About
KEPAW makes fewer bags, and makes them properly.
Considered leather goods for every day and every departure.
KEPAW is the house brand of Guangxi Kebao Technology Co., Ltd.. We started with a simple frustration: at almost every price, bags are built to survive a season rather than a decade. Leather is split, bonded to a fabric backing, and stitched with thread that fails long before the hide does.
So we went the other way. We buy full-grain and vegetable-tanned hides, accept that a certain percentage of every hide is unusable, and cut around the defects instead of hiding them. We use solid brass and palladium hardware because plating wears through and brass does not. We burnish edges by hand because a folded, painted edge cracks.
The result is a catalogue of twelve pieces – totes and shoulder bags, crossbodies, backpacks, and briefcases – from $119 to $2,950. Every one of them is a shape we would carry ourselves, and every one of them is meant to still be in use when the trend that inspired it is long gone.
What we hold ourselves to
Material we can name
Full-grain cowhide, vegetable-tanned Tuscan and Italian calf, bridle leather, and water-resistant recycled nylon. If we cannot name the tannery, we do not sell the bag.
Hardware that outlasts the hide
Solid brass, brushed brass and palladium – never plated zinc. A zip is the first thing to fail on a cheap bag, so we specify the zip before we design the pocket around it.
Repair before replace
Hardware, stitching and straps can be repaired. If something fails in normal use, write to us before you write the bag off – we would rather fix it.
Where we are
Made in small batches, shipped from the United States.
KEPAW is based in Guangxi, China, and our pieces are cut and finished in small runs rather than on an assembly line. Orders are picked, checked and dispatched from our US warehouse within 3-5 business days.
Questions about a piece before you buy it, or after it arrives? Email kebaoshop2045@outlook.com – we answer every message ourselves.