Buckle & Seam: Manufactured in Pakistan

VCAST sat down with the German entrepreneur, Georg Wolff, who is the Managing Director of Buckle & Seam, a European premium bags retailer who coincidently happen to have their manufacturing process located in Pakistan.

Buckle & Seam had actually started out as a means for their 3 founders, Marco, Jenna and Georg to stay connected after spending 10 months of their lives living together in an apartment in Karachi, Pakistan. Hence, as they mulled over what the next steps were going forward, they decided to utilize Pakistan’s leather production prowess and start selling leather bags. As Georg aptly put it, this little project was just meant to be something that they check once a week and through which, stay connected and just see how it evolves.

So, a month prior to leaving Pakistan for their summer adventures, Georg and co got a bag made which was unfortunately, nothing like what they had in mind. So, they decided to take more of a hands-on approach, by meeting with different people, including meeting the supplier in person and getting his vouch on a bag of the quality that the three budding German entrepreneurs wanted. This signified the first signs of the size of the task at hand, and perhaps, it might just be more than a side project after all.

With a prototype and sample in hand, Georg, Marco and Jenna started taking pictures of samples and sending them to their friends and families. With generally positive reviews, and some of them wanting bags for themselves, provided with a little bit of customization as one such person asked them for a bag with a handle, the three decided to get to work and taking into consideration the effort it took for just one prototype, they decided it was time to make it a full-time 24/7 effort and set up a production unit with the concept of being direct-to-consumer, by cutting out the middle man, which made their bags more affordable. In order to improve efficiency, they decided to offer guaranteed contracts for all their workers, so that unlike in most factories, if there are no orders, they aren’t laid off, instead they’re notified two months in advance, which is enough time for them to plan and find other work in the mean while. This unique feature, alongside quality checks in factories, helped improve their wastage from 15% to 2%

What makes Buckle & Seam so unique other than their production policies, is their brand’s “Made in Pakistan” tag. As Georg says, every product that they [Buckle & Seam] produce, it comes with it’s own story and the “Made in Pakistan” tag serves as a testament to the people in the factory in Karachi who spent hours making that bag for the final consumer.

Editor's Pick