In the Bag: Soap Cartel
Our holiday grab bags are back! Packed with rad finds from some of our fave up-and-coming brands, they’re the perfect gifts for the hardest-to-shop for peeps on your list—boys and girls alike. Score them while you can, and get the low-down on the featured lines here. —erica
The Company: Soap Cartel
The Founder: Dayana Ariza and Hernan Gonzalez
The Story: When Dayana Ariza and her fiancé Hernan Gonzalez figured out that tea tree oil and lavender could help with his tinea versicolor, a skin condition that causes discoloration, the duo decided to give commercial bath products the cold shoulder—and to start making their own soaps. The most attention-grabbing bar in their three-year-old hobby-turned-line is the color of tar and relies on the detox powers of activated—consider it a green-juice companion.
To get this soap and all kinds of other awesomeness, check out our Girls’ Holiday Grab Bags while you can.
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In the Bag: In Haus Press
Our holiday grab bags are back! Packed with rad finds from some of our fave up-and-coming brands, they’re the perfect gifts for the hardest-to-shop for peeps on your list—boys and girls alike. Score them while you can, and get the low-down on the featured lines here. —erica
The Company: In Haus Press
The Founder: Treasa Ewing
The Story: Treasa Ewing has pretty much always been making things—before she started In Haus Press, she was a pastry chef. Her motivation to launch her business: Realizing that, for her, stationery > sweets—and that she has a real affection for getting and sending notes in the mail. Though she makes plenty of striking, B&W cards for USPSing, we’re also pretty into her letterpressed coasters that you can (selfishly) keep for yourself.
Grab these coasters and other SO-COOL goodies by scooping up our Girls’ Holiday Grab Bags.
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In the Bag: Sprout
Our holiday grab bags are back! Packed with rad finds from some of our fave up-and-coming brands, they’re the perfect gifts for the hardest-to-shop for peeps on your list—boys and girls alike. Score them while you can, and get the low-down on the featured lines here. —erica
The Company: Sprout
The Founder: Adina Grigore
The Story: For Sprout, “less isn’t just more; less is everything.” What does that mean, exactly? Adina Grigore makes every single thing in her skincare line with five (organic, fair-trade, or small-farm) ingredients or fewer—yes, whoa. There’s a makeup remover, a body scrub, a cream, and…a lip-balm flight? That’s four essential-oil-tinged tubes packaged together in a so-gifty tin.
Get this sucker as part of our AMAZE Girls’ Holiday Grab Bags. Check it here.
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In the Bag: Herschel Supply Co.
Our holiday grab bags are back! Packed with rad finds from some of our fave up-and-coming brands, they’re the perfect gifts for the hardest-to-shop for peeps on your list—boys and girls alike. Score them while you can, and get the low-down on the featured lines here. —erica
The Company: Herschel Supply Co.
The Founder: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack
The Story: Three years ago, with brothers Jamie and Lyndon Cormak started their company, named for the teeny, Canadian town where their great-grandparents settled down, backpacks weren’t the least bit cool. But these guys, who pared down the two-strap classic to its most basic form and added a shit-ton of care, are, in a large part, responsible for changing that. These days, their line also includes messengers, duffles, dopp kits, and laptop sleeves—some Apple exclusives, NBD.
Score/gift one of their dopp kits, included in our jumbo Boys’ Holiday Grab Bags.
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In the Bag: Metaphor Organic
Our holiday grab bags are back! Packed with rad finds from some of our fave up-and-coming brands, they’re the perfect gifts for the hardest-to-shop for peeps on your list—boys and girls alike. Score them while you can, and get the low-down on the featured lines here. —erica
The Company: Metaphor Organic
The Founder: Errol Davis and Adam Bienvenu
The Story: Errol Davis and Adam Bienvenu are pretty high-minded guys. The former is a writer and the latter a conceptual artist, and they came upon the idea to start a health-slash-beauty business after year of contemplation, zeroing on triple bottom line (that’s people, planet, and profit), doing everything by hand, and putting the emphasis on using only natural ingredients (organic if possible!). That means their soaps and deodorants are packed with goat’s milk, coconut oil, and, in the case of this bar above, coffee, roasted right in San Francisco.
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In the Bag: Hansel from Basel
Our holiday grab bags are back! Packed with rad finds from some of our fave up-and-coming brands, they’re the perfect gifts for the hardest-to-shop for peeps on your list—boys and girls alike. Score them while you can, and get the low-down on the featured lines here. —erica
The Company: Hansel from Basel
The Founder: Hannah Byun
The Story: Even the name of the line, Hansel from Basel, hints at what’s in store: a hint of quirk, meant to be more fun than flashy. For Hannah Byun (who was obsessed with the Swiss Alps as a kid) and her L.A.-based accessories line, that means Modrian-esque tights, sparkly ankle socks, and bags you’d have loved as much as a six-year-old as now.
How adorbs is this pouch? It’s in our jumbo Girls’ Holiday Grab Bags, available now.
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In the Bag: Supermodule
Our holiday grab bags are back! Packed with rad finds from some of our fave up-and-coming brands, they’re the perfect gifts for the hardest-to-shop for peeps on your list—boys and girls alike. Score them while you can, and get the low-down on the featured lines here. —erica
The Company: Supermodule
The Founder: David Riofrio
The Story: Supermodule’s cards look like fabric, with their houndstooth and plaid motifs. But the relationship goes deeper than that: Since launching his line in 2009, graphic designer David Riofrio has printed all of the designs of his “Stay Warm” series on cotton paper—made from waste of the garment industry. The results: tree-free!
To get your hands on these suckers, scoop up one of our Girls’ Holiday Grab Bags, right over here.
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In the Bag: Baxter California
Our holiday grab bags are back! Packed with rad finds from some of our fave up-and-coming brands, they’re the perfect gifts for the hardest-to-shop for peeps on your list—boys and girls alike. Score them while you can, and get the low-down on the featured lines here. —erica
The Company: Baxter California
The Founder: Baxter Finley
The Story: Baxter Finley is someone out of an AMC show (ok, fine, Mad Men). When the ad man moved from NYC to L.A. in the sixties, his skin was getting parched, and he wanted a remedy. Seeing as how girly all the skincare products to be had were at the time, he decided to make his own moisturizer, Super Shape, which grew into the first men’s grooming line launched in the U.S. of A. Though the company’s been around for decades now, things really got bumping around 2000 when his pal Jean-Pierre Mastey took the reigns (and guys started to use the term “product”). Now it includes super-slick, high-gloss versions of pretty much everything a guy could want in his medicine cabinet.
Our jumbo Boys’ Holiday Grab Bags come with Baxter’s schmancy shave cream. Click here to get them.
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In the Bag: Caitlin Keegan
Our holiday grab bags are back! Packed with rad finds from some of our fave up-and-coming brands, they’re the perfect gifts for the hardest-to-shop for peeps on your list—boys and girls alike. Score them while you can, and get the low-down on the featured lines here. —erica
The Company: Caitlin Keegan
The Founder: Caitlin Keegan
The Story: As an illustrator, Caitlin Keegan’s work has appeared in The New York Times and Nylon. She’s also the lady behind a set of amazing posters—like one featuring the faces of woodland creatures that can also be cut out into a trio of masks—and stationery. Our jam: a Brooklyn-inspired postcard extravaganza that riffs on the vibes of the borough’s namesake bridge, Coney Island, front stoops, subway tunnels, and fire escapes.
Oh, hey! These cards are in our Girls’ Holiday Grab Bags up for, er, grabs now.
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In the Bag: Yellow Owl Workshop
Our holiday grab bags are back! Packed with rad finds from some of our fave up-and-coming brands, they’re the perfect gifts for the hardest-to-shop for peeps on your list—boys and girls alike. Score them while you can, and get the low-down on the featured lines here. —erica
The Company: Yellow Owl Workshop
The Founder: Christine Schmidt
The Story: When Christine Schmidt started Yellow Owl Workshop in 2008, she began with a pair of rubber stamps so cool that they earned her retailers, Design*Sponge love, and the nerve to do more. Now, her eco-aware line includes an assortment of cheery, graphic greeting cards, a collection of gold pendant necklaces, a book on hand-printing, and a studio in the Mission in SF that hosts Christine’s team (including her husband Evan Gross) and allows her the space to run workshops, motivating other would-be makers to take the plunge.
