Lost Property London

Lost Property London now trades as LPOL, an independent British brand making leather and upcycled bags and accessories, founded in 2009 by designer Katy Maskell Bell and selling direct from lpol.co.uk. The range covers handbags, totes, travel bags, work bags, basket bags, small leather goods and straps, from GBP 125 for a strap to GBP 750 for the Cubitt work bag. The stated mission is “to change the perception of luxury” by letting authenticity, responsibility and circularity shape the design and craft process. Built on Shopify.

Website Design

Near-black on white with sand accents. The base is white with near-black text, warmed by a pale sand and a soft taupe on section grounds and button fills. Photography supplies the colour instead: leather in berry, olive, vintage brown and black, shot on studio grounds and in interiors.

One typeface throughout. Jost, a geometric sans, is set for headings and body alike at a regular weight, so hierarchy comes from size and letterspacing, not contrast. The brand mark is spaced out as L P O L in body copy, and the homepage opens on a full-bleed seasonal slideshow with a single Shop Now call.

Shopping Experience

Prices on every card. The homepage carousel shows each bag with its name and a Regular price figure, so the range reads at a glance. Discounted stock sits in its own 40% off collection rather than marked across the main grid.

Sparse product pages. The Elwin page gives one price, a colour selector and Add to Cart, then a paragraph of description and a short spec list: chrome-free leather, surplus cotton British Millerain lining, antique brass clasp, handmade in England, plus dimensions and strap drop in centimetres. Tax is stated as included.

Back-in-stock capture. Sold-out variants open a “Notify me when available” panel that takes an email address, so unavailable lines stay in the catalogue.

Delivery priced as flat tiers. UK express is GBP 10, Europe GBP 20 and rest of world GBP 30, with free studio pick-up and local delivery at GBP 5.

Brand Storytelling

Responsibility given a page, not a badge. It sets out four commitments and explains vegetable tanning in terms of the tanners, the environment and the wearer, then describes a zero-waste workshop where offcuts become small goods and one-off gifts.

Makers named. The Journal runs posts such as “The women behind your bag” on the LPOL x Hadithi collection, and a separate In the Press blog collects magazine coverage.

Notable Features

Packaging described item by item. The delivery page lists a fair trade cotton dust bag, recycled paper bubble wrap, a surplus webbing sash with a brass split pin and a recycled paper mailer, closing on “No new plastic. No parcel tape. No waste.”

A one-year repair promise. Repair work arising from a manufacturing fault is covered for the first year of wear, stated beside the materials sourcing rather than in the returns policy.

Collaborations in the main navigation. LPOL x Hadithi and LPOL x Seventy + Mochi each hold a top-level Shop menu slot beside the standard bag categories, with a Stockists page covering physical retail.