Fighting Disease With Fashion, Angela & Roi Style

When you buy a bag from Angela & Roi, you’re not just walking away with a new accessory, you’re also giving back. The startup fashion company is a lifestyle brand with a philanthropic purpose.

Following in the footsteps of other socially conscious brands like Tom’s or Feed, Angela and Roi is focused on giving back.  The fashion designer is currently partnered with 11 non-profit organizations, and donates money from each sale to different causes, based on the bag color. Each handbag sold features a color ribbon to “increase awareness about a particular health issue.”

“We didn’t want to be just another handbag brand,” Roi Lee, Angela & Roi co-founder and CEO said. “That’s why we wanted to add social value to it.  While we were brainstorming this idea, we went to a fashion show that supported Aids fighters.  Everyone was wearing red to support the cause and that’s what inspired us.”

Here’s how it works; Angela & Roi donates $5 to charity for every bag sold. For example, when a customer purchases a grey product, $5 is donated to the Joslin Diabetes Center.  When a black bag is purchased, money is given to the Melanoma Research Foundation.

The 2-year-old fashion company currently sells 10 styles of handbags, which is double its original offer, and is expecting to triple sales compared to one year ago.

“Our goal is to expand our product line and introduce fashion accessories, wallets and more styles of handbags,” Lee said.

The handbags vary in price.  The cheapest style is its popular Tulip cross-body, which starts at $58.  The brands most expensive handbag is a Moa tote, which retails for $165.

While Angela & Roi has been very successful since launch, Co-Founders Angela Lee and Roi Lee face many challenges when it comes to expanding the business.

“Our biggest challenge has been scaling the fashion business,” Lee said.  “In order to move to the next level we need more experts, we need more cash, and we need more contributors.”

But despite some headwinds, Angela & Roi are pushing full steam ahead, with plans to expand the brand.

“We want to introduce more pop-up stores,” Lee said. “We’re looking to open stores in cities like New York, Boston, Chicago and L.A.”