A glamorous dress, high heels, aesthetic jewelry and, of course, a purse or a bag to make your outfit look stunning. Well, bags have always been a thing for women to carry; they not just help them carry their necessary stuff around but also give them a chic look. While we have seen many handbags, sling bags and more, the whole point is to look good while you carry them. Notice Me is a brand that has come up with bags that you would love to carry, and the most unique thing about these bags is that they are designed in a way that people would notice and ask you about them. Putting creativity in the designs and taking inspiration from Cheetos packaging, the Hot Wheels logo and more, the two founders Harpreet Saini and Komal Jain have indeed made this brand one of the most fanciful ones. As they set up a pop-up show at Doki Doki, we spoke to Harpreet, one of the founders, who shared all about the brand.
Fun and fancy is what these bags look like, and describing them in detail, Harpreet says, “We wanted to use Indian techniques and make these bags look modern. We have our highest-selling bags which are inspired by the FataFat packet, which adds nostalgia. What’s working for these bags is that, especially in Delhi and Mumbai, girls are carrying them with western wear and Indian wear. These are made by Indian karigars and it takes about five to nine days to make these weaves, and they have very intricate designs.”
The funky elements used to make these bags do make one’s mind curious to know more. “The idea behind starting this was because we wanted bags to be more noticed — that is how conversations start. Nowadays everyone has the same bags with the same logos printed on them. So we wanted bags that, when you enter a place, should start a conversation. Even if your dress is boring, your bag adds colour to it — that is how we look at it. We wanted not to be boring, but bold and vibrant. My co-founder and I got invited to the Paris-based expo Who’s Next in September, just a month into the business, and now we are supplying to international markets as well,” she explains.
Every creation has a signature piece for the founders, and for Harpreet, it has always been the FataFat bag. “The FataFat bag is the highest-selling and adds so much nostalgia. Then comes the Cheetos bag, because it goes with everything. Then we have the Hot Wheels bag. We have more collections on our website, and what people like is a bag that is easy to carry and fits a lot. If someone wants something smaller, we have those sizes too. The best-selling ones are also the tiny tote bags with funky prints. For people who like bigger bags, we have bigger totes, very functional ones, and these are sold widely internationally because they can carry shoes, laptops and other things. We also have beach bags which are huge sellers in India. Another interesting bag is made from recycled plastic — we try to experiment. We wanted to give simpler tote bags but not boring ones, so we added a fun twist like ‘sunshine chasers’, palm trees and other prints.”
On where one can purchase these bags, she says, “We are doing smaller pop-ups in each city and we are online. It’s been three months since we’ve been online.”
At Doki Doki, these bags were paired with cocktails, making the event even more fun. Giving more details, she says, “We wanted to reach out to shoppers. Doki Doki partnered with us because there is so much food influence in the bags, so they used us as inspiration and made cocktails around it. That was the whole concept of the pop-up.”
About upcoming designs and collections, she adds, “We have launched a lot more new collections. Internationally, we have huge clutch bags. In the nostalgia segment, we are experimenting with Indian snacks which we will launch soon. For our winter collection, we are working with fur and wool to give a seasonal look. My co-founder is the backbone of this brand — she is very good at designing, so she handles that. We also have candy-inspired bags like Poppins and Gems, which are very nostalgic.”