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Mulberry is a British luxury fashion house founded in Somerset in 1971 and best known internationally for its leather bags, accessories and enduring commitment to British craftsmanship. From the Bayswater and Alexa to its contemporary collections, the company has built a distinctive identity around beautifully made products that feel refined without becoming overly formal. Its creative world draws together two sides of British life: the practicality and natural beauty of the countryside and the energy, individuality and cultural confidence of London.
More than five decades after its creation, Mulberry remains closely associated with leatherwork, purposeful design and products intended to develop character over time. Although the house now offers a broader lifestyle range including luggage, footwear, jewellery, eyewear, soft accessories and ready-to-wear leather goods, they continue to form the centre of its design and commercial identity.
The Mulberry story began around the Saul family’s kitchen table. Roger Saul’s father worked for a shoe manufacturer and brought home leather offcuts, which the young designer transformed into belts and chokers. Saul sold these early pieces at Portobello Market in London and established Mulberry with £500 provided by his mother, Joan. The money was used for stationery and a supply of belt buckles imported from France, while Joan oversaw production from the family garage in Somerset.
The business was shaped by the family from the outset. Roger Saul concentrated on design and marketing, his sister Rosemary created the Mulberry tree emblem, and his wife, Monty Saul, appeared both on the catwalk and in the factory. The tree motif, which remains one of the most recognisable elements of the brand, expressed the company’s connection with nature, Englishness and its Somerset origins.
That combination of town and country became central to Mulberry’s character. Saul moved regularly between Somerset and London, developing a perspective that could accommodate country practicality and metropolitan fashion within the same collection. In 1975, the house presented Hunting, Shooting, Fishing, a range influenced by English outdoor traditions. Blouson jackets, saddlery leather and netted bags gave the collection a rugged but polished quality, helping Mulberry secure the Queen’s Award for Export in 1979.
Mulberry introduced its first bag collection in 1981. The following year, it opened its first boutique on Gees Court, near Oxford Street in London, followed by a store in Paris. A first runway show in Paris came in 1993, presenting Mulberry not simply as an accessories company but as a broader expression of modern British style. In 1996, Mulberry Group plc was admitted to the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market, or AIM.
The company had already begun developing a lifestyle dimension. Mulberry Life, launched in 1990, explored fashion, culture and craft through the brand’s own editorial perspective. This wider cultural outlook helped establish a principle that continues to define Mulberry: the idea that luxury can be cultivated through atmosphere, usefulness and personality rather than through formality alone.
Mulberry’s international identity has been shaped by a succession of bags that balance recognisable design with practical construction. Among the most important is the Bayswater, introduced in 2003 under the creative direction of Nicholas Knightly. Structured but not rigid, and finished with the house’s Postman’s Lock, the Bayswater became a lasting symbol of British handbag design. Its spacious form, restrained detailing and emphasis on leather allowed it to move comfortably between professional, everyday and more polished settings.
The Alexa followed during Emma Hill’s tenure as creative director. Inspired by Alexa Chung’s use of a vintage Mulberry Elkington briefcase, the design combined the informality of a satchel with elements drawn from the company’s leather-working heritage. Launched in 2010, it became closely associated with a period in which British personal style, individual, relaxed and slightly unconventional, held considerable international influence.
Other creative leaders have brought their own interpretations of the Mulberry vocabulary. Stuart Vevers, Emma Hill and Johnny Coca each contributed to the development of the house’s modern image. Coca, appointed in 2015, revisited Mulberry’s archives, restored a 1970s version of its logo and introduced designs including the Amberley and Iris families. His work demonstrated how the company’s heritage could be referenced without becoming static or overly nostalgic.
Collaboration has provided another way for Mulberry to examine its design codes. For its 50th anniversary in 2021, the Mulberry Editions programme invited designers including Priya Ahluwalia, Nicholas Daley, Richard Malone and Stefan Cooke to reinterpret pieces from the house. A 2023 collaboration with Paul Smith similarly brought together two distinctive perspectives on British colour, utility and creative independence.
Mulberry describes itself as the United Kingdom’s largest manufacturer of luxury leather goods. Its two Somerset factories, the Rookery, opened in 1989, and the Willows, opened in 2013, produce approximately half of the company’s bags. This domestic manufacturing presence is especially significant in a global luxury market where many traditional production skills have become increasingly concentrated outside Britain.
Inside the Somerset factories, leather is cut, prepared, assembled and finished through a combination of specialised equipment and skilled handwork. The process requires a close understanding of material behaviour: different leathers stretch, fold, soften and hold structure in different ways. Hardware must align precisely, edges must be finished cleanly, and each component must work as part of a durable whole.
Mulberry has supported the continuation of these skills through its leather-goods manufacturing apprenticeship programme, established in 2006 in partnership with Bridgwater & Taunton College. Apprentices can progress into specialist craft roles as well as areas such as product development, planning and market support. The programme represents more than professional training; it helps retain manufacturing knowledge within Somerset and pass it from one generation of makers to the next.
The brand’s connection with Somerset is therefore operational as well as symbolic. The region is not simply the setting of Mulberry’s origin story. It remains an active centre of production, repair, customer service and specialist knowledge.
Longevity is one of the clearest links between Mulberry’s craftsmanship and its approach to responsible luxury. The company’s Made to Last framework is based on the belief that a well-designed product should remain useful, desirable and repairable for many years.
Mulberry operates a Lifetime Service Centre in Somerset, where experienced craftspeople undertake work ranging from relatively small repairs to extensive restorations. A bag with worn corners, damaged hardware or a tired lining may be carefully assessed and rejuvenated rather than automatically replaced. This service helps preserve both the functional and emotional value of products that may have been owned for many years.
The Mulberry Exchange extends that philosophy into resale. Through the programme, customers can trade eligible pre-owned Mulberry bags for credit. The returned pieces are authenticated, refurbished by the company’s specialists and offered to another owner. Pre-loved bags are therefore presented as part of the continuing life of the brand rather than as products that have reached the end of their relevance.
This circular model is particularly well suited to leather goods. Quality leather can soften, deepen in colour and acquire a distinctive patina through use. When construction is sound and repair remains possible, age can add individuality rather than simply reducing value.
Mulberry achieved B Corp Certification in August 2024, receiving an overall B Impact score of 87.1. Certification involves an assessment of governance, workers, community, environment and customers, with 80 points required to qualify. The recognition provided an independently administered measure of the company’s social and environmental practices.
Leather sourcing is central to this work. Mulberry states that its leather is obtained from environmentally accredited tanneries, recognising standards including the Leather Working Group, the Sustainable Leather Foundation and ISO 14001. It is also a founding partner of the Sustainable Leather Foundation.
One of its most closely watched material initiatives is its work with British Pasture Leather. The partnership connects British leather with hides from cattle raised on certified pasture-fed farms and explores how regenerative farming, transparent sourcing, traditional tanning and local manufacturing can be brought into a more traceable supply chain.
A limited-edition collection developed through the partnership includes designs made at the Rookery from vegetable-tanned British Pasture Leather. Rather than disguising every natural variation, the material celebrates grain, markings and tonal differences as evidence of the hide’s individual character.
Such projects suggest a direction in which material provenance can become part of luxury’s appeal. The story of a bag may encompass not only its designer and maker, but also the farm, tannery, finishing process and repair system behind it.
Mulberry entered a new creative phase in March 2026 with the appointment of Christopher Kane as creative director of women’s ready-to-wear. The Scottish designer is known for combining technical intelligence, experimentation and a distinctly British sense of wit. His appointment gives Mulberry an opportunity to expand its fashion language while maintaining its leather expertise at the centre of the house.
Kane’s first Mulberry collection is expected to be presented during London Fashion Week in September 2026, with the range scheduled to reach stores and online in January 2027. It will mark the company’s first catwalk presentation since February 2017 and a significant return to ready-to-wear.
For Mulberry, this next chapter is less about abandoning established codes than widening its possibilities. Craft, material quality, functionality, humour and British cultural references provide a substantial foundation from which clothing and accessories can evolve together.
Mulberry’s place in British fashion rests on a rare degree of continuity. Its tree emblem, Somerset factories, leather expertise and most recognisable bags all connect the contemporary company with its beginnings in 1971. Yet its history has never been defined by preservation alone. New designers, collaborations, circular services and material innovations have repeatedly brought fresh meaning to the house.
At its most characteristic, Mulberry makes luxury feel personal and usable. A bag is designed to be carried rather than merely displayed, repaired rather than readily discarded, and allowed to gather memories as it ages. That combination of beauty, practicality and emotional longevity remains one of the most persuasive expressions of the Mulberry identity and one of the reasons the house continues to occupy a distinctive position in international fashion.
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