11.20.05
Priority Designs creates soft goods for Leeds.

Leeds, a maker of private label promotional products, recently introduced a new line bags designed for business travelers. The Noetec line, designed by soft good design specialists Priority Designs, features a host of new innovative features created to fit the lifestyles of executives on the go.

Leeds recognized a opportunity in their product offerings for a set of soft goods that would appeal to upscale executives and approached Priority Designs to help design them. Over a series of several weeks senior designers Aaron Cornaby and Tom Africa created concepts for Leeds. "Executives tend to carry a lot of very expensive electronics around and it is often not very well protected from impact" said Aaron Cornaby. "We recognized this need early on and it drove us to really think differently about how to protect this stuff." "For the lap top carrier, we took some inspiration from bubble wrap" said Tom Africa. "We used this idea and figured out how to make a unique foam and fabric liner inside that basically has the same effect. It also ended up being patent able, which really pleased Leeds. We also noticed that many items would tend to collect in the center of the big front pockets. We wanted to add extra protection there but still make it flexible so it could be overstuffed. We designed a compression molded shell that is surrounded by a stretchy Neoprene and got the result we wanted. These features became the central elements of our design language on all the bags. Organization is also an important concern with executives. We really sweated over the interiors to make sure there were plenty of thoughtful ways to organize things like business cards, pens, paperwork and electronics."

For the style of the bags Leeds and Priority Designs again did something unconventional "A lot of premium bags use leather. We wanted to keep the weight and cost down but still have a premium look. So, we choose ballistic nylon as the primary fabric and then used metal and rubber accents which give the bags a technical feel."

"The client ended up being very pleased." said Tom. "We had the technical experience to carry out the project very quickly and efficiently and the creative skills to provide meaningful results. The initial feedback that we've gotten from Leeds is that the bags are generating a lot of buzz and sales are going well."

Services for Leeds include: 2D and 3D concept development, soft goods engineering, material selection, and vendor support.