, creative director from 2007 to 2013. Hill spotted British style icon Alexa Chung carrying a Mulberry Elkington men's briefcase and redesigned it into the Alexa bag, launched in 2010. The effect was seismic: handbag sales surged 80%, Mulberry won Designer Brand of the Year, and pre-tax profits jumped 207%. The Alexa, the Lily, and refreshed Bayswater editions made Mulberry a fixture of London Fashion Week and a serious competitor to Continental luxury houses. Johnny Coca succeeded Hill in 2015, introducing the Amberley and Iris collections during a five-year tenure.
What sets Mulberry apart from many luxury competitors is its commitment to domestic manufacturing. The company operates two factories in Somerset, The Rookery in Chilcompton (opened 1989) and The Willows, both carbon-neutral since 2019. Craftspeople in these workshops develop and produce many of the brand's leather goods by hand, and a dedicated Lifetime Service Centre at The Rookery restores pre-loved Mulberry pieces, reflecting the company's "Made to Last" philosophy. The brand has positioned itself around durability and circular fashion rather than disposable luxury. More recently, Mulberry navigated a turbulent ownership period: majority shareholder Challice, controlled by Singaporean entrepreneurs Christina Ong and Ong Beng Seng, rejected a £111 million takeover bid from Mike Ashley's Frasers Group in late 2024.
On the secondary market, Mulberry bags hold their value remarkably well. The Bayswater and Alexa remain the most traded models at Nordic auction houses including Kaplans Auktioner, Bukowskis, and Stockholms Auktionsverk. Vintage pieces in oak or congo leather, particularly in classic colorways, attract consistent bidding. On Auctionist, Mulberry items appear primarily through Scandinavian auction houses, with top results for well-preserved Bayswater bags reaching SEK 13,500. The brand's durability ethos means older pieces often surface in excellent condition, making them reliable lots for houses specializing in fashion and accessories.