Who We Are

Póchette's mission and values, where our brand name comes from and about our founder.

Four crossbody bags on a white surface with a grey background. From the back you can see a black leather flap on a burgundy crossbody bag, the next closest bag is black with a leopard print flap. This is followed by a pottery clay bag with a burgundy flap. At the front is a chocolate brown crossbody bag with a zebra print flap.

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide our customers with a handcrafted bag – designed by themselves to
meet their wants and needs – bringing a póchette full of joy to their day 😊

We want to think of handbag design from the inside out – focussing on its functionality, all the while ensuring a beautiful handbag. Our bags have been thoughtfully designed in Ireland and handcrafted in Portugal ensuring top quality products for our customers with minimal carbon footprint. Accessibility and Sustainability are very important to us – click the links to find out more about how we are trying to make our products inclusive and how we are trying to be as responsible as possible for the environment around us.

A seventeenth century embroidered pocket in mustard and cream with flowers on it.

What's in a name?

Póchette is a blend of “pochette” meaning pocket in French and “póca”, meaning pocket in Irish. From Renaissance times, men’s clothing had featured sewn-in pockets, but it wasn’t until 17th century that women began wearing pockets attached to a string around their waist under the dress to hold all their valuable possessions. These pockets were accessible through openings in the dress.

Our company name was inspired by these, flat pochette purses, which could often be beautifully embroidered.

Random fact: Old pockets have provided new insight into the social history of women’s everyday lives. A fascinating book called The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives, 1660-1900, has been written all about this. Imagine what people will think in 200 years' time when they find your Póchette and its contents 😁

A photo of a woman with dark red hair and pale skin with some freckles wearing a green silk blouse, navy wide pants and silver drop-down earrings. She is proudly holding a pottery grey crossbody bag in her hands.

Our Founder

Siobhán McCarthy founded Póchette in January 2024 and spent almost a year researching and developing prototypes to start Póchette's customised journey.

Siobhán's dream was to create a handbag that people could customise to suit their needs with enough organisation to help you find everything easily. Each handbag has been thoughtfully designed from the inside out - focussing on its functionality, all the while ensuring a beautiful, handcrafted handbag.