The Interview: Luisa de Paula on her fashion journey from buying for Selfridges and Liberty to wholesaling Minnessak

When fashion industry folk hear the name Luisa de Paula many will remember her days heading up buying teams at Selfridges, Liberty and My Wardrobe. However, since 2013 she has been on the other side of the fence, most notably as a sales agent for Turkish bag brand Manu Atelier for over seven years, getting it into the finest stores in the world.

Now comes another new challenge, heading up women’s sales for London-based sustainable brand Minnessak, which focuses on bags made from deadstock MA-1 flight jackets – mainly from the 80s and 90s – with trims made from vintage leather jackets and deadstock Swiss-made Riri zips. She tells us all about the twists and turns of her fashion journey so far and how she has landed in this latest role.

For those who aren’t familiar with you, how would sum up your fashion industry journey so far?

In terms of department store roles, my last was at Liberty for three years between 2003 to 2006 as Fashion Director – buying across men’s, women’s and accessories. At the time I arrived at Liberty it had kind of fallen off the radar. My job was to reconnect the customer to the store, update the brand portfolio and deliver refurbishments - respecting the fact it’s a grade one listed building. The ultimate goal was to increase revenue while also understanding that the Liberty customer and store has a unique heritage and point of view. Previous to that, I was at Selfridges for 10 years, where I was Buyer Manager of Women’s Contemporary, Casual and Spirit. I revamped the Spirit area which housed high street brands - bringing in Topshop with its London Fashion Week kudos, mixing in own buy and integrating a DJ into the space for retail theatre. Contemporary was a melting pot of commercial brands like Maharishi, which also included ‘The Lab’ – an area made up of London Fashion Week and emerging brands with cool concepts and design. I actually started in menswear at Selfridges and was in charge of men’s contemporary for five years. That was the first area to have designer brands in the store, during the first ‘Master Plan’ refurbishment where I negotiated the onboarding of the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Vivienne Westwood and Helmut Lang.

What followed Liberty?

I was headhunted by My Wardrobe and taken on as Buying and Merchandising Director. That was 2008, when online retailing was just beginning. Yes, there was Net-a-Porter at the luxury end and ASOS at the mass market end, but nothing much else and none of the department stores or independents were online at that time. My Wardrobe was created to really fill that gap in the middle. There was literally just me and a head buyer in my department at the start. I had to build the infrastructure for new buying and merchandising teams, recruit buyers and define and implement processes in the new digital space. Suddenly I was buying for online not for a physical space. It was daunting but quite exciting at the same time.

Luckily, because I’d been at Selfridges, I always had to really think on my feet, and I’d already done that transfer to Liberty which was taking all my experience and then adapting it for a new store. My Wardrobe was just another variant of the customer retail experience. However, the biggest thing that I realised was that suddenly the consumer had more power. They could search for something online and compare styles, prices, brands and colours across retailers. It was a shift in emphasis from the buyer being more in control of the retail experience, and it was suddenly much more competitive.

I was at My Wardrobe for five years up to 2013 and in that time it grew exponentially. The consumer really adapted to it quite quickly as it was so convenient. You could get things delivered to your workplace or home and shopping was not constricted to shop opening hours. It was a 24/7 shopping experience, and it was very liberating.

What state was My Wardrobe in when you left compared to when you started?

I think when I started it was turning over less than £500,000 a year and by the time I left it was doing millions. We built separate womenswear and menswear divisions which fulfilled a unique gap in the nascent online space. Sadly, it lost its financial viability and closed two years after I left.

What was your next move after My Wardrobe?

I thought it was time to go freelance as I wanted to have a bit more freedom in how I operated. I did quite a big project for eBay that lasted about eight months consulting on and onboarding brands for a new marketplace site powered by eBay at the back end, with a contemporary fascia to house the premium brands they were trying to onboard. Unfortunately, there was a change of CEO who didn’t believe in the concept, so it never went ahead. It was a little bit of lack of foresight really, especially when you look at where the sustainability and pre-loved market is now.

How did your first sales role come about with Manu Atelier?

As Buying Director at Boticca.com, which was a marketplace for accessories. We did a press trip to Istanbul to show how we discovered new brands. It was there that I found Manu Atelier, which handcrafted premium leather bags. It was set up by sisters Beste and Merve, whose father had been a leather master craftsman for over 50 years. They had literally just launched it, and I loved it. They had this one hero bag that was shaped almost like a binoculars bag called ‘Pristine’, with a very simple arrow logo. It was just beautifully made out of vegetable tan leather and, when you opened it, the inside had a contrast colour. I instantly knew it had the potential to be a big brand. I’d never seen a bag like that. I thought the price point, quality and the brand story was spot on.

They had launched the brand in 2014, and I met them in 2015. They only had one stockist in Turkey at the time. I knew then that working with Boticca.com wasn’t the right fit for me and I just had this gut feeling about Manu Atelier. When you’re a buyer, you always have to sell as well, so you are buying first and foremost but you are within the whole retail selling cycle and journey. I just said to them that I thought their brand could be huge. They didn’t know how the whole fashion industry worked.  I asked if they wanted to go international with it. I said I could launch it for them in Paris and they agreed. Our first selling season was for SS16.

I also knew the head of women’s accessories at Selfridges at the time, Elena Robinson. She also saw the potential in Manu Atelier, so we gave them the global exclusive launch. I ended up staying with Manu Atelier as a sales agent for seven years. It just grew and grew and became my only client. We had about 60-70 accounts - the best accounts internationally including Harrods, La Bon Marche, Lane Crawford, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, United Arrows, Beams and so on. They decided to take the wholesale operation in-house a couple of years ago and it was time for me to take a break. Now I’m coming back into the game with Minnessak, because it’s quite hard to stay away from it!

Who is behind Minnessak, when was it founded and what does it consist of?

Minnessak bags are hand made in east London out of deadstock and vintage MA-1 flying jackets by designer Jas Sehmbi, who had a successful leather bag brand by the name of Jas M.B. for many years – which I used to buy for Selfridges and also for Liberty. He has partnered with entrepreneur Peter Keep on this new brand, which they founded in 2023. Minnessak means keepsake in Swedish.

How did your involvement heading up women’s sales come about?

I’ve known menswear sales agent Robert Excell for many years and he was selling the men’s bags, but he didn’t have as much experience in womenswear – so that’s why he brought me in. Like all the other changes I’ve made, this was quite different, but it just seemed to chime with the times. Though it’s a much over used term, it is a sustainable brand, as it’s all about recycling and repurposing deadstock MA-1 jackets and turning them into great bags. I love the product and I think it’s very now.

How do the men’s bags differ to the women’s?

Some of them are exactly the same, so we’ve just ring fenced some that we believe have greater appeal for women. It can be just about proportion, as there are quite a lot of larger bags which are not so good for womenswear. But some are unisex, such as a style called ‘Backup’ – which is a tote as well as a backpack. It’s one I personally wear. It retails for £454. But we’ve also made a smaller version called  ‘Mini Backup’ (£364), which is really for women. Another style is the large ‘Tote’, which is such a great bag and features the MA-1 zip-up sleeve pocket on the side. That appeals to both men and women.

Have you also had some design input?

I’ve had some input as I worked with Jas on making some bags that are much more womenswear focused, such as a style called ‘Winginit’, which comes in three sizes. It can be carried in five different ways. It’s based on one of Jas’s earlier designs for his original brand, Jas M.B., which he created in 2001, but we’ve tweaked it.

We’ve also developed a couple of other styles for women, such as ‘Not a Patch’, made out of MA-1 nylon and vintage leather. It’s a small bag perfect for carrying a mobile phone, keys and some make-up. There’s also the ‘In Flight’ style. I’d say around 80% of the collection is unisex, though there are now about eight styles specifically for women.

What about the more elaborate designs?

They are made out of vintage Obi (the wraparound material used to fasten a kimono) from Japan, with leather trims. There’s about 15-20 different prints. Jas can only get around eight bags out of each Obi when he cuts them up. So, they are very limited edition and retail for about £500 each.

Is this really just the start of the push for Minnessak women’s?

Minnessak launched in September 2023 and I only came on board at the end of last season really, so I’ve not had a proper run at it yet. We did take it to the last Scoop show in London, but it wasn’t really the right show for us. Robert has only been selling the men’s offer for about a year and a key UK stockist is END., so that gives an indication of the profile of retailer we are looking at. On men’s, there is also currently about 20 accounts in Japan, 10 in America, as well as some in Germany, Italy and France, and the best store in Taiwan. From my perspective, for womenswear you’ve really got to hit the pre-collection business because that’s when buyers have most budget. I should know!

Getting Minnessak into END., is a great start, but where else you would like to see it?

I’d love to see it in Selfridges because they have a very sustainable ethos. I’d also like to see it sold by Browns Fashion, Mytheresa, La Bon Marche, Saks and all the best boutiques around the world. There’s loads of amazing international boutiques that do really good business. I think there’s a swing back to boutiques that really know and service their customer. Sometimes, the bigger players get so big it gets a little bit lost in the ether, particularly online.

What other plans are there for the brand going forward design-wise?

What’s very interesting is they are in talks with other brands who have deadstock materials that Jas will then convert and repurpose into bags. There are lots of businesses sat on deadstock materials, or product that is doing nothing, so we’re in conversation with lots of other brands, including one of the biggest Japanese denim brands.

What’s the goal for the next round of selling?

I think it’s just to get it in front of as many of the right retailers as possible. It’s also about telling the brand story and concept. Minnessak will be showing at the forthcoming Pitti Uomo in January, in the I Go Out hall, so that will help to raise the brand’s profile and get it in front of international buyers.