STILORD - About us

Our company story does not begin with a date, but with a young man who, fresh out of university, was faced with a task: finding an affordable work bag. Not quite as easy as it sounds, as our founder Max also discovered when starting his career. An almost impossible task: every product he found was either too expensive or not good enough.

The year is 2007, when the young graduate of FH Aachen starts his first job as an assistant to the management at a large company. What helps you make a professional impression on your new colleagues on your very first day? Max was already certain back then: a representative bag!

Online shops for bags? Back then, they were nowhere to be found. After a long search through Aachen city centre, Max chose a classic black briefcase made of cowhide leather. In the end, however, it left the job faster than he did. The 249€? A lesson learned! And so the story ends - after just 7 months, by the way. For the time being!

Only a few years later, at just 26 years old, the young, motivated and admittedly somewhat naive career starter decided to become self-employed.

Whether on a wiki or in a business dictionary: there are many smart definitions of a start-up. For us, however, it was like this: Max was still packing the orders himself. The only marketing employee was learning Photoshop in a crash course and was visibly surprised the first time he had a customer on the phone.


If there was a little time left, he also made coffee – after all, we were now the proud owners of a filter coffee machine. New employees, colleagues and friends quickly joined us: support was urgently needed – because things were taking off much better than expected.


The team: young, still wet behind the ears, but eager to test itself, the market and the product.

Leather is a product rich in tradition, developed and perfected over thousands of years. We are happy and proud to be part of this tradition and to carry this craft responsibly into the modern age.

Leather products are the embodiment of responsible use of natural resources. They came into being a long time ago, long before upcycling and recycling became overused terms. With us, you will find only products made from genuine leather. We pay particular attention to preserving the natural look and character of the material. We are simply convinced: leather is naturally beautiful and only becomes more beautiful over time.

Another outstanding factor is uniqueness. Every piece of leather has its own colour and surface texture. That is why all our leather bags are true one-of-a-kind pieces. Of course, we did not want to withhold this feeling of exclusivity from our customers.

As a start-up based in Germany, we feel responsible for the selection of our international partner companies. We make sure that our production facilities are certified according to SA8000. This certificate is an internationally recognised seal that ensures fair working conditions are maintained. Twice a year, we visit our long-standing partner companies and strengthen the personal relationships that are important to us. Both culturally and professionally, our worldwide partnerships regularly provide us with new inspiration.

For us, sustainability begins with the selection of materials that are turned into a long-lasting product through timeless design and high-quality workmanship. Fair working conditions, social commitment and comprehensive customer service are just as much a part of STILORD’s sustainability promise.

As a young company, we naturally never stop learning. We are constantly evolving, with visions, plans and, of course, goals for the future! To inspire our customers around the world with new designs, we work day after day on developing new styles, types of leather and colours.

What we have already successfully started in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the UK, we now want to bring to the whole world - a confident sense of style and high-quality bags made from genuine leather! Alongside the continuous expansion of our range, our main focus is therefore especially on internationalisation.

For us, being a start-up means above all: lots of work, lots of team spirit and lots to learn. But just as much a part of it are meatball Tuesday, döner Thursday and shared coffee breaks. We even have our own food coordinator - every Thursday, Max invites everyone to gather around the table.

By now, the amount comes pretty close to the price of Max’s first bag - with the difference that, at least from our point of view, the money is much better invested this time. But who is actually behind the STILORD team?