The crazy Crumpler carries on

Invented out of necessity, the Crumpler bag blossomed into a popular Australian brand founded by Dave Roper and Will Miller in Melbourne in 1995, based on Stuart Crumpler’s design. With the advent of the Internet, it was a smart career shift for Roper and Miller, whose bicycle messenger service became an endangered species.
“The messenger bag, as we called it, was design to solve a problem we had,” Roper explained in a recent jaunt to Bangkok for the opening of Thailand’s first Crumpler store, at Central World.
“The uniform our bicycle messengers wore was very high standard, to improve the riders’ image, but the bag was always the missing link. We could never find the right bag for them to tote their documents and parcels around in. A backpack wasn’t practical and zippers kept breaking, which was very annoying.
“The great thing about this messenger bag is that it clings to you and you can get at the contents without taking the bag off. It’s very useful having just the one shoulder strap so you can keep the bag on at all times.”
Stuart Crumpler, a painter, sculptor, furniture-maker – and one of the messenger boys – heard they were looking for a better carryall and proposed a solution. He and Roper and Miller formed a team to design “the Crumpler”, so named simply because “it’s the most interesting of our names, and also catchy”, said Roper. Crumpler has since left the firm to pursue his artistic career.
Roper described the initial foray into the bag trade as “stumbling”. “We never really planned to have a bag business – we aren’t from the fashion or luggage scene. But I think it’s good in a way that we designed a product under no other influences. It made it very unique because we did it our own way.”
He pointed out that having the messenger business was crucial to the design too, since “a very tough bag” was required. “So, over time, we worked together to improve the design to suit our needs: very simple, matching the uniform, a bright colour, a bold strap, a great logo. It’s waterproof and very strong – we build it so we can offer a lifetime warranty. It became very popular after people started asking where we got these great bags from, and saying, ‘Make one for me!’ So we started the bag business. We set up a small factory.”
Roper described the design team as “happy-go-lucky”. “Let’s make some bags, have fun! It’s that sort of mentality we’d like to maintain as we grow our company. Of course things have gone a bit differently – we have studio now and we make a lot of different products – but we keep the original idea of making nice, strong, good, unique products.
“We’ve been making bags for almost 20 years now, and we’re lucky that we’ve never been under any pressure to meet sales targets.”
Roper said he tries to avoid taking life too seriously and makes sure his own life is balanced. “I use a simple mobile phone on weekends – no work, no Internet, no email, just the phone. You just clear your head, visit a good art gallery, spend good time with the family. You need changes of scenery, like chasing kangaroos. This is how the best creative ideas come around. Work to live, not live to work. We only live once!”
Roper claims he once proposed opening a Crumpler shop in New York where payment had to be in beer, not money, and the New York Times, CNN and MSNBC all picked up on the story about this “crazy Australian”.
Sam Davy, a Briton who’d been creative director at Apple in California, joined the team as brand director and has “helped take things up a notch”, Roper said. “He’s pushed us into developing new but relevant product lines, including more serious luggage. But the product always has to be strong, well-made, look nice and be functional. Crumpler caters to the needs of those who enjoy the adventurous life, like photographers, inventors, thinkers and doers, as well as IT geeks, students and people involved the cycling culture in Thailand.”
Crumpler has dual headquarters in Melbourne and Berlin and 50 shops in New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Manila and now Bangkok. Pattamon Adireksan and Nitipong Suriya, who share CEO duties at Quintette, oversee the Thai operation.
Roper stressed the functionality and affordability of Crumpler bags and noted that “a lot of Thais buy online, so we think we have good potential here”.