Cambridge Satchel Company bought by French textile firm Chargeurs

British bag maker The Cambridge Satchel Company - also known just as Satchel - has been acquired by French textile firm Chargeurs for an undisclosed sum.

According to filings at Companies House from August 3, Chargeurs has taken a stake of at least 75 percent in Satchel, while Satchel founder Julie Deane ceased “to be a person with significant control (PSC)”.

Filings from the same day also showed that Satchel directors Giuseppe Zocco, Willem Herman Haitink, and Faris Ayoub all stepped down, while Chargeurs executives Carine De Koenigswarter and Yann Delmas were appointed as directors.

Chargeurs said Satchel has “strong potential for premiumization and international expansion” thanks to its Made in Britain offering coupled with “the visibility of its brand and the excellence of its digital expertise”.

The group added that Satchel’s assets “represent key resources to step up the expansion” of Swaine, a British leather goods company also owned by Chargeurs.

The group also said the acquisition would strengthen its new luxury categories.

Satchel under new ownership

The Cambridge Satchel Company is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of premium leather bags and satchels founded in 2008 by Julie Deane and her mother Freda Thomas with an investment of just 600 pounds.

In 2013, it opened its first store in London’s Short Gardens, which it later relocated to James Street, before opening further stores across the UK.

Today, the brand is stocked in more than 150 countries and employs over 60 people.

It has also previously linked with a number of other iconic brands including Vivienne Westwood, Comme des Garçons, and Farrow & Ball.

Last year, Satchel opened a new 1,054 square foot London flagship on Carnaby Street.