If you looked at street style blogs from fashion month (and we’re guessing you did), you surely noticed those fluorescent old school style satchels hanging from many a fashionable shoulder. You also might know that they’re from the Cambridge Satchel Company, and retail for under $135. An It-bag that’s actually within our means? We had to have one and we had to know more.

We found out that Julie Deane is the lady behind the Cambridge Satchel Company. She had no previous design experience before starting the company just under five years ago with only £600. This past year profits reached £2.2 million and next year the company stands to make between £10 and £15 million (that’s up to over $23 million).

So how did Deane do it? We hopped on the phone with her to find out. Hers is a true success story, born, of all reasons, out of the desire to remove her six-year-old daughter from a school where she was being bullied. She tells us about her motivation for starting the company, being knocked off by her own manufacturers (she’s pursuing legal action), and what’s up next for Cambridge Satchel (hint: think clutches).

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