Handling Everything: Hipster Bags from Matt & Nat

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NATALIE PORTMAN's been getting loads of attention lately for her line of vegan shoes for Tecascan, and Stella McCartney's sleek synthetic handbags drive fashionistas crazy. But Inder Bedi, founder of the Matt & Nat line of handbags, has been creating edgy, leather-free clutches, hoboes, satchels and totes in soft-as-butter plastic and canvas since 1997.

The urban, often-futuristic pieces of arm candy are so fashionable that even steak-loving, suede platform-wearing style mavens sling them on their bangled arms. His bright canvas Re-Run line is made of recycled water bottles, and other bags are produced using less energy and resources than their hide counterparts. The Montreal-based Bedi recently dropped by Cusp at Tysons Corner Center, where his bags are sold, to tout his spring designs and chat with us.

» EXPRESS: When and why did you give up meat and leather?
» BEDI: My family is actually Eastern Indian in origin. I was born in the U.K., but my parents came to Canada when I was young. I grew up knowing everything about my Indian background, but not being religious. My parents were very liberal-minded and had all these friends who'd come over to the house. One of them was a Hare Krishna, and he asked me, when I was 18, to go vegetarian for 30 days. And it changed my life. After not eating meat for 30 days, I didn't have the desire anymore. I started looking more into vegetarianism and animal rights.

» EXPRESS: How did that lead to handbags?
» BEDI: I was a frustrated vegetarian who couldn't find fashionable products that were cool that weren't made out of hemp or recycled car tires. So, I decided to start a company. I'd always had a knack for creativity and had worked for a couple of manufacturers in Montreal after I graduated from college. I thought I'd sell the bags through animal-rights organizations, but they didn't get it. Maybe the things were too fashion-forward. So, I put my stuff in the car and drove down to New York, where I picked up customers at some edgy stores in SoHo.

» EXPRESS: How do you get your bag materials to look and feel so much like leather?
» BEDI: We work with labs, mostly in Japan and Korea, where they come up with the best synthetics. The Italians make nice synthetics too, but in Asia, they've been doing it since the '70s. Some even have a texture like rice paper. We send them photos if we're trying to replicate a specific leather, and I go twice a year just to explain what we're looking for.

» EXPRESS: What else do you do to make the products seem hip, not just PC?
» BEDI: I think you can always make things look interesting and cool with hardware, linings, stitching and color combinations. The bigger challenge is actually convincing store buyers, not consumers, that people will go for this stuff. A lot of times, the first thing they say is, "This bag is $200, and it's not leather?" They don't get that.

» EXPRESS: But your bags have really taken off with consumers in the past few years. Why do you think?
» BEDI: Now people know our name, and they don't really care if the bags are leather or not. Some people are interested in veganism, maybe because of Stella McCartney. But then most people just like the designs.

» EXPRESS: How do you come up with designs?
» BEDI: Architecture has been a major influence — anything super-modern, from Tadao Ando or Frank Lloyd Wright that pushes the limits. But our design team also draws on everything from music to art. We're trying to produce bags that have interesting shapes, things that are urban chic yet wearable.

» EXPRESS: Why are super-bright colors on so many of your bags this spring?
» BEDI: It was really important to me this spring that things stand out, so we did styles in electric blue, fuchsia and purple. I'm also seeing a bit of yellow creeping back. Spring is always fun, because it's more colorful than fall. Everything starts to pop.

» EXPRESS: Even though many Matt & Nat bags are made of plastic, you say buying one is better for the planet than picking up a leather one. Why?
» BEDI: There are a lot more resources required to produce leather. I don't promote this as an eco-company or even a vegan company. We're a fashion company that happens to be vegan and tries to do good. Part of that is not contributing to factory farming.

» EXPRESS: What philosophy is that?
» BEDI: It's a message of positivity, and it's something that we put on every bag, in the lining, on a tag or somewhere else. It's progress, a way of taking things forward. Matt & Nat represents the choices we're faced with every day, like whether to take a chance or stay with the status quo.

Photo by Marge Ely/Express