November 22, 2019fashion

The fashion-focused vegan watch brand from Barcleona

Based in Barcelona, Hurtig Lane is a fashion-focused vegan watch brand, spirited by minimalist style and quality design. We spoke to co-founders Cerian and Michael Martinucci.

What led you to start Hurtig Lane?

After being deeply moved by the documentary Earthlings, we went vegan overnight. Cutting out animal products from our diets was easy, but it was not so easy to find outstanding quality cruelty-free fashion products such as shoes and watches. We love fashion, and we wanted to prove that fashion can be affordable, stylish and most importantly cruelty-free.

How did you choose the name?

We are a fast and energetic brand, and Hurtig means this in several languages.

How would you describe your products, and what makes them different?

We love minimalist fashion, and all of our vegan watches have been designed with this in mind. We love that you can pair our vegan watches with all outfits, and compliment any look that suits every style

What stereotypes exist in your industry (and how are you breaking them)?

Many people believe that animal leather symbolises quality. We love it when someone who has always worn an animal leather watch makes the change to a Hurtig Lane cruelty-free leather, and discovers that vegan leather can be great quality too! We believe no fashion should ever involve the harm of animals, and we are doing our bit to prove this!

Can you tell us more about where, how and by who your products are made?

All of our vegan watches are designed by us here in Spain. Our watches are then brought to life by our great team in China. We believe that in order for our watches to be truly cruelty-free, the entire process from design, materials and creation needs to be ethical. Our factory provides a safe working environment with fair wages, promotional opportunities and flexible working hours. We spent many months exploring different factories and we are proud of the great relationship we have with our manufacturers.

Do you think movements like Fashion Revolution create enough pressure on big brands to change how they work – and what more should be done?

Fashion Revolution is highlighting a lot of the problems that we face with fast fashion regarding the lack of thought about the origins and materials of clothing that we buy. We are passionate about the entire creation process of a product being cruelty-free. Vegan fashion is growing every day, which is so exciting! High street brands are now offering vegan leather products, but we would love to see a major brand go one step further and remove all non-vegan products from their store.

What’s your favourite product from your collection and why?

Cerian: As I have quite petite wrists I adore our Amalfi collection, and my favourite product is the Rose Gold and Grey face paired with a stainless steel mesh strap.

Michael: I love bold colours, so the vegan suede strap in Mustard Yellow is my favourite, and I like to pair this with our all Silver/Black Moderno face.

How has the brand and industry evolved since you started?

When we first started we had just one style of vegan watch. This has now expanded to a whole range of colours, styles and watch collections. We are now seeing other brands offering vegan leather alternatives with some beautiful cruelt- free shoes and handbags now also available!

Biggest highs and lows?

One of our biggest highs was winning a PETA award for best vegan watch company, this was a really proud moment for us. We spent a long time working on our petite Amalfi collection, and we experienced a few set-backs which meant that we had to launch this collection late. This was a big low for us, but once everything was complete our petite range launch was a huge success.

What drives you, and where do you get your inspiration from?

We have always loved watches and accessories, we really struggled to find any vegan leather watches so this inspired us to create our own collection. We love seeing photos of our watches worn by customers around the world. We are so excited to be a part of a huge global movement to support cruelty-free fashion.

What other pioneering brands do you admire and why?

One of our favourite brands is The Lovely Things – their vegan handbag designs are beautiful and the vegan leather quality is outstanding. We also love Hetty + Sam for their quirky designs and bold prints.

The next big thing in your industry is …

Coming soon! We do not want to ruin the surprise but we are working on a new vegan leather product which we are so excited about!

If you were doing something other than this, what would it be?

We are huge animal lovers and we often support our local homeless dog shelter by walking the adorable dogs (whilst trying not to adopt them all!). So I believe that we would be running a dog shelter or animal sanctuary of our own.