Why Chinese designers behind Ratio et Motus don’t want to make their luxury leather bags in China
- Emerging luxury brand Ratio et Motus is the brainchild of Angela Wang and Daniel Li. The brand makes its bags in Italy
- Wang and Li say they don’t have plans to move production to China because it ‘boils down to perception and quality’
The next generation of emerging handbag brands owe much of their popularity to social media and street-style stars – and “it” label Ratio et Motus is among them.
Their bags are plastered all over feeds and magazines such as Vogue, while Net-a-Porter stocked the brand as soon as it launched last year.
Its founders, however, feel that they are offering fans more than just Instagram-worthy bags.
“Sure, the market is super competitive right now, but I really feel there is a gap between contemporary and luxury brands. Within this segment, the customer is not satisfied with the quality on offer. Craftsmanship must come first regardless of the price point. Women want to spend maximum money on something worth it, and that they can wear for more than one season,” says co-founder Angela Wang.
Wang and her design and business partner Daniel Li are industry veterans. Although both are originally from China, they met while working at an accessory designer’s studio in New York. Li studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology, while Wang majored in finance and journalism, before taking the leap to follow her passion for fashion.