Things We're Happy About: Relaxed Summer Bags at Renegade

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There's nothing like the feel of freedom when you put on your favorite bag. Not like patriotic freedom but more like social freedom; bike riding along the lakeshore or walking through Lincoln Park and having a Saturday picnic. When we opened our email this morning and saw that Renegade Handmade on Division is now carrying these independently designed handmade bags, we just had to check them out.

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The bags are made by a small group called Shelter which was originally born in the green mountains of Vermont, moonlighted in the white mountains of New Hampshire and has now re-located to more mountains in Asheville, North Carolina. They're a self-described collective of generalists tending towards specializations like sewing, cabin building, woodworking, drawing, walks in beautiful settings, alchemy, and the art of listening.

Renegade Handmade is super busy gearing up for Renegade in Austin next week, but they found time to walk us through the shipment the received from Shelter last Monday. Included were six clutches in rugged nautical canvas with leather fasteners and ticking details for $42 as well as six leather wallets embossed with a drawing that has the same line and form as a transcendentalist-inspired cabin the collective built in the birch woods of New England, $82. The A-list product that we want to showcase here, are the three backpacks which are available in olive, khaki, grey and natural canvas and are highlighted with lively geometric patterns on the top flap and on the inside available at $164.

Also included in the shipment which has not yet been released in Chicago are little tubs of hand lotion made by Shelter Skincare. To a high reviews and much buzz about the hand cream we don't think it will be long before its available to freedom-seeking Chicagoans. Coming in a Shelter-designed package, the lotion contains lilac, rose water, "calm and stoked energy".
· Renegade Handmade [Official Site]
· Shelter Protects You [Official Site]