SHOPPING CART
Fabio Otalora
Big Chief of Operations
I had been living in NYC for almost twenty years (I’m originally from Bogota Colombia) when one Halloween night I met this incredibly beautiful and exotic woman at a party. I was instantly smitten. She invited me to come to her shop in Dumbo so I could see the line of bags and accessories that she had designed. When I first saw the INSIDERS bags covered with cool images of NYC,I was knocked off my feet. Who was this woman? Her name was Sigal de-Mayo and today she is my wife. INSIDERS1 is our company and since that time it has become so much more-it is our life.
That’s how it began for me, a chance meeting at a New York party and my whole life changed. That anything-can-happen vibe is something that Sigal and I work hard to bring to the INSIDERS1 brand. I love that I get to experience our company from every point of view and I believe that our products are better because of that. The big thing I am working on today is to keep in touch with the process as we grow.
Last year, Sigal and I were ready to take the big leap and expand INSIDERS1 to include five more cities. We took a trip around the world, to cities that inspired us. We’d hang with the locals, ride the metro, walk streets unknown, get lost and listen to the city speaking to us, pointing us towards adventure. We take photographs that capture a specific moment, in a specific place to express the vibrancy that we felt.
Because I transfer every image by hand onto leather for our bags and accessories, I get to re-visit these places and remember being there. Our bags are designed to age and the images become more interesting and vintage looking over time. It reminds me that this is what’s happening to the actual place and it keeps the memory alive.
When a customer sees one of our products and recognizes a place that they love, or wish to someday visit—it instantly connects us. I especially love the secret connections: when I see someone on the subway, or walking down the street wearing an INSIDERS1 bag—they don’t know me, or that I made that, but yet we are connected. It really doesn’t get any better than that.
Fabio's Favorite Product
THE INSIDERS VIEW
LARGE MESSENGER BAG
For 5 years this bag has traveled around the world with me and to work everyday in the Navy Yard.The image is aging beautifully. I love how it lets me move around, hands free—I never have to be careful.