OUR STORY
Hide and Seek Accessories is a family business founded by Barry Patel which started in Hertfordshire, England in 1984. We began in our garage designing and making handbags from leather off-cuts bought from various companies in and around Northampton. These were off cuts from furniture manufacturers as well as from car seat manufacturers like Jaguar. We successfully sold our designs through various markets initially starting locally in Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Amersham and as we increased productivity ventured further into markets in and around London. As we improved our design and increased our variety of leather machines and tools, we made new collections and needed to source leather directly from tanneries. In the beginning we had a large number of tanneries and merchants in Northampton and as our collection and customer base increased we had to take on more staff, finding Cordwainers College in London a good source for eager to learn students who needed experience in the leather industry. We quickly grew out of our garage and found new premises on a chicken farm in the village of Water End, on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead.
We were introduced to craft fairs in 1987 and soon began to travel up and down the country attending them and followed that with introduction of bigger agriculture shows, horse shows and a variety of other avenues and sales opportunities. As the years progressed we found that the leather tanneries were rapidly closing and although our need for raw materials kept increasing we were struggling to keep our extended family of workers employed due to this shortage. We started using off-cuts and there were always designs that we could introduce to keep our group busy and we started making belts and small leather goods which although quite basic, became great addition to our range of handbags. We were forced to look abroad for the right place as well as the quality of leathers and found ourselves in Milan, Italy which started us on a new trail of better range of goods and new avenue of sales now trying our hand at wholesale to other retailers.
We began to look for trade buyers at the Spring Fair around the early 2000 and sold successfully to a variety of shops in the UK, as well as America and a small number of outlets in Europe. We were approached by other companies and were lucky enough to make handbags under the Irish designer Paul Costello label as well as variety of goods for the 28 John Lewis stores. However after years of successfully chasing our tails and working 18-hour shifts 7 days a week, we decided to enjoy our work once again and stopped making in bulk for trade buyers. We have now returned to selling our merchandise through craft fairs and shows in the UK, Southern Ireland and Germany. Our passion has always been to meet our customers and serve them personally at the shows and exhibitions we attend. We take pride in our products and in the people who enjoy them!
It is now time for us to enter the online market place and present Hide and Seek Accessories in a bigger way than ever with our new upgrade online presence.
OUR LEATHER
Our leather is dyed through during tanning to give the material its authentic natural finish whereas many other leather goods are produced by using a spray to colour the leather separately after the tanning has been completed.
Our bags are made using the finest Italian calf leathers. We have worked with the tannery to produce a unique range of soft chamois leather which has a natural feel. Not only tactile to the touch but incredibly durable, scratch proof and water resistant.
Our belts parallel the quality of our bags but instead are made using highly durable full-grain saddle hides. We always use the first take of the hide which is an important aspect to the belts’ quality.
We guarantee a product which will last for years and will acquire a strong patina over time. Beauty and quality imbued with functionality is at the heart of Hide & Seek’s ethos.
