By Steve Dinneen
Sometimes good things really do come to those who wait. If you’re looking for the perfect present for someone this Christmas, now might be the time to get the process started.
Take fine Italian leatherware producer Jordan Bespoke – each of its creations are hand made, with an impossible amount of detail going into everything from the straps to the stitching, the zips to the lining.
It’s the brainchild of motoring enthusiast Simon Jordan (no relation to Eddie Jordan, although he has made items for him), who says he fell into the world of luxury leather products entirely by accident.
“It was 2005 and I was working for a UK Ferrari dealer,” says Jordan. “I organised the trip for some clients to go to Tuscany to watch the Ferrari Challenge World Finals. I was carrying a ropey old nylon bag with me and as these clients were all important people, it was going to be embarrassing to be seen with it when I left the hotel. One of the guys on the trip had this beautiful Italian leather bag, which I fell in love with. I asked him where he got it and the next day I was driving to Florence to get one of my own.”
Jordan immediately realised that he had something special on his hands. “I just thought – ‘these are amazing, I could sell these’”.
The next week he flew back to Florence and started buying up the factory’s best stock and taking it back to the UK to sell. He did this for three years, until the limitations of buying readymade products started to hold the business back.
“They just wouldn’t listen to anything I wanted to do and I was getting to a point where I wanted to change the quality of every single component.”
The next step in the Jordan Bespoke journey was to visit various factories across Italy to find the one that could create products to his high specifications, agonising over every detail, from the leather itself to the metal D-rings.
Today the most popular bag in the collection is the GTO holdall, whose style and dimensions are unique to Jordan Bespoke; a high, handsome trapezoid with handles and a removable shoulder strap.
The next turning point for the business came in 2008, when Jordan made a decision that would help to define the company.
“I put a number 56 on it,” he says. “I’m still passionate about Ferrari and that was the number of the Ferrari 125 S that won the marque’s first race on 25 May 1947 in the 9th Rome Grand Prix.”
After this, racing drivers and motoring enthusiasts started coming to Jordan Bespoke to have their own numbers stitched to the side of their bags.
It doesn’t have to be a racing number, either. “I’ve had people want a number on the side to represent their birthday, or their anniversary, or something that happened on a particular day.”
The customisation process for getting your own bag made is as broad as your imagination.
“We use genuine seat belt webbing for the handles and shoulder straps: we’ve got every single shade of seatbelt webbing you can think of!”
Also available are bespoke touches including printed linings. The GTO holdalls start at £995 and a more bespoke version comes in around the £1,500 mark. Also available are helmet bags, document cases and tech cases, all with that distinctive Jordan Bespoke motoring flair.
As well as individual, one-off bags, Jordan Bespoke can also take on larger commissions. He’s produced matching bags for racing teams and even a series of carbon black bags for luxury yacht company Sunseeker. He also created a 3 piece Licence Collection for racing legend Tom Kristensen, the nine times Le Mans Champion winner, with titles for Porsche, Bentley and Audi.
“My whole background has been repairing cars, restoring cars, being involved with race teams. I’m just an absolute anorak as a petrol head,” says Jordan. “My passion comes from standing and hanging around at race circuits all over the world.”
You can see that passion in each of these bags – order one now to make sure you get it in time for Christmas.
• For more information and to order your own go to jordanbespoke.com. They will also be exhibiting at Goodwood Revival next week, located in the Paddock on Tim Layzell’s stand
