oal was to make sure the bags were really beautiful, but also very functional,” Wilson told Inside Retail in an exclusive first interview. The collection, which drops next week, includes leather tote bags, handbags, crossbody bags and accessories in a variety of colours and patterns.  “We’ve got some really beautiful colours that we’ve injected to keep that level of playfulness the brand has in its heritage, and we’re also using print, which the brand hasn’t done a lot with in the past,” Wilson said. “The inspiration for me was pulling back and looking at the brand from a wider lens to cleanse people’s palates.”  Rethinking personalisation TDE was founded in 2011 by then-lawyers Alyce Tran and Tania Liu, who saw a gap in the market for high-quality leather goods that customers could personalise with their initials.  The co-founders grew TDE on Instagram, eventually going on to open concessions in David Jones and a handful of stunning bricks-and-mortar stores in Australia and the US. in 2017, Oroton bought a 30 per cent stake in the brand for $4.5 million, but sold it back in 2018 amidst financial troubles. However, the brand’s Cinderella story veered off course last year when Tran was accused of misusing company funds. She exited the business and sold her stake to Liu, who told Inside Retail that it was the start of a “new era” for TDE.  As part of that, Wilson is now rethinking a fundamental part of the brand: personalisation.  “Personalisation is a huge part of the TDE heritage, and we are definitely not walking away from that in any way, but we do need to evolve what it means,” she said. “You can get monogramming and foiling from a lot of brands now. It’s become quite expected, so we’re looking at things like integrating it into metal hardware.” For example, one of the bags in the new collection comes with metal letter keyrings that can be used in different ways.  “For me, it’s about bringing back that special aspect of personalisation,” Wilson said.  Drawing on lessons learned from Oroton In her role at TDE, Wilson will be drawing on lesson learned from over 10 years at Oroton, which has undergone a noticeable brand transformation since it emerged from voluntary administration in 2018.  “Product is at the heart of any business like that, and with that transformation, we made product the centre and focus,” she said about her time at Oroton. “I’m taking the same approach here at TDE.” She has reexamined every aspect of the TDE product, down to the smallest details, such as the zipper pulls. “I think people expect a level of quality from the things they purchase now, maybe more than they have in the past,” she said.  “Leather goods are such a craft, and I think it’s really nice to highlight that craftsmanship and elevate it as much as we can.” With more than 330,000 followers on Instagram, TDE has a built-in customer base that Wilson believes is just waiting to be reignited by these changes.  “That was one of the things that drew me to this brand,” she said. “Many brands would dream to have an Instagram following as large as TDE has, so I think that’s really exciting.”  Reinvesting in physical retail Alongside its product design, TDE is also revamping some of its backend systems to improve the customer experience. “We are currently working on creating a custom-built digital experience that offers personalisation in terms of both product and interface. We will also be making improvements to our omnichannel capabilities so that e-commerce and retail are more closely integrated for our customers,” David Dunstan, TDE’s chief operating officer, told Inside Retail. And while the brand’s bricks-and-mortar presence has shrunk in recent years — its only remaining store is in the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney — opening new store is on the agenda. “Retail — and especially experiential retail — has always been well leveraged by TDE to tell the brand’s story, and we firmly believe in the potential of this channel into the future,” Dunstan said. “Our strategy moving forward will centre on bespoke flagship stores in global cities, tapping the best traffic data and intel possible to determine locations, after seeing so much population movement over the past few years.”