Though backpacks have become increasingly accepted as high-fashion alternatives to work bags and heavy satchels, it's difficult to find one that can go from a casual setting to a fancy evening affair. That's were Tim and Dan Joo come in. The NYC-based brothers founded their luggage label, Haerfest, after friends demanded more of Tim's simple yet stylish handmade backpacks.
Tim, who studied both fashion design at FIT and design management at Parsons, cut his teeth working at Patrick Ervell and Opening Ceremony before founding Haerfest with his brother. While Tim oversees the design process, Dan focuses on managing the business. "I've always been interested in fashion brands and learning how they were built," explains Dan. "It's inspiring to read about talented designers building their passions into amazing businesses."
Which is precisely what the brothers are building themselves. Committed to a "reducible" aesthetic, each and every detail on a Haerfest bag is painstakingly chosen and perfected. With the aim of creating "modern basics that will stand the test of time," each bag looks like it emerged out of a fashion vacuum, neither retro nor futuristic, but perfectly of the moment.
"Think of our bags as the perfect mate," says Tim. "Smart beautiful, complimentary -- and always carrying your stuff!"
