Philadelphians are obsessed with triangle-patterned bags, thanks to Made by Hank
From local celebrities to restaurant folks, everyone's wearing Philly-based Made by Hank bags.
On a Thursday night at Palizzi Social Club, Kelsey McKinney was standing by the bar when a staffer spotted her geometric fanny bag.
”Oh my God, is that a Made by Hank?” the staffer exclaimed.
McKinney, a local journalist, author, and host of the Normal Gossip podcast, recounted how the conversation unfolded. The staffer told her they had once worked with Katie Henry, the creator behind Made by Hank, at a restaurant years ago.
“She taught me everything I know [in the restaurant industry] — I’m so proud of her,” the staffer told her.
The bag in question? A brown cotton duck canvas bag adorned with purple, pink, blue, and maroon triangles. “They’re very cutesy,” McKinney said.
Katie, with her geometric bags, Henry is turning heads and gaining fans, including local chefs like Scampi’s Liz Grothe and Irwin’s Michael Vincent Ferreri.
From serving dishes to sewing bags
Henry’s journey began when she caught the “sewing virus” from her University of the Arts roommates, teaching herself in between restaurant shifts. “It was exactly what you would imagine in 2001: a bunch of art school kids taking everything out of the trash, thrifting, bits and bobs everywhere,” she said.
Henry started making “fast-and-loose” crossbody bags for her bike rides to work, where she built a career in the restaurant industry. She’s worked at the now-closed Mama Palma’s, Marathon on the Square, Sabrina’s Cafe, Benna’s Cafe, Cantina Los Caballitos, Khyber Pass, Union Transfer, Garage, Suraya, and Pizzeria Beddia. Her last restaurant gig was at Sally, which sits at the former Mama Palma’s address in Rittenhouse.
In 2020, amid the pandemic, Henry left the restaurant industry and poured herself into sewing full-time.
She found comfort in sewing patterns of triangles, and created and distributed handmade masks with whatever fabric she could find, sewing for up to 15 hours a day.
“I really love to just let the world stop around me and sew for 12 hours a day,” she said.
Products of Made by Hank, a brand name that was inspired by her nickname from her restaurant days, are similar to “an ingredients driven menu — whatever fabrics and notions I could find, I would then make a piece based on what I had.”
What began with crossbody bags crafted from thrifted fabric evolved into a collection of distinctive designs. Henry’s bags — fanny packs, totes, backpacks, and more — are made from duck canvas and sell for $52 to $248. But sourcing the fabric is “crazy,” Henry said, with only two duck canvas mills in the United States remaining.
Henry also ventures out to Philly’s Fabric Row to stop by Fleishman Fabrics for cottons, denims, and anything similar to canvas. “I’ve been going to them for 20 years — this is a relationship that I’ve grown, so now they’ll contact me if they ever come across [anything I can use].”
Despite no formal design training, her self-taught methods give each piece a signature look.
“Because I never learned real design or anything like that, I think that just naturally it ends up being a little bit different, just by accident,” Henry said. “I feel like you can still recognize it as mine, even if it’s a checkerboard [pattern].”
‘Made in Hank is definitely in the air in Philly’
For fans like McKinney, that difference is everything. She bought her first Made by Hank bag at Moon + Arrow on Fourth Street three years ago.
McKinney was on the hunt for a fanny bag when she noticed Henry’s white and pink triangle-designed bag inside the Queen Village boutique. Sporty, shiny styles of the bag were all the rage, but “those aren’t for me,” she said. “When I found these I was like, ‘Oh, this is so nice. It’s at a similar price point, but it’s handmade, locally made, and it’s very cute. It feels a little more special than carrying around a small black bag.’”
Most importantly, McKinney said, her bag has held up over the years.
“I treat everything kind of with a heavy hand, and that bag that I bought three years ago, I take it everywhere,” McKinney said. “And it looks identical to when I bought it — I don’t understand how she does it.”
Even abroad, the bags spark curiosity. On a recent trip to Paris, a woman stopped McKinney at the Centre Pompidou to ask about her bag. “I was so happy,” McKinney said. “I love this for Katie.”
🛍️ How to buy Made by Hank bags
✨ Shop online: madebyhankshop.com
✨ Follow: @madebyhank
💸 Prices: $52-$248
“Made in Hank is definitely in the air in Philadelphia,” McKinney said. “Her style is so distinctive. If you know who she is, you know that’s Made by Hank.”