From Hoboken Living Room To $12M Success: The Vegan Handbag Startup That's Redefining 'Made In China'

In 2019, Jenny Lei's Hoboken apartment was overrun with cardboard boxes filled with unsold handbags – 300, to be exact. An unemployed UX designer dreaming of creating the ultimate work bag, Lei had sunk $30,000 of her savings into her first production run. After four weeks, she had sold just 20 bags.

"My plan failed spectacularly," Lei admits. "I couldn't afford to not make it work. [A lot] of my savings were sitting in boxes in my living room."

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Fast forward four years and Freja, Lei's New York-based vegan handbag company, is a breakout success. With minimalist designs and a commitment to sustainability, Freja has captured a loyal customer base in a challenging market.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as reported by Lending Tree, approximately 23% of new businesses fail within the first year and 48% fail within the first five years.

According to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It, the brand generated $9 million in revenue, including $2 million in profit, over the last year. Lei, now 28, is Freja's only full-time employee, supported by a small team of contractors. Her journey from struggling entrepreneur to CEO is nothing short of inspiring.

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Lei's idea for Freja was born out of frustration. In 2019, as she prepared for a job interview in New York, none of her bags seemed to match the moment. "One was too small. Another didn't offer enough interior organization," Lei says. 

After the interview, she sat in Bryant Park and sketched out the bag she wished she had – one that could hold a laptop, portfolio and personal items without sacrificing style. Determined, Lei used $300,000 she had saved from a graduate school dropshipping business to bring her vision to life.

The initial results were discouraging. In Lei’s words, a $2,000 prototype from a Brooklyn maker was "a kindergartner's art project." Later that year, a visit to her parents in Guangzhou, China, proved pivotal. 

There, she toured factories specializing in vegan leather, ultimately partnering with one that was transparent about its operations. "As a Chinese person, I wanted Freja to kind of be my way of showing the world this is what ‘Made in China' can look like," she says.

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Even with a new production partner, sales were sluggish. Lei spent a year selling off her initial inventory while building a website, collecting email addresses and writing blog posts about Freja's sustainability ethos. "It was really, really slow for the first two years," she recalls.

Things began to change in 2022. Social media ads helped Freja generate $1.7 million in revenue, allowing Lei to secure two Shopify loans to expand her product line. The gamble paid off: Freja brought in $5.3 million last year and is projected to close in 2024 with $12 million in revenue. 

Still, Freja is a rising contender in the $22.8 billion luxury handbag market, competing alongside established industry leaders such as Louis Vuitton and Dior. Lei, however, is undeterred. She's doubling down on customer loyalty events, mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs and expanding Freja's product offerings. 

"One thing I kept telling myself was, ‘No one is born a designer,' but I can become one in a couple of years if I give it a go," she says. "I think now, maybe this year, I can start calling myself a designer … I think we've hit a stride."

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