At KeriKit, we know how hard it is to be a woman in the 21st century, and thats why we are all about supporting and inspiring our amazing #Kitgirl community, to be their best selves, each and every day. With this in mind, seeking out inspiring women to learn from is our absolute favourite pastime, which is why our bags are named after some really fascinating women who blazed their own trail, and made a significant contribution to the world. 

Of course, the list of amazing women past and present is not short, so fortunately we have really been spoilt for choice, but our special women are perhaps not as well-known as other names you have heard, and we are proud to share a little bit of their story. 

Of course, for future bag designs we would love to hear your ideas for any amazing women we should consider, so please let us know your suggestions through the Kitgirl community page. If we choose your suggestion (and you were the first to suggest her) you will receive a free bag of the newly named style!! 

Our new ‘Westwood’ bag is named in honour of Vivienne Westwood, a true British style icon with a career spanning the last 50 years. She has led the way on global fashion trends and epitomises the feminist British punk rock theme.  As well as running one of the last independent global luxury fashion houses, Vivienne supports many sustainability causes. From ‘Cool Earth’ focusing on saving the rainforest and stopping climate change, to ‘Environmental Justice Foundation’, ‘Friends of the Earth’, ‘Amnesty International’ and ‘War Child’. One of the most famous quotes connected to sustainable fashion is made by Vivienne: “buy less, choose well, make it last”. Our thoughts precisely.

Our Westwood bag echoes just the same sentiment; Modern, super-sexy, with a biker style/ rock chick vibe, this bag has it all going on and it is built to take you and your Kit anywhere.  Made in two sizes so you have the perfect size holdall for everyday use and the weekender for when we finally get to travel again. This designer leather bag fuses fashion with function thanks to the two internal compartments allowing a place for tech and a roomy pocket for your daily essentials, pack lunch or baby paraphernalia.  I want you to have fun with this one ladies -release your inner rock chic and go make some amazing memories just Like Vivienne!

I have named our next new addition to the collection ‘Jones’ after Catherine Zeta Jones.  Perhaps not an obvious choice at first glance, but dig past the sex-siren Hollywood image (which I kinda love too), and you’ll find a strong, self-made British woman, using her platform of fame to champion a number of worthwhile causes. Catherine is a patron of ‘Swansea's Longfields Day Centre for thedisabled’, and has raised funds for AIDS patients in Africa. In 2005 she became the ambassador of the ‘National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’ charity, and launched the ‘Full Stop ‘appeal in Wales to raise awareness on child abuse. She has also given her support too their charitable organisations for children such as the ‘International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children’ and the ‘Noah's Ark Appeal’.

She exudes the qualities we hope will inspire our KitGirls.  Not only is she glamorous, stylish,and intelligent, she’s used all that to great effect to make her voice heard and to try and create a better world for the children in it.  We applaud her confidence and commitment,particularly to children’s causes.  Our Jones bag is a stylish, go anywhere shoulder bag for everyday adventures.  When you’re not out on an all day mission,but still want effortless organisation and style, Jones will be your go-to handbag for seasons to come.

Born in London, for more than a decade Lily Allen has made her own name as a rare truth-telling songstress,by boldly putting her failures and foibles on full display in a way that is both brave, fearless, and sometimes a little bit crazy! But she faces life full on, makes mistakes sometimes, but stands proud and moves on.  Lily left school at 15, and yet to date has received 31 awards and 73 nominations for her music,including nominations for nine BRIT Awards, one Grammy Award, three Ivor Novello Awards,one Mercury Prize and twelve NME Awards.  What Lily demonstrates and where she is a role model is that if you have a talent, and more importantly have the sheer force of will, you will find a way to success.

Controversy, artistry, and pressure come at a price though and she has been (characteristically) open about her mental struggles. She has also been outspoken regarding the pressures of negative body image throughout her career. This honesty has helped open up discussion and gone some way to making the discussion on mental health issues and eating disorders more acceptable in society today.

Since singing her way into our lives wearing cute prom dresses and hi-top trainers, we’ve seen Lily’s style evolve into that of a ladylike Chanel muse.Whether she’s wearing sequins at Glastonbury or couture dresses to fashion week, we admire that she applies her fearless spirit to fashion too.

We salute Lily’s courage and honesty so we have named our new tote bag after her.  Think the never full but with loads of pockets and utterly organised. The exterior has gorgeous quilted slip pockets and it slides over a trolley for an easy commute. Inside the bound interior makes it a dream to find everything while the genius pocket details keep your essentials in easy reach be it a baby bottle or gym flask and it has super cute pen holders and a new notebook holder too. If you are rushing out as a busy mum, or dashing out to the office or gym or the music studio this bag is something that you can throw anything into and just zip up the top and look on top of your style game (it fits a 16” laptop too BTW).  Anyone can use it, and everyone will love it.  It’s a designer leather bag for everything and a wardrobe essential in the making.

The Greta is a gorgeous bag that either you or your daughter could wear due to its compact and versatile style.  Beyond its looks, there is a good deal of substance.

The Greta bag is named after Greta Thunberg who most of you will already have heard of.  For those of you who have not, Greta Thunberg is a young Swedish environmental activist who has gained international recognition by campaigning to raise awareness of climate change issues.  We respect her inner strength and commitment to stand up for her principles, and hope to raise awareness for her cause by naming our bag the ‘Greta’ in her honour.

At KeriKit we are always trying to improve our process and ensure that our business is as environmentally sustainable as possible. With that in mind we run a carbon off-set programme; planting two trees for every order placed.  You have the chance to get involved too, by matching our donation and thereby planting extra trees.  The result of our donation is that the carbon footprint of your bag is offset within the first four years of ownership. However, we expect you’ll go on to enjoy the bag for many more years after that!

We are also working really hard to ensure that everything that we use is recyclable, including all our packaging. We believe that by naming our newest design the ‘Greta’ stresses our commitment as a business to behaving in an environmentally conscience way.

Named after 'Annie Lennox', the musical legend, singer-songwriter, who founded the internationally-renowned band 'Eurythmics', and later established a wildly successful solo career. However, aside from penning some of the most poignant songs of our time, it is the way that Lennox uses her status and platform to help so many people, especially women. Lennox is a longtime supporter of Amnesty International and Greenpeace, and has campaigned tirelessly for AIDS awareness and gender equality. She is also an icon within the LGBTQ community, and has established her own initiatives including the SING campaign -supporting women and children affected by AIDS - and The Circle, a unique networking hub of women around the world that promotes equality for women and girls, in a fairer world. From offering support to girls living with HIV and AIDs to creating a peer-to-peer connecting network for female journalist working in conflict zones, it is a ground-breaking and life-changing initiative that would not exist without this remarkable woman.

Why this bag?

The Lennox Handbag is elegant, beautiful and commanding - you can take it anywhere and feel supremely confident and self-assured. This is also how we see Annie Lennox, and carrying Lennox each day helps to remind us that we all have a vital role to play in making the world a better, fairer place for all. Her music and her activism inspire us to blaze a trail for every woman that comes behind us. 

Named after Amber Wardell, founder of parenting blog, The Sensible Mama. After completing her PhD, Amber took a corporate job in line with her degree that required 80 hours of work per week or more. She met her husband there, and they quickly decided they wanted kids, but her role just wouldn't allow the time Amber wanted to spend with her babies. So, they figured out how to live on one income while Amber started a business that would allow her to have a career she loved, while still being at home with the children, and The Sensible Mama was born! Amber was one of the first to develop her own unique style of blogging around parenting, and has gathered a large global following thanks to her no nonsense approach to motherhood. As an entrepreneur and business woman, Amber is an inspiration as to all around the importance of making personal connections first, and doing business second. 

Why this bag?

The Amber Backpack is the latest addition to the KeriKit family, and was designed with Amber Wardell in mind. She is stylish, smart & successful, but also approachable, which aligns perfectly with the elegant, soft design of the Amber backpack. The design is wholly 'sensible', yet offers a fashion twist, and stands-out against the rest thanks to its unique design. A true original, like Amber Wardell!

Named after 'Joy Adamson', the naturalist, artist and author, who is best known for her unique experiences in the 1960's raising an orphaned lion cub named Elsa. Her and her husband George blazed a trail in animal conservation, and committed to ensuring Elsa be returned to the wild, spending several months training her to hunt and survive on her own. Fortunately Elsa became the first lioness successfully released back into the wild, the first to have contact after release, and the first known released lion to have a litter of cubs. Joy released a book about her time with Elsa, titled 'Born Free', which became an international bestseller, and was later made into an award-winning movie of the same name. Joy spent the rest of her life raising money for wildlife, thanks to the popularity of Born Free. The book was followed by 'Living Free', which is about Elsa as a mother to her cubs, and 'Forever Free', which tells of the release of the cubs Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa. Adamson shared all the book proceeds with various conservation projects, and spent her last 10 years travelling the world, giving speeches about the perils faced by wildlife in Africa. 

Why this bag?

The Joy Backpack combines a unique look with a practical layout, keeping you hands free when you are on the move. Joy always looks on trend, with its timeless design, and effortless 'grab and go' nature, matching Joy Adamson's no nonsense approach to life. We believe that Joy Adamson would have been proud to have our bag named after her, mainly to help spread awareness for her conservation dreams, and we hope to continue this legacy however we can.

The Frances keyring is a beautiful lanyard, made up of three components.  It has a handy little pocket to store your office I.D. and room for a credit card too. There’s also a wrist loop, printed with words our Kit Girls submitted to express how they perceive KeriKit and how our KitGirl group makes them feel. One of the nicest 3 words submitted were ‘Kindness’, ‘Inspiration’, and ‘Togetherness’ which create KIT, which I thought was really lovely. For the third part of the lanyard there are two little tassels which you can take off if you like and add to your Greta bag, or any of the other bags in our range as an accessory.

This design came to be called Frances following submissions from our Kit Girls.  I asked them to answer the question, ‘who inspires you most in your life and why’?  We had lots of inspirational stories and names submitted, and I then created a poll so that our Kit Girls could be the ones to decide on the winning story. Candace Lawson told an amazing story about her mother Frances, and it won our hearts.  We decided therefore to call this new design the Frances to represent someone that we all felt inspired by in the Kit Girl group.

The Sullivan pouches are a set of three waterproof, and machine washable, packing pouches. They are named after one of our Kit Girls, Anna Sullivan, who repeatedly appealed to me to start producing packing pouches to coordinate with her KeriKit bags. I was inspired by Anna’s suggestion and so did as she asked. I love the fact that in our KitGirl group you get to have a say on new designs, and have an input as to any item that you feel might enhance our range. All your feedback and ideas help KeriKit grow as a business and allows me to create your needs and wants. We started to name our products after the Kit Girls who inspired them because they inspire me and each other too.

Our Gretchen straps are named after Gretchen Oldroyd.  Again, Gretchen is one of the girls in our KitGirl group and she came up with the suggestion that we should offer the Lennox zip-strap as a separate item to coordinate with and accessorise other bags...and so we did!  What a great idea.  So, as a thank you to Gretchen for her idea, we decided to name the new shoulder straps after her.