1# The New Made In Italy: Annika Saraf, founder of Akinna Milano
From India to Italy, a journey to making luxury handbags
Back in December, I was asked to write for the print version of Vogue Italia's March 2024 edition, which cover you see below. The story centred around five female designers who are making the new Made in Italy — hence the title of that series here on Susbtack.
For the occasion, I had the pleasure and honour of interviewing six fantastic women whose work is making Italian fashion less of a microcosm as they are all either foreigners or “seconda generazione” - a misleading expression translating to second generation or rather generations of children of immigrants - who chose to create and produce their brand in Italy.
Before going further, I’d like to mention that compared to the French Vogue version; Vogue Italia has been making a clear effort to include stories of talented non-white creatives thanks to Michelle Ngonmo - founder of the Afro Fashion Week Milan and the Black Carpet Awards. Michelle, who hails from Cameroon and grew up in Italy, dedicates her work to scouting and promoting non-white creatives through her two projects. She works closely with Vogue Italia in that sense, and that is why I was able to write my first story for Vogue. I’ll share an interview with her later, which was done by All The Pretty Birds editor-in-chief, Tamu McPherson, in the chat (this is accessible for those who have the Substack App).
In the Vogue Italia print version, each interviewee answered only one question, but in reality, we spent 20 to 30 minutes talking together, so I thought of sharing more of our conversation here. So enjoy!
*There is a poll at the end of the article. I would be very happy if you answered it. Thank you so much for your attention and participation.
Annika Saraf is one of the first designers I was tasked to interview for my Vogue Italia article. The 27-year-old Milan-based Indian designer talked to me from India enthusiastically about her journey to founding Akinna Milano, the handbag brand she created in 2022 with the mission of “making designer bags that stand the test of time and trends.” The story of Annika is particularly enlightening as cities like London, Paris and Milan - which are the Western fashion capitals - attract creatives from all over the world. Yet, rarely do stories of creatives coming from continents such as Latin America, Africa or Asia and establishing themselves in these capitals make it to mainstream media. And if they do, rarely are they given the opportunity to talk about the highs and lows of creating a viable brand and a business in a country whose culture is completely different from theirs. And this interview is exactly about this.
Can you introduce yourself and your brand?
Hello, I am Annika, and I am from India. I arrived in London for a master’s in economics at the LSE, but I dropped out after two months to move to Milan to study luxury accessory design at the Istituto Marangoni. During my master’s degree there, I won a competition that allowed me to participate in my first Milan Fashion Week with the Italian handbag brand Borbonese. I then interned there, and COVID came. The pandemic gave me the opportunity to work on my own brand because while I was working with other brands, I realised I wanted to build something of my own to give people a really good Made in Italy quality product that wouldn’t burn their pockets. You know, when you want to get something made in Italy, you usually have to spend a lot of money, so I wanted to make products that showcase great craftsmanship without compromising on other things.
You studied in London, which is also a fashion hub, yet you preferred to go to Italy rather than stay in London. Why?
I came from an economics background, so I knew nothing about fashion. I didn’t know where to go, and making a 360-degree career path change was a very big decision for me. So, I started looking for colleges, and as someone who knew very little about the fashion industry, I still knew there was nothing like Milan or Paris to study fashion. I started looking for the best schools in those cities. Rightly because I had no background in that field, I wanted a school which could teach me something before my master’s, and Istituto Marangoni had this one-year intensive course that covers three years of the bachelor’s degree. That was one of the reasons why I chose to move to Milan. Then, though I had no idea about fashion, I knew this city was one of the fashion capitals.
As a foreigner, it is quite hard to start a business in a country you don’t know anything about, especially in an industry like fashion. Can you please tell me more about that?
To be very honest, it was absolutely hard to start my business. I spent around two years doing research, looking for factories, etc. For an entire year, I roamed around Florence and its surroundings. I did the same around Milan and other regions to find factories. You know, I don’t speak great Italian, but I had, at the time, a small team of three people who spoke Italian. We travelled the country to visit different factories and make samples.
At the time, I was just 24, so people used to think that I was not serious about what I was doing. They thought it was just a hobby because, in their eyes, I was too young. And I am sorry to say, but Italians don’t take you seriously if you are not a local. It was really hard for me because wherever I went, people thought I was that kid who was just playing around. They didn’t think I really wanted to make a brand and make a business out of it.
Travelling around the country helped and gave me confidence, as I met many new people who started helping and believing in me. Obviously, it wasn’t easy — indeed, it was extremely difficult —but when you have people helping you build these connections, that’s when you grow and meet more people willing to participate in your project.
When discussing creating a fashion brand, the first thing that comes to mind is clothing. You don’t necessarily think of accessories and, above all, handbags, yet that’s what you chose to focus on. Why did you make that choice?
I have always been obsessed with leather products, including accessories, shoes, and handbags. Personally, I am not a brand freak. I am not the type of person who would go to Louis Vuitton to get a bag. I would rather look for a great leather handbag, even if it is from a factory. That is one of the reasons why I started studying luxury accessories.
When I was doing the intensive course, I realised that I was really into leather products, and it was really fun for me to work on them. Then, I started studying the market and how people reacted, which showed me that people really enjoy buying accessories more than clothes. A cute handbag and shoes will always elevate your look, even if you wear a plain T-shirt and jeans.
This said, I know for a fact that getting into creating a handbag brand is very difficult because people want to go for already established brands, but it is not impossible. I thought it was my fight to take on [laughs] and see where it would take me, and so far, it is going pretty well.
I am super happy to hear things are going well. What are some of the milestones you would say you had with your business so far?
A few milestones? Selling outside of Europe. Currently, the US - specifically L.A. and New York - India, and the UK are my major markets. I mean, even though I started with Europe, it is now my smallest market. And for me, it is a very big thing because I thought it would be really difficult to expand when you look at customs, exports and imports of products. It completely differs from creating your brand in Europe and ‘just’ catering to people from that region.
When I created the brand, people didn’t take me seriously because I was young, but now, people from serious companies like KPMG or Barclays come to me and tell me that they want to leave their jobs to join Akinna Milano. For me, it is huge because these are people earning 200,000 € a year, and they want to work with me (even though I can afford them right now)! I also have people who tell me they want to buy equity shares of my brand because they can see where it is going. I haven’t sold anything to anyone, but it is so rewarding to have people who want to do that. It shows people are recognising the value of my work.
These are little milestones that I appreciate a lot. Starting my brand in Italy was a big risk, but I am pretty happy with how things are going.
It’s amazing that people are knocking at your door to work with you and invest in Akinna Milano because they see the value of your brand business-wise. And it is not easy to be attractive that way in the fashion industry. So, well done! Since the theme for this Vogue Italia story is “Freedom stories,” how did Akinna allow you freedom?
Coming from a third-world country like India, I really fought to build my brand in Italy.
Let me tell you a little story. When I was working at Borbonese, I was the only non-Italian person in the company. People thought I didn’t speak Italian as I used to talk in English, so I heard them abusing me in front of my face in Italian, you know. They said things like I didn’t deserve to be here because I was a brown girl. You know, stuff like that. But now, those same people are liking my posts on Instagram and sending me DMs telling me that I am doing well and that my brand is great.
Secondly, on this side of the world, it seems it is less of an issue, but I think being a businesswoman and creating something of your own is a unique experience because we don’t get the support men get. So being a female entrepreneur is like breaking a wall.
What you said about how you were treated at work is appalling yet indicative of the mindset in Italy. It is not like you arrived there without effort; you clearly deserved your place there. If not, you wouldn’t have been hired. I mean, hiring you means you have the capacity and intelligence to do the job they hired you for.
You know they used to ask me, “Are you British? Are you American? You don’t look Indian,” and I always answered them “, No, you don’t say that.” I think we’ve come a long way from this type of behaviour, even though there were times I was really scared. Their remarks made me feel my work was not good enough, so I used to go and have a little cry and come back. Now with Akinna Milano, I feel like I am out of a cage because it gives me confidence.
Follow Akinna Milano on Instagram
If you are curious about other perspectives in fashion, I invite you to read:
’s . She now writes about fashion in Latin America in Spanish and English.
’s . She writes in Italian (sorry!) about Chinese fashion in China and Italy and the strategies big luxury brands like Gucci, Prada etc., use to appeal to the Chinese market.
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it's nice to see about a young leather goods brand making impactful strides & I hope that Annika succeeds in growing her brand to its full potential, proving all naysayers wrong
thanks for the mention!