Brands You Should Know

WANT Les Essentiels de la Vie

Stylish, civilized, well put together... but enough about the twin brothers behind this Montreal-based label. Let's talk about their accessories...

The brand's Gilt-exclusive line of goods. Left to right: The Newbury iPhone Case, the Trudeau Briefcase, and the Kansai Laptop Case.

This high-end Canadian accessories label was born out of a simple desire, says Dexter Peart, who designs and runs the line with his identical twin brother, Byron, “We both travel incessantly for work—at the very least, we’re in Montreal and New York every week—so we needed really nice luggage.” What that means in the hands of the brothers Peart, who designed the collection that goes on sale today: luxurious leather pieces designed to house your technology with clean, minimal lines and maximum functionality. Take the Trudeau Briefcase, with its impeccably clean, classic exterior—and an interior boasting 17 pockets, meaning it can easily hold a laptop or iPad and a PDA, along with more traditional travel essentials like cards, pens, notepaper, and books. For Gilt, WANT has devised an exclusive color, “Elephant,” whose stone-like hue reflects the fact that the Pearts are “more likely to be inspired by architecture and natural materials than fashion,” according to Dexter. But some things haven’t changed: the chemical-free calf leather still comes from a 125-year old Norwegian tannery, and the pieces retain the two-tone zippers—gold on one side, silver on the other—that are the brand’s subtle hallmark. All of WANT’s goods are named after airports, but the Pearts are keeping an open mind about what comes next. “We’re trying to hark back to a time when going to the airport was an occasion—before the days of the pat-down,” says Dexter. “But we’re always thinking about the different ways people travel, whether by plane or bicycle. As technology and the way people travel evolve, we’ll continue to keep pace.”

WANT Les Essentiels de la Vie, on sale 8/15 at 12:00 noon ET on Gilt MAN.

 

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