Silver & Riley's founder couldn't find a luxury travel bag she loved. So, she created her own
In her jet-setting life as a business consultant, Lola Banjo has visited more than a hundred countries. But as she hit the road, she never fo...
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Craftsmanship matters.
At Silver & Riley, we believe that excellence in craftsmanship is at the heart of every luxury item. Italy has long been regarded as the global capital of leather making, known for its rich heritage, artistry, and commitment to quality. By manufacturing our leather bags in Italy, we align ourselves with centuries of tradition and expertise that cannot be replicated elsewhere. Italian artisans are renowned for their meticulous attention to detail, their mastery of leatherworking techniques, and their dedication to creating pieces that stand the test of time.
Italy’s deep-rooted culture of craftsmanship resonates with our own values at Silver & Riley. We are committed to offering products that are not only beautiful and functional but also tell a story of tradition, passion, and timeless elegance. By producing in Italy, we ensure that every bag we create meets the highest standards of quality and carries with it the essence of true luxury.
Italy’s deep-rooted culture of craftsmanship resonates with our own values at Silver & Riley. We are committed to offering products that are not only beautiful and functional but also tell a story of tradition, passion, and timeless elegance. By producing in Italy, we ensure that every bag we create meets the highest standards of quality and carries with it the essence of true luxury.
Our Values: Luxury with Purpose
We believe fashion should be a force for meaningful change, standing for something far beyond aesthetics. As a woman-led brand, we proudly uphold the values of ethics and integrity in everything we do. Our core principles—customer focus, product innovation, inclusivity, team diversity, and social responsibility—guide us in creating products that blend timeless style with a higher purpose.
We are dedicated to being responsible corporate stewards, committed to making a positive and lasting impact in the ways we can. We strive to be a force for good and we believe that businesses can succeed by doing what’s right.
Empowering Women: While our products are designed for all genders, we proudly champion and celebrate women. Through our Buy 1, Give 5 program and grant initiatives, we commit to providing meaningful support to women entrepreneurs globally.
Sustainability: Tackling the fashion industry’s wastefulness, we commit to responsible production and conscious consumption. By selecting long-lasting materials and minimizing excess production, we reduce waste without compromising quality. Together, we aim to build a better planet by encouraging mindful choices that benefit both our customers and the environment. Read more about our Sustainability Commitments here.
Inclusivity and Diversity: True beauty lies in diversity, and our commitment to inclusivity is woven into every aspect of our brand. We intentionally celebrate a diverse world by showcasing models who reflect our vibrant global community. We create products that resonate with a multicultural audience, ensuring everyone can see themselves reflected in the luxury we offer.
Empowering Women: While our products are designed for all genders, we proudly champion and celebrate women. Through our Buy 1, Give 5 program and grant initiatives, we commit to providing meaningful support to women entrepreneurs globally.
Sustainability: Tackling the fashion industry’s wastefulness, we commit to responsible production and conscious consumption. By selecting long-lasting materials and minimizing excess production, we reduce waste without compromising quality. Together, we aim to build a better planet by encouraging mindful choices that benefit both our customers and the environment. Read more about our Sustainability Commitments here.
Inclusivity and Diversity: True beauty lies in diversity, and our commitment to inclusivity is woven into every aspect of our brand. We intentionally celebrate a diverse world by showcasing models who reflect our vibrant global community. We create products that resonate with a multicultural audience, ensuring everyone can see themselves reflected in the luxury we offer.
Our designs seamlessly blend style and functionality, making every journey more luxurious. With rich colors and timeless craftsmanship, our bags are crafted to elevate your style and enhance your experience. We believe that exceptional quality is essential to providing our customers with the best possible experience, and this commitment drives everything we do.
Our timeless and classic travel and fashion accessories are designed to make moving around as seamless as they are stylish. Featuring premium full-grain calf or cowhide leather that matures gracefully, developing a rich patina over time, our bags also include high-grade components like metal accessories and threads sourced from the finest suppliers. Age and gender inclusive, Silver & Riley bags are thoughtfully designed to meet the needs of modern, style-conscious individuals.
Our skilled artisans pay impeccable attention to detail from when we begin the design and prototyping process, to when the goods are created and ready to be delivered to you.
Integrity lies at the core of our ethos, and we firmly believe in upholding the highest standards of craftsmanship and service. As such, we unequivocally reject the notion of cutting corners.
- Leather Working Group - Gold Certification
- Company with Management System Certified
- ISO 9001:2015 for Quality
- ISO 14001:2015 for environmental impact
- ISO 28000 for Supply chain safety management
- OEKO-TEX Leather Standard
- Der Blauer Engel certification for reduced environmental impact
Calf Leather: Known for its luxuriously soft and smooth texture, calf leather is a true embodiment of sophistication. The leather's supple feel not only provides an elegant touch but also ensures it ages gracefully over time, developing a unique patina that tells a story of its journey with you.
Cowhide Leather: Our cowhide leather is prized for its strength, versatility, and sleek finish. Durable yet refined, it is the perfect choice for pieces that require resilience without compromising on style, making it ideal for travel and daily use.
Saffiano Leather: Recognizable by its distinctive crosshatch texture, Saffiano leather is both scratch-resistant and effortlessly chic. Its combination of durability and unique style makes it the perfect option for those who want a long-lasting piece that remains polished over time, even with frequent wear.
Vegan Leather: A leather option for those seeking an alternative to traditional leathers. This high-quality, sustainable material has been selected for its sleek appearance and durability, allowing our customers to make a conscious choice without compromising on style.
Each type of leather has been carefully chosen to reflect our commitment to exceptional craftsmanship and luxurious design. We select the leather for each bag based on its expected use case, ensuring that every Silver & Riley piece is as functional as it is beautiful.
Brand Story
We launched in late 2019 inspired by a sense of possibility and a desire to make moving around more seamless and enjoyable.
The journey began in 2018 when our founder decided to bring a nearly decade-long vision to life: to create a luxury travel and accessories brand that perfectly blends functionality with style to fill the void in the market that seemed to lack products that were both aesthetically pleasing and practical. She conducted extensive market research and leaned in on focus groups to identify preferences and common challenges. Then the search for skilled artisans led to Italy, where excellence and quality are core values, and sustainability is prioritized. 136 rejections and closed doors later, Silver & Riley was born.
Today, our products are meticulously crafted in the Tuscan region of Italy and we pay particular attention to detail and customer intimacy throughout the entire process. Most of our items are also designed to be multifunctional offering maximum utility and exceptional value so you can always get the most bang for your buck.
Buy 1, Give 5: Empowering Women
We award 5% of all sales to women entrepreneurs both in the U.S. and in emerging economies, with the ambitious goal of supporting 1,000 women entrepreneurs by 2030.
The Buy 1, Give 5 program is our hallmark program that supports women entrepreneurs through the issuance of micro-grants to help start, grow and scale their businesses.
Starting a business can be financially overwhelming. Women, particularly those from underrepresented groups, often encounter even greater hurdles due to systemic economic and income inequalities, which can severely limit their ability to scale and grow. We understand these challenges firsthand, which is why this program is so critical to our mission.
Through Buy 1, Give 5, we aim to empower women entrepreneurs across a range of industries, helping them fund their dreams. 5% of all sales are allocated to this fund and awarded to women entrepreneurs bi-annually with our last funding round awarding $10,000. We launched this program right at the start, so it continues to grow as we do. As of 2024, we’ve awarded 32 grants, so we still have a long way to go from our goal of 1,000.
You can feel great knowing that not only are you purchasing a quality product, you’re also helping potentially close the opportunity gap for underrepresented women entrepreneurs.
About the Founder and Designer
Hi, I'm Lola, and I'm so grateful you're here. Silver & Riley is my life's passion, and I am thankful every day to work towards this vision.
Getting here has been quite the journey. With no manufacturing connections or contacts, it took me a year and 136 rejections to find my first partner factory. But I was determined. I often joke that throughout this journey, I've taken the long staircase and felt every step along the way. This has built an incredible amount of resilience and further strengtened my mission.
Resilience has been a constant thread in my life. Born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and later growing up amid debilitating poverty in Agege, Lagos, I have witnessed firsthand the stark inequalities that exist in our world. These early experiences ignited two commitments in me: first, to make sure I am honoring the opportunities life has granted me, especially as an able-bodied individual, and secondly, solidifying my dedication to serving others as my life's calling.
I'm a lifelong learner, dreamer, and doer, passionate about people, the world, and making things better than they once were. I’ve earned degrees in diverse fields, including Engineering and Finance, and have studied around the world. But I’m most grateful for the invaluable 'real-world' education I’ve gained along the way.
As a global citizen, I’ve traveled to over 100 countries, fully immersing myself in various cultures and ways of life. From the streets of New York, Lagos, and Milan to the shores of Rio de Janeiro, Honolulu, and Okinawa, I draw inspiration from my travels and the people I meet. I see possibility in everything and believe that business can be a force for good. I also believe that with determination and optimism, we can achieve anything.
With Silver & Riley, I am grateful to blend my engineering and business background with my love for fashion design, which I inherited from my late mother, to whom the brand is dedicated. I cherish the opportunity to create high-quality products that make people look and feel good while using my work as a vehicle for positive change in the world. Our Buy 1, Give 5 program is one example of this commitment.
Before dedicating myself full-time to Silver & Riley, I enjoyed a successful corporate career as a Strategy Consulting Executive with Accenture and Deloitte, focusing on CPG industries, then at Salesforce where I last served as VP of GTM Strategy and was the Global President of the firm’s Black ERG.
Outside of Silver & Riley, I am actively involved in initiatives supporting education, economic empowerment for underrepresented groups, diversity and inclusion, and women’s rights. I’m also passionate about photography, sports, cars, and I’ve never met a Belgian waffle I didn’t love.
Getting here has been quite the journey. With no manufacturing connections or contacts, it took me a year and 136 rejections to find my first partner factory. But I was determined. I often joke that throughout this journey, I've taken the long staircase and felt every step along the way. This has built an incredible amount of resilience and further strengtened my mission.
Resilience has been a constant thread in my life. Born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and later growing up amid debilitating poverty in Agege, Lagos, I have witnessed firsthand the stark inequalities that exist in our world. These early experiences ignited two commitments in me: first, to make sure I am honoring the opportunities life has granted me, especially as an able-bodied individual, and secondly, solidifying my dedication to serving others as my life's calling.
I'm a lifelong learner, dreamer, and doer, passionate about people, the world, and making things better than they once were. I’ve earned degrees in diverse fields, including Engineering and Finance, and have studied around the world. But I’m most grateful for the invaluable 'real-world' education I’ve gained along the way.
As a global citizen, I’ve traveled to over 100 countries, fully immersing myself in various cultures and ways of life. From the streets of New York, Lagos, and Milan to the shores of Rio de Janeiro, Honolulu, and Okinawa, I draw inspiration from my travels and the people I meet. I see possibility in everything and believe that business can be a force for good. I also believe that with determination and optimism, we can achieve anything.
With Silver & Riley, I am grateful to blend my engineering and business background with my love for fashion design, which I inherited from my late mother, to whom the brand is dedicated. I cherish the opportunity to create high-quality products that make people look and feel good while using my work as a vehicle for positive change in the world. Our Buy 1, Give 5 program is one example of this commitment.
Before dedicating myself full-time to Silver & Riley, I enjoyed a successful corporate career as a Strategy Consulting Executive with Accenture and Deloitte, focusing on CPG industries, then at Salesforce where I last served as VP of GTM Strategy and was the Global President of the firm’s Black ERG.
Outside of Silver & Riley, I am actively involved in initiatives supporting education, economic empowerment for underrepresented groups, diversity and inclusion, and women’s rights. I’m also passionate about photography, sports, cars, and I’ve never met a Belgian waffle I didn’t love.
What's in a name?
Silver & Riley honors my late mother, a skilled entrepreneur who ran several businesses including a jewelry business. She often adorned my siblings and I in beautiful gold pieces, but I preferred silver, inspiring her special nickname for me. Nearly two decades since her passing, the name Silver & Riley carries her memory and brand principles.
Her influence extends beyond the name, as I apply the customer intimacy lessons I learned from her, striving to make each customer feel valued and important. I truly consider our community family and always strive to go above and beyond to serve.
I hope you appreciate the passion, dedication, and care infused into every aspect of our brand. Thank you for choosing us!
xoxo, Lola and the Silver & Riley team
Her influence extends beyond the name, as I apply the customer intimacy lessons I learned from her, striving to make each customer feel valued and important. I truly consider our community family and always strive to go above and beyond to serve.
I hope you appreciate the passion, dedication, and care infused into every aspect of our brand. Thank you for choosing us!
xoxo, Lola and the Silver & Riley team
Recent Press
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