Secrid has been producing small wallets, predominantly made of leather, that have a special feature – the card protector – since 2009. It protects bank and credit cards not only against breakage, but also against them being read by unauthorised persons and against data theft. eppi magazine visited the company’s headquarters in The Hague.
The term “New Work” keeps floating through the media, but how it actually works and what form it can take on is only ever loosely defined. But as soon as one enters the head office of the company Secrid in The Hague these empty words are filled with life. The foyer area of the old brick building is not like a lobby one is familiar with from conventional companies. It is more like a café. Smaller seating arrangements are found next to the espresso bar, as it is called here, where spontaneous meetings are held and ideas are exchanged in a cosy atmosphere. On leaving the lobby, one enters an open, light-flooded working area: the heart of Secrid. At height-adjustable desks people are working totally focused, here and there smaller meetings are taking place. From the design and sales departments, through to PR and the legal department, this is where all of the business areas come together.
From the kitchen table to New Work paradise
The beauty and impression of the workplace fit in well with the design demands of the founders. The married couple, René van Geer and his wife Marianne van Sasse van Ysselt, are designers through and through. His focus has always been on industrial design, hers more on fashion. Prior to founding Secrid, they jointly ran a design agency. With the start of the financial crisis in 2008 the orders started to decline so the pair focused on a project that had been in the pipelines for quite a while, a card protector which protects the illegal reading of bank and credit card data from happening. The small aluminium case that houses up to six cards in the meantime also protects the cards from being bent or broken. However, a simple card protector doesn’t suffice for every user. Which is why Secrid’s offer encompasses six different wallet models, each of which contains an integrated card protector. There is something for all tastes from the chic, mini leather wallet with a press stud, through to the minimalist wallet strap that can be slid over the card protection. The Miniwallet, Slimwallet, Bandwallet and co. all have one thing in common: They look stylish.
The office in The Hague, the Netherlands is a perfect example of a “New Work” place.
The pair were so convinced by their product that they invested their entire savings into the card protector. The first just under 30,000 copies were actually made from home. These days are long gone, but one still senses the family’s close ties to the company. As well as René and Marianne, their three children also work at the company. And even if the small wallets are no longer made at the kitchen table, the two of them both emphasise that the social aspect plays an equally important role within the company as corporate interests.
Sustainability, social responsibility, self-development and strong ties to the region are explicit values of the corporate philosophy. It was thus clear from the start that neither the card compartments nor the leather cases would be manufactured in Asia. In order to strengthen the inclusion notion, Secrid also works together with several social workshops, where the wallets are produced. Secrid employees regularly visit the production locations, to demonstrate that not only good work is important to them, but also that all of the employees are part of the Secrid team. The production sites for the leather, all of which are also located in Europe, are also paid regular visits to ensure a high quality.
When the company moved to its new office in the year 2018, the community was also the top priority. Since van Geer is not only an industrial designer, but also a Feng-Shui advisor, he personally took care of the appropriate expansion. Due to sophisticated technology, the background noise in the office remains at a pleasantly quiet level even if all 100 employees are present. “That doesn’t happen so often since COVID, but it is simply convenient if one can go straight to the relevant team with an idea,” raved Mariken Martinet, who works in the promotional products sales department. In addition to the open working area, various meeting rooms and a restaurant, which caters for all employees every day, are located in the basement. The restaurant places great value on sustainable food and regional products. The entire team dines together at lunchtime. “This allows us all to engage in an exchange and it is simply very communicative,” stated Martinet, who has been working for Secrid for five years.
Between the markets
The creative heart of the company is found on the upper floor of the office building that spans approx. 2,000 m². Not only current and older models of the Secrid card protectors are displayed, but also new colours, colour combinations and samples adorn the walls, some of which will be launched soon – both in the retail and B2B market, which is certainly not foreign territory for the Dutch company.
New collections with different designs are regularly launched onto the market.
Anyone, who needs more room for his cards, can opt for the Twinwallet, which can be used to protect up to twelve cards.
The card protectors are the centrepiece of the stylish wallets and can be customised with a laser engraving.
The enquiries kept pouring in and soon exceeded the production capacities, which were very limited at the start. In 2016, seven years after the company was founded, Secrid initially stopped selling promotional products and focused their attentions instead on selling to end users. In the meantime, the practical leather wallets are available at over 8,500 sales outlets worldwide. These include, in addition to selected concept and design stores, leatherware and stationery shops, also famous large department stores such as the KaDeWe in Berlin, de Bijenkorf in Amsterdam or Le Printemps Haussmann in Paris. Shortly before the outbreak of the pandemic, Secrid also opened up its own brand store in Rotterdam. “Our main focus still lies on the retail trade,” reported Martinet. “For us telling stories is important, also telling our own story: That we manufacture in the Netherlands and that we work together with workshops for the disabled. Many Secrid owners don’t even know that, so we have some catching up to do.” This of course works much better in one’s own shop. The entire collection is not only displayed here, the customers can also have their wallets individualised and repaired. The sustainability principle also plays a major role. Not only the production is aligned sustainably due to the short transport routes, the product itself is made so that it has a long service life too and is thus sustainable. In addition to the guarantee that can be easily extended from two up to three years via the website, there are also care & repair points. Should the so-called Salamander mechanism, which enables the cards to slide out of the card protector, become damaged all of a sudden or wear out slightly after several years, it can be repaired free of charge here. If the care & repair points – there are hundreds of them already – are too far away, it is possible to send the wallet directly to the Netherlands.
“We offer our customers added service through the repair stations, because the repairs are normally carried out very fast,” explained Martinet. “Every employee is trained to carry out smaller repairs so that we have even already repaired Secrids at trade fairs. We recently had a customer whose wallet was already over twelve years old. The mechanism had come a little loose over the course of time which we were able to repair very quickly. The customer left the stand beaming with joy – that was really nice.”Such examples show that a Secrid is a high-quality product aligned for longevity.
Back to the roots
But to come back to promotional products. It came clear at the beginning of the COVID pandemic at the latest that something had to change at Secrid. Up until then, it was only possible to reach the online shop from the Netherlands, the focus was still on selling in the stores. To make the production more stable and allow high volumes to be manufactured the company signed up with new leather suppliers – also from Europe of course – and began to collaborate with further production sites.
As a result, the promotional products industry also became a topic again. “First of all, the brand Secrid had to be established before concentrating on other areas,” confirmed Martinet. Now that the volumes are available, the promotional products market is becoming more interesting. Whereas the classic Miniwallet costs 60 Euros in retail outlets, the industry price for very low quantities is only 39.14 Euros.
Not only the materials of the small wallets with a protected card compartment are high-quality, the items are customised with extreme precision too. The centrepiece, i.e. the card protector, comprises of aluminium and thus offers an ideal surface for laser engravings. From large-surface logos through to discrete embellishments or personalisations – everything is possible. Thanks to the high quality of the aluminium, the engravings remain white/grey and don’t discolour over in time. The customisation thus becomes a regular reminder for the Secrid owner, of whom he has to thank for this gem in his pocket. Discrete understatement is once again key here. Coloured logos are still not yet possible at the moment, because if this option is to be offered, it is to be perfect – and durable. There is also a reason why the leather cases can’t be customised. The longer one uses the wallet the more worn the embossing becomes. And something that isn’t made for eternity doesn’t fit in with the philosophy of Secrid.
The materials for the Secrid wallets, i.e. the high-quality leather, originate from Europe. They are put together by hand in the Netherlands by experienced employees, partly in workshops for the disabled.
As well as the card protectors with a smooth surface, there are also ones with a rough surface. These too originally comprised of smooth aluminium, but they easily became scratched. Since such a product doesn’t satisfy the aspired standards, the entire smooth surface was roughened using the powder coating method. This eliminates dents and creates a new, exciting appearance. The company is currently looking for a customising option for these special designs. The minimum order quantity for the high-quality promotional products is 25 pieces. Alongside the simple customisation, cooperations are also possible.
The Netherlands and the USA are currently the leading markets for Secrid. The promotional products market is also presently being further developed in the United States, in Germany and other European countries. On top of the 90 trade shows Secrid currently exhibits at worldwide, the number of promotional products shows increases all the time. Secrid also plans to exhibit at the PSI Show next year. Here too great value is placed on stylish design so the exhibition stands are created in-house. The popular Piaggio Ape is a special eye-catcher for larger exhibition stands. Whilst it is stood in the lobby area of the offices today, it is otherwise often found at trade shows. The Ape was redesigned so that different models can be exhibited in its delivery box, further models are found in small drawers.
Looking ahead to the future
There is no standing still in The Hague. As well as the expansion of the product sites and the new, old focus on promotional products, the product itself is also constantly further developed. For example new leather colours and most recently a leatherfree model were introduced onto the market: The latter comprises of Mirum a mineral, plastic-free material that is already implemented in the car and fashion industries. This is a further aspect which the Dutch company aims to impress with on the promotional products market, because sustainability is an important theme. So that Secrid also has its finger on the pulse of time here, the company has a special sustainability team, which looks for new materials and continually makes the product more durable. Regularly compiled impact analyses show the ecological footprint of the company and of the supply chain so that these can be further optimised. Based on these analyses Secrid has already been compensating for emissions caused by its production and supply chain since 2009.
The founders, René van Geer and Marianne
van Sasse van Ysselt constantly strive to
improve their product.
Not only the headquarters in The Hague are state-of-the-art, the way of thinking at Secrid is also future-oriented. Even if payment per mobile phone is becoming increasingly more popular and the classic bank card will probably become obsolete in the near future, at Secrid one is convinced that credit cards will carry on playing an important role in the future too. What’s more, in the meantime ID cards for instance also contain sensitive data, which are kept safe in the card protector.
The investments of the past years are gradually paying off at Secrid. Not only the founders are aware of the fact that success takes time. The employees at Secrid are convinced of their product too and work every day on making it better, more sustainable and more durable. Precisely the attributes one desires from a high-quality promotional product.
// Sophia Arnold
Photos: Secrid
