IN THE BAG: Since she was a child, Aimee Kestenberg harbored a love for design. She’s now making a mint off her handbag line. (
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There’s a reason Aimee Kestenberg hasn’t fallen victim to the quarter-life crisis: The 26-year-old handbag designer simply hasn’t had the time. The Melbourne, Australia, native arrived in New York City in 2007 to take on a flurry of classes, internships and jobs that culminated in November with the launch of her namesake line.
“My brand is really designed for women who love fashion and want to be trendy but don’t want to spend $1,000,” Kestenberg says of her bags, which are priced between $128 and $350. Fusing her backgrounds in design and fashion, they’re marked by vibrant, screen-printed leathers and a versatility that makes them good for everyday use. She draws inspiration from designers she interned under, including Alexander McQueen and Ralph Lauren — the former for revolutionizing fashion with his against-the-grain aesthetic, and the latter for transforming his label into a universal fashion empire.
Sold at Macy’s and on QVC, the label is set to do $10 million in sales in its first year — a testament to the design skills and business acumen the Murray Hill resident has honed since childhood.
“My grandma was a seamstress, and every time I was at her house, she would teach me a trick of the trade,” recalls Kestenberg. “By the time I was 8, I could sew my own garments and embroider by hand.” Coupled with the buying and negotiating skills she learned from her father — a giftware importer who often took her on business trips to Asia — an entrepreneur was born.
“When I was 10 or 11, my parents got called in by [my school’s] principal because during lunch I was selling bracelets I’d made to all the kids,” she laughs. “I was interested in making a profit — I didn’t realize that was problematic!”
Though her schoolyard business was shuttered, Kestenberg’s parents still encouraged her creativity, enrolling her in weekend classes where she studied oil painting and drawing. Kestenberg then majored in industrial design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She still felt like something was missing — but in 2006, a big clue would come by way of Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn.
“At the time, ‘Project Runway’ had just launched in Australia, and it was this huge phenomenon,” Kestenberg recalls. It inspired her to apply to Parsons and, after a brief stint studying product design, she transferred to the school’s fashion department and was quickly drawn to accessories.
“Accessories are so much more important than apparel, because that’s what makes your look,” she says. “You can wear the most terrible outfit, but if you have the most fabulous bag, shoes and bracelet, no one’s going to notice your clothes.”
Kestenberg capitalized on every opportunity, including holding an internship at Jill Stuart, which resulted in the rising star being tapped to help design the label’s accessories collections for the fall 2009 and spring/summer 2010 seasons.
“I was absolutely animalistic about learning as much as I could,” she says.
At the same time, the young designer was still tackling a full course load and completing a three-year apprenticeship with the House of Couture — makers of luxury runway accessories for designers like Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta.
In April 2010, a few months shy of completing her second BFA, Kestenberg won an Independent Handbag Designer Award for Best Use of Crystallized¢ Swarovski Elements. Inspired by the Australian waters, the winning design garnered widespread attention, and after graduation, Kestenberg was hired by consumer goods group Li & Fung to launch some of their handbag lines. On her first day, she met strategist Sean Elan in the elevator, who would later become her business partner — and the man she’s set to wed next year in Melbourne.
Following her Li & Fung gig, Kestenberg briefly designed bags for Vince Camuto — but last year, she decided she was ready to break out on her own.
“I was working nights and weekends on the floor in my little apartment,” she says, “with sketches and leathers spread out [that defined] what my vision was and what I wanted my brand to be.”
Kestenberg pitched her label to industry vet Jay Adoni, who was quick to invest.
In the eight months since, Kestenberg’s life has been a whirlwind of sales, accolades and more of what she says made everything possible: hard work.
“A lot of people look at me and say, ‘Oh my God! Her success came so easy,’ ” Kestenberg says. “But I had no life outside of work for six years.”
Today, the young entrepreneur is designing three lines from her Garment District studio under her eponymous label, Aimee Kestenberg — sold at Macy’s and debuting at Nordstrom later this month — as well as the Aimee Kestenberg Collection for QVC and Aimee Kestenberg Couture, a high-end collection she’s developing for boutiques and luxury department stores.
Her advice for young entrepreneurs is simple: “It’s important that no matter how minute the experience or the job, to always give it 110 percent,” she says. And she would know: “One time, when I was at Ralph Lauren, they asked me to spend an entire day rolling belts and putting them in a closet. So I literally spent 10 hours [doing that]. It was a test, but I was totally positive and humble. And by the end of the day, that closet was the best-looking closet you’d ever seen!”