Bali to San Francisco: Mark & Todd’s Exploration

The Sak brand philosophy is happy & free. Peace and harmony among all things is interwoven into our spirit, our deep rooted heritage and our down-to-earth style. Friends from childhood, Mark Talucci and Todd Elliott both grew up overseas. Their love for finding and importing unique textiles was drawn from going to local hippie fairs in places like Brazil and Mexico, where Mark lived most of childhood.

Both unenthused by their lackluster corporate jobs after college, Mark and Todd found inspiration during a trip to Bali in 1989 where they were intrigued by the extraordinary objects and artisan fabrics they discovered. Both natural entrepreneurs, Mark with a degree in engineering and Todd in business administration, they decided to start a business importing these “found treasures” from overseas to their hometown San Francisco.

The idea of handbags was a “fluke” that came to life at a Superbowl Party in 1989. Although the Cincinnati Bangles won that year, it was Todd’s sisters’ handbag that was the hit of the party. It was a simple rattan and leather handbag created from an everyday sleeping mat that she had brought back to San Francisco from a recent trip to Indonesia. There was something about the simplicity of the bag and the hand craftmanship that made the bag special and different than anything they had seen in the states. It was then, in the beauty and simplicity of a hand-woven rattan sleeping mat, that Elliott Lucca was born.

From Rattan to Crochet, an interwoven love story

After embarking on their entrepreneurial journey into the world of fashion in 1989, Mark and Todd were soon challenged with taking their brand to the next level. In 1994, the imported rattan bags were blowing off shelves at major retailers sparking Mark and Todd to go a step further. The idea for The Sak was to create a simple, memorable, casual and relaxed handbag with universal appeal. Staying true to texture, they created a singular handbag from a unique Tightweave fabrication using nylon string. Starting a crochet “craze”, The Sak handbag (Style 120) was an overnight phenomenon. It soon became one the most coveted items of the 90s coining the phrase “A SAK on every back”.

What’s up with The SAK lady?

The iconic Sak lady was the brainchild of Mark and Todd, who in the Fall of 1994, paid one of the designers’ sisters $200 to model for The Sak’s first ad campaign. After ninety-nine shots were taken, Mark was still not satisfied with the photos. Before the hundredth shot was taken, the decision was made to expose the model in her simplest, most-natural form by having her pose nude. The idea gave the ad more sensuality and highlighted the natural curve of a woman’s figure against the curve of the ladylike crochet bag. This image soon became one of the most iconic images of its time.

Why TAO, not OAT or TACO?

Different than most corporate-minded companies, The Sak has never been solely about profits, but instead about values. What The Sak values the most is based on a set of ideals called “TAO” that easily could have been called “OAT”. After hiring a consultant in 1997, the executives at The Sak were asked to answer a very simple, but telling question – “If you were going to leave the company for a year what would you tell your employees?” The response was unanimous and every one of the executives responded saying they would tell employees to build relationships within the company based on trust, “T”. The other top responses were “take action” and “be an owner”, which became A, for action and O, for owner. “Be a good communicator” was another top response, almost causing TAO to become TACO. But in the end, TAO remained and the company began operating based on those three essential concepts – Trust, Action, and Ownership. Six values grew from these ideals – honest, humble, loyal, driven, confident and passionate. These values are the cornerstone of all decision-making at The Sak.

Velesia, one of The Sak’s factories in Indonesia is the perfect example of TAO demonstrated at its finest. It is run by a local man named Nafsin. Nafsin was fanning coals at a beef kabob stand on the beach in Bali making $1 a day when Mark and Todd met him. Needing someone local they could trust and rely on, they loaned him enough money to open up a small factory and manufacture The Sak handbags in Bali. Today this factory is one of The Sak’s largest suppliers in the world.