The story behind the Chancellor’s World Cup bag
14/07/2014
In the many images that went around the world of Dr Merkel celebrating her team’s 1-0 win over Argentina, a distinctive handbag featured regularly. The bag, shaped like a football, was in the national colours of red, black and gold.
However, a little digging reveals that bag did not come from Germany but from host country, Brazil, with Rio-based designer Gilson Martins the creative talent behind it. Not only that, the bag is made not from leather but from synthetic material.
Gilson Martins explained to leatherbiz that it had presented the bag as a gift to Dr Merkel at the suggestion of the German consul general in Rio, Harald Klein. Gilson Martins launched a new collection of bags and other goods for the tournament, celebrating all 32 countries that took part.
The company told us: “Since the early 1980s, Gilson Martins has been innovating with high-quality products of sophisticated design, made from synthetic materials.”
It said all of the products it made for German fans had proved popular, with the bag Dr Merkel received selling out in its Rio stores in the build-up to the big game.
Image shows Dr Merkel celebrating Germany’s victory with the president of Germany, Joachim Gauck.
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