The Interview: Tiba + Marl

Lydia: Modern. Innovative. Different.

Anna: The brand name is a blend of initials from both of our surnames and our first children’s names. We wanted a brand name that was contemporary and strong-sounding, but at the same time meant something to us. All of our bags are named after our kids or family members, and our bestselling Miko Bumbag is named after a friend’s Bull Terrier puppy.

Anna: Having both enjoyed a career in fashion, we have a few tricks up our sleeves! Lydia comes from a design background and I was a bag buyer for Topshop and Urban Outfitters. Even though we work collaboratively on everything to do with the brand, we both have different skills and it obviously makes sense to play to our strengths. But we much prefer working together than solo, so we really try to both do a little bit of everything — and we have such a strong combined mutual vision of our brand identity that it works well (luckily!).

Anna: Working long hours and balancing family life, we have to make sure we can find inspiration as liberally as possible, in sometimes unexpected locations. We saw an amazing vintage Chanel backpack in Hamburg airport that inspired our bestselling Elwood backpack. We keep our eyes peeled wherever we go, even if it’s locally in Harsleden or Acton, checking out what people are wearing, reading and listening to. Like anyone interested in trends and popular culture, we subscribe to the usual magazines, blogs and, of course, are all over the catwalk shows for new inspiration and influences.

Lydia: The fact that a Tiba + Marl changing bag looks nothing like traditional baby bags is one of the most impactful things about our brand. The unisex element is incredibly important to us, and is woven into our brand DNA. It was one of our key objectives when we came up with the idea for the brand. We wanted to make sure we also catered to/thought of stay-at-home dads and same-sex parents, along with creating bags that could be used by both parents seamlessly. One of the key things we noticed when we launched is that dads were simply not catered to and we wanted to change that.

Anna: In the early days it was really tough as we ploughed all our savings into setting up the business so couldn’t justify childcare costs too. We had to take our kids along with us everywhere, from trade shows to meetings with the bank manager. Our second children were at our side in every Tiba + Marl-related activity for the first two years of their lives! Three years on and our kids are in school which makes things that bit easier. Part of the ambition for setting up Tiba + Marl was to create something that would fit around the kids, we wanted to be able to do the school runs and go to the school plays etc. Everyone who works for us is a parent too and they all work flexibly. It was really important to us to create a working culture that enables a great work/life balance and fits around family life.

Anna: I cherish weekends as like everyone with kids, the weekdays are so full on. Monday to Friday family time mainly consists of school runs, clubs, homework and bedtime, so at weekends we want to have nice days out and always make sure we spend time just as a foursome. On Sundays after our son Raf plays football, sometimes we’ll go for brunch and then head somewhere for a few hours like Kew Gardens, or maybe once a month we’ll go into town for lunch at somewhere like Riding House Café (you can park free outside it on Sundays and it’s quiet in those back streets of Fitzrovia). A few weekends ago we headed over to Spitalfields and had a wander around, Brick Lane, scoffed some bagels and took around a few shops and I even managed to buy myself a YMC two-piece suit and look around the Browns concept store (I never normally am allowed to shop when I’m with the boys!). That was a pretty dreamy day!