Who We Are
J. Stark is a wife-and-husband-led team of makers and craftspeople setting out to create timeless, beautiful carry goods—backpacks, totes, wallets, duffles, crossbody bags, and more—in Charleston, SC.
We make everything in our sunny, hybrid workshop/retail space, and we let the bustling crowds that stream past the space guide our new designs and push us forward. It’s long been our mantra to just stay out of our own way. We want to make things that people want to carry. So when enough folks request something we aren’t making, we try to find a way to fit it into our line.
We produce clean, sturdy items, and we never put a pocket where a pocket isn’t needed. Because simple yet functional is, in our minds, perfect. We listen to good music. We eat a lot of cookies. We make really nice bags.
New Manufacturing
Building our own factory from the ground up means having complete control over what we bring in and what we ship out. We can touch the fabric and the leather before cutting it down and stitching it up. We have the opportunity to notice when something isn’t exactly right, and to find something better if it’s not. And that translates into our bag making, as well.
When we make it ourselves, we can see just how strong it is. And we also notice the weak spots. So there are no surprises, which also means less waste. We’ve empowered ourselves to make real-time adjustments before large production runs, so there’s rarely an error in the final product.
Our Guarantee
We want you to buy our bags with confidence. And if something goes wrong, we want to try and fix it for you. That's why we offer free repairs of manufacturer errors or defects on our products for the life of the bag. If we can make your bag work again, we will make your bag work again. So, barring complete destruction, box that baby up and ship it back to us, and we'll do our best. We'll even cover the shipping back to you. We're unable to replace an old bag with a new bag (unless a significant manufacturer error has occurred that makes the bag unusable), but we'll certainly do our damndest to make your old bag as good as new.
Not a manufacturer error, you just accidentally ran your tote over with your moped? Well, give us a shout and we can chat about necessary repairs and costs.
For more detailed info on how to get ahold of us and where to send the dang thing, head over to the Returns & Repairs page.
The Name
J. Stark is a nod to the character Jim Stark that James Dean played in Rebel Without a Cause. We wanted to find a common ground for connection, and we all have lived through the troubles and triumphs of our teenage years. Trying to fit in yet become an individual. Those experiences cut so deep because we were still wet from the mold.