How Maison de Sabré Evolved from Phone Cases to $100-Million Business

A decade ago, if you’d asked Maison de Sabré cofounders Omar and Zane Sabré what they saw themselves doing in 2025, root canals is likely what they envisioned.

What they didn’t imagine is where they are now, namely at the helm of a leather-goods business on track to hit the $100 million mark in revenue this year and gearing up for the Dec. 11 release of a $10,900 diamond-set 18-karat gold bag charm they deem “the world’s most expensive bag charm.”

“It’s a bit of a wild trajectory,” Omar Sabré, who serves as chief executive officer and creative director, told WWD.

“We come from a background with no real experience in business, marketing, fashion or even luxury for that matter,” added Zane Sabré, who serves as operations and managing director.

Back then, the two New Zealand-born entrepreneurs were on a dentistry track in Australia — one a few years into his first job, the second in the middle of his studies — when a curveball came in the shape of an aggressive leukemia diagnosis for their father.

Family finances were stretched tight by medical bills, making paying for Zane Sabré’s dental school tuition a challenge. While his older brother stepped in with part of his savings, the duo quickly discussed using the rest to launch a business in a bid to fund the rest of his education.

“It was from that moment that we really decided to knuckle down and decided we wanted to do leather goods,” the younger Sabré recalled. Coloring their approach was the idea that “heritage luxury started from a singular founder or a singular idea,” added Omar Sabré.

Their initial product was a full-grain leather phone case that could be personalized with hot-stamped initials, in a range of luxurious colors.

That sounds run-of-the-mill nowadays but at the time of Maison de Sabré’s 2018 launch, options were few and far between, particularly at the $100 price point they wanted. Behind the scenes, they also had an eye toward responsible practices, quickly tapping a Netherlands-based tannery using the zero-water DriTan process.

Attractive as the product sounded, getting it in the hands of consumers was the next hurdle.

“Our initial go-to-market strategy was really an influencer strategy because we had no more money for Facebook ads or anything tangible that could drive the business forward, aside from gifting product in the hopes that [recipients] would post about us,” Zane Sabré said. The brothers would get up at the crack of dawn to reach out before heading to school or work.

It paid off, particularly as Instagram was then fertile terrain for direct-to-consumer brands.

Within a year, Maison de Sabré had netted just shy of $2 million in sales, university fees were handled and most important of all, their father was declared cancer-free.

With the “young professional female” as their core target, the duo grew the brand’s assortment by asking themselves how they could support this individual, adding small leather goods, notably a range of wallets to match the phone cases; custom cases for Apple’s Airpods, and when travel reopened after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, functional everyday bags with room for computers and phones.

“We will never step away from being rooted in functionality across product,” said Omar Sabré. “A big focus for us is a connection back to tech because that’s our origins.”

The Maison de Sabré approach, friendly price point and assortment found global resonance, allowing the company to take in north of $50 million in revenue last year with sales in over 130 countries. It also built a 50-strong team spread across the world, including in Europe, where they now also produce, and the U.S.

One plot twist was a cult following they developed early on in Japan, which today accounts for 30 percent of the business.

After a trip there in the brand’s early years, the CEO felt it could be an interesting market, only to find they “had these people that were just spending insane amounts with the brand,” upward of $60,000 over e-commerce and that there were between 50 and 100 resellers in the country. It is now present at Tomorrowland, several Isetan locations and Hankyu’s main location in Osaka.

The U.S. also offered effervescent growth, now taking a 45 percent share of revenue. Breaking into the market with direct retail, the brand quickly opened to retail partnerships, on a concession-based model. “We wanted to be a little more accessible beyond our own channel,” Zane Sabré said.

Working with the likes of Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Fwrd “allowed us to strengthen the trust customers have with [us] in the U.S. and we’ve had double-digit growth consistently year-over-year in the U.S. because of these partnerships,” he added.

Meanwhile, Australia now accounts for 10 percent of the business and Europe stands at 15 percent. The brand is present with its e-commerce as well as partnerships with La Rinascente in Milan, Globus in Switzerland and most recently, Le Bon Marché in Paris until January.

In the past two years, Maison de Sabré has leaned into handbags, with the introduction earlier this year of the Palais purse, which comes in various sizes, from capacious day bag to evening clutch.

But it’s also taken a more playful turn. First came the Sabremoji bag charms, minute zippered pouches in the shape of emoji-inspired fruits just big enough to hold a few coins or an Apple Airtag that are made from leather off-cuts.

The format proved ideal for collaborations with “Mr. Men” and “Little Miss,” the British children’s books series by English author Roger Hargreaves; and Sanrio’s Hello Kitty. Next year, a hookup with Pokémon will bow.

And then there’s the anniversary releases, which started last year with a limited-edition phone case featuring a gem-set gold frame retailing for a cool $15,999.

This year, it’s a bag charm shaped like an eight or an infinity sign in 18-karat gold and set with 34 diamonds. Available in a run of only eight pieces, it comes in a leatherbound set with eight fruit-shaped Sabremoji charms — for $10,900.

Why offer an item that costs the same as 150 of its phone cases or 40 purses?

“The baseline idea was to do something so outrageous and the very extreme form of craft,” said Omar Sabré. Beset by knockoffs, the cofounders felt they needed to make a statement.

“It’s a form of flattery but at the same time, we really need to make sure that people remember that we started this and that we stay on top of our industry,” he continued. “It’s a way of saying ‘we can do this and you can’t.’”