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"FacebookPinterest\n\nSome say you should never mix family and business. Brothers Lyndon and Jamie Cormack, founders of Herschel, would disagree. They've built a business based on creating the finest quality backpacks, bags, accessories and travel goods from their home base of Vancouver, Canada and in just three years, they've developed quite the reputation - with a good amount of street cred. They've collaborated with Mark McNairy on a durable leather carryall and the brothers even managed to grab the attention of Apple, creating a series of 3 co-branded computer sleeves. Here, we dig through their past and look at why 1906 was the start of it all.\n\nGQ: The story behind the name Herschel is rooted in history dating back to the 1900's. Can you tell me a little bit about the origins of the company name?\n\n Lyndon Cormack: Dating back to the fall of 1906, our great grandparents moved over from Wick, Scotland to a homestead program in central Canada, eventually settling in the small village of Herschel. Three generations of our family have resided in this town that consists of 160 acres with a population today of 30. The underlying idea around the brand name arose from the concept of the towns' general store, rolling hills, dirt roads, crackling sidewalks and overall utilitarian feel. Imagine cruising through the small town, seeing people come and go while the town sign blows in the wind. The ideas surrounding this relate to the overarching vision of our brand.\n\nGQ: Founded in 2009, you launched the company in Vancouver as a collection of quality backpacks, bags, travel goods and accessories with the overarching goal of creating timeless product with a fine regard to detail. In the three years you've been around, how has your original mission changed? Or, have you stayed true to the initial goal?\n\n Lyndon Cormack: When we first started Herschel Supply, we identified that there was a space in the market for a brand exactly like ours. One that is modernizing nostalgic products and finishing them with a fine regard to detail. From day one we had to put out a few bags that we could test on the market. Suddenly, and almost overwhelmingly, the market came back to where the core pieces are in the line today. Currently we are more focused than we were on day one with the brand after being able to have a good market read on what people want. Has our mission changed? Absolutely not, but we are expanding rapidly and adapting to what the market brings forward.\n\nGQ: You guys are brothers. When it comes to both the creative aspect and the business end, who is responsible for what? How do you divide and conquer?\n\n Jamie Cormack: We split and define our roles based on each other's strongest assets. I take care of the design and production side of the brand, while Lyndon takes care of sales, marketing and operations.\n\nGQ: You've grown fast - real fast. How do you keep up with the recent amount of steadfast growth?\n\n Lyndon Cormack: Our strategic forecasting, planning, and the help from the people that we have makes it possible to ecute on a timely basis. We are working hard to create an office and culture where people love to come to work and collaborate with everyone involved.\n\nGQ: What's it about your products that are unique? In some ways, or in my opinion at least, you seem to embed every product with a little bit of T.L.C... and dope designs.\n\n Jamie Cormack: It is our ability to modernize our product in a nostalgic way and to not just re-create product from the past. We ask ourselves questions like how are people going to use the products? Who is carrying the product? What are they putting in? What are they interested in? Our tailored approach to design and working ourselves backwards enables us to create that specific product that the end consumer is going to naturally move towards which is due to how much reverse engineering we have done along the way.\n\nLyndon Cormack: Also, our agreement with manufacturing partners lets us throw stuff at the wall to see if it sticks. In other words, we put out designs that we know will never make it as a top seller but this helps tell the story of the brand and really allows us to experiment. This whole process allows us to implement a new feature on a bag, which may end up being the result on one of our next best sellers.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nGQ: I know you guys are working on some really cool things - like an exclusive selection of 3 computer sleeves for Apple. Can you tell me a little bit about this?\n\n Lyndon Cormack: We have had the tremendous opportunity to become a vendor of Apple and have been working closely with their buying team to put products in their store that are exclusive to apple. These products have our Herschel Supply DNA, which allows the protection for Apple products within our product. We are remarkably passionate about apple products and very proud to be a vendor of theirs. We will continue to innovate, design, refine, and bring the unexpected out, offering new products while consistently updating functionality.\n\nGQ: You also recently launched a collaboration with Mark McNairy - the ultimate badass. How did this collaboration take place?\n\n Jamie Cormack: Of course, we are inspired by the projects he's involved with on a day to day basis as well as his work with his own label. It was a no-brainer if we had the opportunity to work with him. In the end, we built an 800 denier, cordura branded backpack with thick, genuine leather. From a distance away the bag will just look like a typical Herschel supply backpack. Look a little closer and you will notice the leather detailing and heavy weight woodland camo cotton liner that exceeds our regular construction. This bag has those small touches that not everyone will appreciate, but mark McNairy and Herschel supply's discerning customers will definitely value."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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