Luxury handbag restoration and preowned designer resale retailer, Handbag Clinic is expanding its partnership with luxury department store, Fenwick, with the launch of its second in-store concession in Fenwick Colchester from Monday 12th April.
As a one-stop-shop for sustainable luxury, the combined restoration repair and resale service will enable its Essex-based clientele to enjoy fashion more consciously by extending the life of their luxury handbags and shoes whilst boosting the region’s circular economy through its preowned resale service.
Building on the enriched partnership, Fenwick will also curate an exclusive range of Handbag Clinic’s preowned luxury handbags as part of its ecommerce offering on Fenwick.co.uk, bringing thoughtful consumption to an even wider community of luxury enthusiasts.
Located in a prime, window-front position on the ground floor, Handbag Clinic will be a ‘shop within a shop’ and bring premium luxury brands such Hermes, Chanel, Dior, Mulberry, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton to the Essex retail scene with its own range of preowned, fully authenticated luxury handbags available to purchase in Fenwick. Handbag Clinic’s arrival in Fenwick Colchester will make it possible for consumers to snap up some of the world’s most coveted bags for up to 83% of the original RRP. Because of its miraculous restoration services, each luxury handbag has been expertly restored by highly skilled ateliers so that it gleams flawlessly, meaning consumers can get their newness fix guilt-free, whilst being kind to the planet.
The rollout to Fenwick Colchester follows the hugely successful launch of Handbag Clinic in Fenwick Newcastle last November, which saw Handbag Clinic hit its monthly sales target in just three days. Colchester was identified as the next prime retail location for Handbag Clinic’s integration into Fenwick through market research, which highlighted a robust consumer appetite for both luxury and sustainable brands. Plans are afoot for the continued rollout of Handbag Clinic within Fenwick stores nationwide.
Through Handbag Clinic’s in-store restoration services, Fenwick customers can shop with increased confidence and feel empowered to invest in designer handbags and shoes knowing there is an after-care programme in place that far exceeds standard warranties. Not only can customers now give their over-loved bags and shoes a second life and increase their value should they decide to sell them on – they can also significantly extend the lifespan of a brand-new purchase by booking it in for a protective treatment with Handbag Clinic at the point of purchase. Be it cleaning and conditioning treatments, removing stubborn stains, repairing scuffs and tears or replacing broken zips, split piping, worn edges and damaged hardware, improving colour loss, reinforcing shape and stretched straps; Handbag Clinic’s dedicated team of artisans combine the finest craftsmanship, technology and innovative techniques to achieve the seemingly impossible.
With a quest to preserve the past whilst mindfully reinventing the future, Handbag Clinic aim to have customers falling back in love with their handbags all over again. Through its resale platform, the Clinic also encourages customers not to put an end to a handbag they no longer use by selling it on, freeing up cash to spend on something new.
The service couldn’t be easier, customers can visit www.handbagclinic.co.uk for an online quote before dropping their handbag to the Handbag Clinic in Fenwick Colchester during store opening hours. Handbag Clinic provides a free contactless courier service so, once their artisans have worked their magic, customer’ handbags are returned direct to their door. Prices are bespoke and start from £19.95 for minor stitch work and go right through to £600+ for complex exotic restoration. The most popular treatment is a full restoration at £255, which includes a clean on the exterior and interior, removal of all areas of wear/scuff/staining from the exterior, any minor stitch repairs and a carefully crafted protection treatment to nourish and protect the leather.
Because the Clinic restore over 700 bags each month, ateliers have an intrinsic understanding of premium brands and their common areas of wear and tear and have created bespoke, brand specific restoration treatments to address this. For example, the replating of 24 carat gold on a Chanel’ CC lock or hand-dyeing the rope finish for a Balenciaga City. All items brought into Handbag Clinic at Fenwick are securely packaged and transferred to the Clinic in Newcastle, where the expert team of ateliers will fully assess the work and provide a quote for approval before completing the work and returning the item directly to the customer.
Handbag Clinic co-founder, Charlotte Staerck, said: “We are so proud to be expanding our partnership with Fenwick and further our shared vision to bring conscious consumption to the nation’s community of luxury enthusiasts. I think the pandemic has really heightened the sustainability trend and made a lot of people reconsider their values with many questioning how they can enjoy fashion in a more responsible way. Buying and selling preowned items has opened up the world of luxury fashion for so many people that had previously thought it to be inaccessible. We hope that, through our partnership with Fenwick in store and online, we can empower people to shop more mindfully. preserving the promise of luxury for generations to come.”
Handbag Clinic, which operates through a chain of owned stores in Leeds, Newcastle and London; an ecommerce platform, www.handbagclinic.co.uk and franchised stores in Monaco and Qatar, is the longest-standing luxury handbag restoration service in the UK. Synonymous with conscious luxury, the Clinic rejuvenates around 700 bags per month and is passionate about reducing waste having handled over £50 million of handbags that may have otherwise been discarded to landfill.
With a flagship store on King’s Road and affiliations with Jimmy Choo, Aspinal of London, Sotheby’s and Christie’s London, the Clinic has become a firm favourite with the fashion elite having restored dozens of bags for fashion editors including Stylist magazine’s Harriet Davey, Marie Claire’s Fiona Embleton, Sunday Telegraph’s Rosie Green and Glamour magazine’s Alexandra Fullerton. The Clinic is also a trusted favourite with a raft of celebrity clients including Poppy Delevingne, Storm Keating, Heidi Range, Imogen Thomas, Frankie Bridge and Made In Chelsea stars Sophie Herman, Rosie Fortescue and Stephanie Pratt.
Founded in 2013 by Charlotte and Ben Staerck, Handbag Clinic is the result of two passions colliding – a life-long obsession with handbags, and a family legacy of leather restoration. Despite having to close stores during lockdowns, the company achieved record growth in online sales during the last 12 months, with an increase of 306% year on year.
Handbag Clinic offers a wide range of services to revive, restore or even reimagine luxury handbags and accessories with a full bag makeover, changing the colour or tone. Handbag Clinic also enables buyers to avoid fakes with its team of authenticators who stringently vet all products before putting them on sale. The team also provide advice as to how clients can increase or maintain the value of their handbag.
