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!! 

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.

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!

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.

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.

Named After 'Thea Rasche', who, at the tender age of 25, became the first woman to obtain a pilots license after WW1, and only a few months later her acrobatic license. Thea was a thoroughly modern woman, who financed her dream of flying by taking up various clerical posts, which was highly unusual at the time. She chose to walk away from the marriage planned for her by her family, and follow her own path, becoming known as one of the best female pilots in the world. For the recklessness and brilliance of her stunts, the English press named her the "Dare-Devil of the Skys", and her female colleagues named her "Queen of the Air". Following her meeting Amelia Earhart, she became a charter member of the group Amelia was creating, the first all-women pilots association known as The 99s. Following Thea's remarkable achievements as a pilot, she was all over the European press. However, far from allowing that to go to her head, she devoted her time and energy to encouraging the up-and-coming generation of women pilots. 

Why this bag? 

The Thea Holdall in leather, or Thea Weekender in nylon, is the perfect travel bag at just the right size for overnight stays or a weekend away. Thea always looks the part, and has handy features like the Magic Trolley Sleeve, to make long-haul travel even easier. If Thea Rasche were alive today, she would no doubt be neatly packing up her Thea Holdall for her next aviation adventure!