We spoke to Tiffany Zhou, the co-founder and creative director of OLEADA, whose handbag line is available at The Hub in Bridgehampton this summer. OLEADA will join James Lane Post at The Hub for a sip & shop on Wednesday, August 5, from 6 to 8 PM, and will be offering complimentary monogrammed luggage tags.
When you first started OLEADA, what inspired you to launch this brand?
OLEADA started from a very real frustration. Before founding the brand, I worked in finance and traveled constantly. I was always carrying my laptop, documents, chargers, shoes, makeup, and everything I needed to move through a full day. I wanted a bag that was elegant enough for professional settings, but practical enough for the way women actually live and work.
What I found was that most bags were either beautiful but fragile or functional but uninspiring. There was very little designed specifically for modern working women who move between meetings, travel, dinners, family, and personal life.
That was the problem I wanted to solve. For me, a bag is not just an accessory. It is part of a woman’s daily architecture. It should give her confidence, ease, and peace of mind. The bag should work for the woman who carries it, not the other way around.
That was the original inspiration behind OLEADA, and it is still the heart of the brand today.
This summer, you launched a new beach tote. Please tell us more about why you felt this collection was something you wanted to add to the brand.
OLEADA has always believed in beauty and function together. I grew up between California and Hong Kong, so being by the beach has always been very personal to me. I love the idea of a beautiful beach tote, but I always struggled with traditional canvas ones. They look great in the beginning, but after one season, they get dirty, damaged, and very hard to clean.
I knew this was not only my problem. For women, especially mothers and families, a beach day can get messy very quickly. You want to carry something beautiful, but you also need it to survive towels, sunscreen, water bottles, snacks, sand, wet swimsuits, and everything that comes with real life.
So we worked with our supplier to develop a waterproof-coated canvas. It took many rounds of testing and refinement to get the material right. We wanted it to feel elevated, but also truly practical. The result is a beach tote that is fully waterproof, easy to clean, and still polished enough to feel like OLEADA.
For me, that is the whole point of the brand. We do not believe women should have to choose between beauty and function.
We are also adding monogramming, which makes the piece feel more personal and special. I think that is where OLEADA can really specialize: creating products that solve real problems, but still feel emotional, elevated, and personal.
You have a partnership with The Hub this summer in the Hamptons. What are some other locations where we can find OLEADA?
We are very excited to partner with The Hub this summer in the Hamptons. It feels like a natural place for OLEADA because our customer is always moving between city life, work, travel, and weekend escapes.
In the Hamptons, you can also find us at Charlie Fox in Southampton, which is a beautifully curated, very aesthetic CBD and lifestyle store founded by a friend. In East Hampton, we are partnering with Set Point Tennis, a tennis specialty store. They previously carried our AnyWear Tennis Backpack, which is one of the bestsellers in our AnyWear collection, and this summer they are also carrying our beach tote because it is such an eye-catching and functional piece for that lifestyle.
From a broader retail perspective, we are also working with Nordstrom and Macy’s on some of our bestselling items. Anthropologie is also preparing to carry our small leather goods collection both in select physical stores and online.
We are being very intentional about where OLEADA shows up. For us, it is not just about distribution. It is about placing the brand in environments where the customer can immediately understand how the product fits into her life.