Our bags have traveled a bit over the last year. You would never believe the sites they have seen.

The green toolbag checked out a very cool UFO watchtower in Antonito, Colorado.
And our new toolbag checked out Monument Valley.

Bags not pictured here went to various wonderful places, like Ecuador, Aspen, New York, Miami, Mexico, and Spain. All in all it has been a good year for the old bags at S.STEIN. We can’t wait to see where the new ones will go!

I was organizing my shelves of bag samples from the last two years the other day and realized I had this fascinating trail of design samples leading back to the first ideas for the Toolbag - from the “what WAS I thinking” to the “ok, this is starting to go someplace”, to “awwww, i wrote “love your work” on the back of this bag!!”

its been hard work (but we love work, don’t we??) but a fun and
fascinating journey, birthin’ the Toolbag, which started the S.STEIN Workbag line. So, I thought my friends and customers might like to see some of the Toolbags journey so I took some product shots of some of the Toolbag and Gearbag “babies” so my friends and family
can share my obsession! xoxo sherry

You probably know that Sherry and I are business partners at a distance; she lives in Santa Fe, and I live in Portland. Which one of us has the better end of the deal? I can tell you that I am green with envy, and it is not just the moss collecting on my north side from endless months of rain, or the pallor of my skin. I complained enough this winter that Sher decided I needed a bag to go with my emotional state, my complexion, and my springy green environment. Introducing…Shamrock, available in early May.

Spring into spring with a bag that that carries the tools of your trade, and lets you fade into your environment (if you live in the Northwest as I do), or helps you stand out in a crowd (if you happen to dwell among the muted hues of the high desert as Sherry does). Wherever you live, this bag is a breath of fresh air, one that you will never want to leave home without.

Please let your friends know about our incredible bags. You could change someone’s life.

The days are whirling by. Every day we are getting more and more hits on our website, and sales are slow but steady. This is a scary business we are in. There are so many handbags out there; it is unbelievable. One of the issues we have encountered in the market, is that our product is so different from what is out there; we don’t have a lot of studs and tassels, and our bags are not ultra-fem. We believe that this is a good thing, but maybe we are deluding ourselves!

The whole experience of building a web business has been educational, to say the least. I never thought that doing this would be a full time job, but it is. Who would have ever thought that there were so many shopping blogs out there, and so many different ways to connect with people? One of the best things about doing this has been learning that people in the world are generally pretty nice; they want to help make our business a success.

In case you are wondering about what’s new, and you haven’t visited our site lately, we are getting into felt. This felt is heavy-duty industrial felt made from recycled wool. Our fall line will sport some new ones as well, but if you want a preview, check out: The New Gearbag on our site.