Anna Le Pley ties up fashion

 

It happened one day in a San Diego thrift store.

A mass of gaudy, vintage ties; a glimpse of a second-hand bag; and that was enough to spark a business idea, and an unforeseen venture into the world of fashion for Anna Le Pley.

The design is simple: a ladies handbag made of mismatched and mislaid men’s ties. But the genius of Le Pley’s idea lies in a fresh design that mixes feminine function with masculine elements, and the unexpected blend of color, pattern and material.

 

“Every bag is unique, and because we use vintage ties it’s not possible to make any two alike. One handbag uses at least 15 ties and may contain silk, polyester, wool and cotton,” Le Pley explained.

Like many talented designers, Le Pley stumbled into the roll quite unexpectedly. After earning degrees in English and Religious Studies at Gordon College in Boston,  Le Pley moved to San Diego to work as an event planner for Point Loma Nazarene University. But one rather fateful trip to a San Diego thrift store helped Le Pley realize that fashion design was her real calling.

With one bag made from thrift store ties, Le Pley received so many compliments that she persuaded her father, Tom Le Pley, and family friend Brooks Firestone to freshen up her supply of raw materials.

“My dad should have been a designer; he has an incredible eye for quality and design.

 

So when I came up with this tie-handbag idea he was eager to contribute. Brooks was supportive from the beginning as well, and gave me some of the ties he doesn’t wear anymore,” Le Pley said.

The response to the prototypes was so positive that Le Pley found a supplier in Los Angeles and bought a whopping 15,000 ties for her first production. Recruiting a bevy of creative San Diego friends, many in fashion design, Le Pley plied them with martinis and guided them through the production of 600 unique handbags under the label of Simplya.

 

With boxes full of bold, shimmering handbags, Le Pley set out to peddle her wares. Quickly, though, she realized that San Diego wasn’t the best match for a micro-business specializing in a one-off product. Although she managed to land a spot in the San Diego boutique Salon Bordeaux, Le Pley knew her small business needed an even smaller and much more familiar territory in order to thrive.

In November 2006, Le Pley left her position at Point Loma and moved home to the Santa Ynez Valley, where her family has lived for more than 30 years and where connections and community support run deep.

“I knew my bags wouldn’t work on a mass scale, simply because the industry demands exact replication of whatever sample they’re buying from. My bags are more couture, in that each one is an unpredictable, unique style,” Le Pley said.

 

Working out of the studio at the back of her family’s refurbished red barn in Ballard, Le Pley’s strategy to come home has proven successful. With bags at Tin Roof in Los Olivos, and now at a new boutique called True Santa Barbara, opening on State Street in the lobby of Hotel Santa Barbara, Le Pley has found a niche within our small but fashion-forward community.

As for the original supplier of vintage ties, Tom Le Pley finds his daughter’s innovative ways not in the least a surprise. The owner of Los Olivos Realty, he also is a talented drawer, with a keen eye for fashion, style, and quality — traits clearly inherited by Anna.

“Anna is very enterprising and very creative. She is a fearless person; not afraid to try anything new,” he said.

 

“We could tell she had a taste for the finer things even when she was very young. She was a bit of a tomboy, and yet always wanted to wear the finest dresses, the boldest colors. Color was her big thing,” he explained.

With Dad as a major impetus in pursuing her business, Le Pley is enrolled in the Masters in Fine Arts and Fashion Design program at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Taking classes through telecommuting, Le Pley is halfway through the three-year program and praises the quality of education, the caliber of instructors, and the valuable insight into what it takes to make it in fashion.

“Because custom tailoring is no longer the norm in America, it makes me even more interested in the idea of custom fit.

 

“I have an idea to somehow offer affordable custom tailored clothes, much like they still do in Asia.

“I’m doing more sewing, adjusting patterns and working on the little black dress theory — if it fits perfectly you’ll want to wear it everyday,” Le Pley said.

With distinctive handbags already on the hook, and visions of boutiques that cater to the perfect fit, Anna asks simply, “Shouldn’t everyone have that type of wardrobe?”

 

For more information visit www.simplya.com