Humble beginnings
Stephenie Hammitt, a mid-30s English major, never expected to get into fashion. In fact, it was her identical twin sister, Trisha Fedrick, who had studied fashion design atLong BeachState.
“I was a total tomboy,” said Hammitt. “Getting me to carry a handbag was like pulling teeth. Everything was always in my pockets.”
Whenever she received a bag for Christmas or her birthday, she’d always return it for something else.
In 2002, five years after graduating from Long Beach State, she was getting ready to attend a barbeque and realized she couldn’t hold a tampon in her pocket anymore. She finally needed a purse.
“I didn’t have anything,” said Hammitt. “I was pretty poor and didn’t have the money to go to Nordstrom, so I designed my first clutch that day.”
Earlier that year, her sister had introduced her to an aspiring belt designer. As a favor, Hammitt drove the designer to warehouses to help pick-out leather and hardware for his line. Their fated meeting sparked her interest in handbag-design.
“She got attracted to the process and it just fell into place,” Fedrick said.
That same clutch that was birthed out of a chance meeting and necessity, which she wore to the barbeque that afternoon, is her biggest seller today.
“Everyone at the barbeque commented on it and the next thing you know I was cutting leather and attaching rivets,” Hammitt said.
After cutting and pounding her clutches at home by hand, she traveled to a couple of high-end stores in downtown Los Angeles, including Fred Segal, and sold every clutch she had created.
“I went to some of the top places in town and they were like, ‘We love it!’ I got really lucky,” Hammitt said.
Even though her pieces were selling out, they were still hand-made, raw edged clutches.
“Steph would pound those rivets herself,” said Fedrick. “I would be on the phone with her and she would be like hold on a second… pound, pound, pound… She’s come a long way.”
The next year she met with a manufacturer who added a zipper to her designs and helped her understand stitching.
“The manufacturer educated me on all those little details I wasn’t educated in,” said Hammitt. “The next year I got really lucky and Angelina Jolie was seen with one of my bags and that just made it a global sensation. For me I just was really overwhelmed with how big it happened so fast.”
Since then, A-list stars like Kelly Ripa, Lindsay Lohan, and Ashley Greene have been seen wearing Hammitts. They have also been featured in almost every major fashion magazine.
Even with the turbo-speed success of her handbag line, Hammitt knew she wanted to stay with a classic aesthetic.
“Something spoke to me about the symmetry of the rivets,” said Hammitt. “I’m very committed to the design aesthetic. A lot of people ask me why I haven’t changed their look—but my stuff’s very distinctive, you can spot a Hammitt from a mile away.”
Hammitt bags, Drockton explained, are the epitome of South Bay women. They are made for an educated, sophisticated woman living a casual lifestyle, he said. “A Hammitt woman knows what she wants and doesn’t need to flash the label around town,” Drockton said.
“I love designer bags, but I like something more subdued,” said Alexandra Duda, 30, whose boyfriend’s sister bought her an orange “Avalon” at the most recent Celebration Sale. “I like that people know they’re a Hammitt because of the rivets, but they aren’t flashy with a big logo.”
Duda also loves her Hammitt because of the versatility and the quality of leather they’re made out of. Recently she was able to jump on the back of a motorcycle with her Hammitt attached to her back after adjusting the straps from an over-the-shoulder to a backpack.
Hammitt sometimes finds it difficult to stay within the classic style without getting too trendy. However, she finds that the bags she has been designing since the beginning are still her top sellers today.
