Forget logos and showing off. Something cool is happening with luxury in China. Brands like Songmont are changing the game, making luxury about being real and true to yourself, not just trying to look rich. This isn’t just another bag brand. It’s a whole vibe that Western luxury can’t just copy. It’s based on things that Western brands often miss: history, culture, and honesty.
The Start: Grandma’s Skills Meet Tech Smarts
Back in 2013, Fu Song was working at Google in Beijing as a design boss. After having a baby, she couldn’t find a good laptop bag that looked good too. Most new moms would just deal with it, right? But Fu Song decided to design her own.
And here’s where it gets super Chinese and awesome. Fu Song’s mom, Ms. Fu, is a super talented seamstress. She helped bring the bag to life. That first bag, a green tote bag made by a daughter’s ideas and a mother’s hands, is how Songmont started.
The name itself is meaningful. Song (松) is like pine tree in Chinese, and mont is short for mountain. Pine trees under a mountain – strong, steady, and quietly impressive. That’s what Chinese culture is all about: lasting strength and nature, not just the latest trends.
The Granny Team: Finding Purpose Again
The next part isn’t what you’d expect from a Silicon Valley company, but it makes total sense. To help her daughter’s dream, Song’s mom put together a team of older women – a Granny Team in her hometown of Shanxi, known for its folk crafts.
These weren’t young factory workers. These ladies were all experts in traditional crafts, averaging 65 years old. Sadly, they lost their jobs as machines took over. They’d spent years getting good at skills that didn’t seem to matter anymore.
Even though they were older, their skills were a goldmine. Some had been making padded jackets for decades. Others were famous for their tiger-head hats. As one granny said, it all goes hand-in-hand – the skill is the same.
But Songmont did more than give them jobs. The brand made them excited about life again. These women, who people thought were past their prime, found new meaning in making bags that young people across China would be happy to carry.
Today, Songmont has been around for over ten years, and the Granny Team has grown too. While factories now handle big orders, the grandmothers are now the rockstars of Songmont’s repair service. They use their knowledge to fix up bags for customers.
The Idea: Taking It Slow
In 2022, Songmont did something you don’t see much in fashion. They brought the grandmothers to their studio in Beijing so they could see what it’s like to use Songmont bags. This role reversal – makers becoming users – shows what they’re all about.
Fu Song, the founder, thinks that the user is the teacher. She’s always tweaking the bags based on what people say. The bags aren’t just accessories; they’re meant to be everyday companions that you actually want to use.
Rather than pumping out tons of new stuff, Songmont puts all their energy into design, testing, and improving things. Right now, they only have ten main collections on their website. Just three models – the Luna bag, basket bag, and Song bag – make up most of their sales.
This is a big deal in an industry that’s all about the next big thing. Songmont’s idea comes from Chinese philosophy: go deep, not wide. Refine, don’t reinvent.
Why Chinese Luxury Is Different: Being Real vs. Being Flashy
For a long time, Western luxury has been about showing off. You buy a fancy handbag to prove you’re successful. You wear a nice suit to look classy. It’s all about wanting to be someone else, somewhere else.
Songmont is for folks like city workers and college students who don’t need fancy brands to feel good about who they are. These customers, usually women in their 20s to 40s, want good quality, useful bags that fit their style, not just what’s trendy.
This is a big change. Chinese people are over blindly chasing trends. They want things that fit who they are. They like brands with their own ideas and a clear point of view.
Songmont’s story – Fu Song and her grandma’s skills – is about roots, not status. It’s saying: We know who we are. We’re proud of where we come from. That realness is appealing because you can’t just make it up.
As Fu Song said at their show in Paris, Songmont wants to take people on a trip to the East. We get ideas from nature, people, and our culture and put them into things people can use every day.
Design Ideas: Each Collection Is a Chinese Story
Unlike Western brands that just slap on some Asian designs, Songmont’s collections come from real Chinese life:
Luna Collection: Gets its vibe from the moon, making bags that give you a gentle but strong feeling.
Song Collection: Based on the shape of a swallow kite, mixing beauty with lasting charm.
Drippy Roof Collection: Inspired by old Chinese buildings, bringing a modern twist to tradition.
Yore Collection: Follows the Yellow River to Tibet, pulling courage from Tibetan rugs and sacred tiger tooth beads.
Gather Collection: Inspired by the bags carried across the Silk Road, made to collect memories as you go through life.
Each collection isn’t just pretty; it’s about how to live your life. That’s what makes it truly special, not just some copycat design.
The 10 Best Songmont Products: Modern Chinese Masterpieces
1. Luna Bag – The Crescent Moon
Why It’s Great: It’s inspired by the moon, making you feel strong and calm.
It’s made of real leather that looks awesome and lasts forever. The leather gets better with age, looking unique over time.
The Luna has cool hardware inspired by old Chinese designs – useful and cultural. Change the strap to carry it on your shoulder, crossbody, or by hand.
Price: $349 (Medium), $430 (Large), $299 (Mini)
Perfect For: City people who want style, anyone who likes things that get better with age.
2. Medium Song Bag – The Swallow Kite
Why It’s Great: The design is like the frame of a swallow kite – light but super strong.
You can use it as a handbag, shoulder bag, or crossbody with straps. Great for people who are always on the go.
Price: Starting at $269
Perfect For: People who are busy, travelers, folks who love cool designs.
3. Drippy Roof Bag – Stylish Architecture
Why It’s Great: Inspired by Chinese roofs, this bag is fancy and classy but still strong.
It’s made of great leather that lasts, celebrating strong women from the past and present.
Price: Starting at $369
Perfect For: Women who want to make a statement, architecture fans, anyone who wants a touch of class.
4. Large Yore Duffle Bag – The Travel Buddy
Why It’s Great: Made of leather that gets better with age, with tiger tooth designs inside that symbolize courage.
The Yore has lots of pockets and is made to last.
Price: Premium range
Perfect For: Travelers, weekend adventurers, people who like leather that tells a story.
5. Gather Bag Set – Silk Road Vibes
Why It’s Great: Inspired by bags carried across the Silk Road, made of soft leather.
The leather changes over time, revealing a cool two-tone look.
Price: Mid-to-premium range
Perfect For: History buffs, people who love leather that changes, collectors of cool designs.
6. Medium Chocolate Bag – Sweet Style
Why It’s Great: Inspired by chocolate, with a unique design and lots of space inside.
Made of soft leather and lined with silk. You can change the shape with snap buttons.
Price: $339 (Medium), $279 (Small), $219 (Mini)
Perfect For: Everyday use, people who need to stay organized, anyone who wants a fun look.
7. Reset Tofu Bag – Simple and Useful
Why It’s Great: It’s all about being simple but still having tons of space.
Designed to hold everything without being bulky.
Price: $389 (Medium)
Perfect For: Minimalists, commuters, anyone who wants a clean look with lots of space.
8. Large Luna Bag – Roomy Style
Why It’s Great: It’s the Luna bag, but bigger! Made of soft leather and has plenty of space.
Great for carrying everything you need.
Price: $430
Perfect For: People who carry a lot every day, laptop users, anyone switching from backpacks to handbags.
9. Vegan Leather Luna Bag – Eco-Friendly
Why It’s Great: Made from recycled ocean waste, this bag is stylish and good for the planet.
It has the same great design as the original Luna, but it’s made with the environment in mind.
Price: Similar to leather versions
Perfect For: Eco-conscious shoppers, vegans, anyone who wants luxury with less impact.
10. Mini Drippy Roof Bag – Small but Mighty
Why It’s Great: Has the same cool architectural design as the Drippy Roof in a smaller size.
Made with the same great leather and is perfect for evenings out.
Price: $369
Perfect For: Evenings out, days when you don’t need much, lovers of cool details.
Taking Responsibility: Becoming One With Nature
What makes everything whole, is design, how long it last, and being accountable. It’s not just pretending to be eco-friendly—it’s serious stuff from Taoist nature principles.
The brand makes use of vegan leathers made form sea trash and recyclable packaging. These are used without losing the classy taste of the brand, showing how luxury goes hand-in-hand with consciousness.
Beyond just what they use to make these, sustainability means making them last decades. At Songmont, they understand the need to save resources and the environmental impact, which is why they build products that last. Granny Team’s repair-work makes sure the bags get mended instead of flushed out.
Quality and Worth: Genuine Scores
Tanner Leatherstein, a leather goods whiz, gave his thorough take on Songmont goods. His scores reveal important touches:
The Luna Bag, for example, is made out of high grade leather worth $25 for about 5 square feet, the hardware is about $15, and labor is about $55. That totals to $95 production money. At $350 store price, the cost is just less than four meaning fair cost is given for the quality.
The Luna Bag goes above and beyond, pairing great materials as well as craftsmanship. The leather grade, the design, and just how its put together is remarkable for the price.
Not all Songmont goods were equal. There were varied reviews on the Chocolate Bag, mostly having complaints about material quality. What you can infer from this is, its still in the works, and quality can be off.
The golden takeaway: Best value and quality points the signature pieces such as the Luna, Song, and Drippy Roof.
Retail Talk: Digital Power With a Physical Kick
In 2021, Songmont settled their first real store in Beijing, and now totals to five offline stores. Although, these are a brand experience more then just sales.
Founder Song understood the need to allow clients a feel of the leather in real life, as handbags impress more physically then in digital images.
These buildings such as the Beijing and Shenzhen branches, take elements from local landmarks with crystals, bamboo, pine and stones setting the mood inside.
As the bulk of the sales happen on the digital front, where they slay. In 2024, Songmont had the second standing in top sales in the bags and suitcases segment on Tmall on the 618 campaign.
Paris Moment: Displaying Mountains to the West
In October 2025, Songmont shook up Paris, not through wild runway schemes, but their stories instead. With the help of materials such as dirt, rustic murals, and mountain ranges, and major rivers, they fashioned signature collection works.
Seventy-eight parts, seventy-two hours – Songmont went all in showing just how much labor goes into making a Yore duffel bag. Transparency such as this that demonstrates that the complexity isnt for show, rather that its true.
What Songmont shared with Paris was more then just bells and whistles, temples, kites and loons to the mix, they were able to show how Eastern tastes can connect globally with its poetic take on slow paced stability.
Why the West Can’t Copy This Overnight
Quick things to know what makes Songmont hard to copy:
Time: You can’t just produce decades on decades of grandmother talent. It will take time to grow cultural confidence. You may source some Chinese designs and copy from them, but you really can’t claim Chinese roots.
Culture: From swallow kites, temples, silk roads and more, Songmont designs come from life. Western brands referencing such are only appropriating, where Songmont on the other hand is only inheriting.
Transparency: The Song plus Grandmother team is not fake, nor is it a marketing ploy. The brands foundation, it has. To make this work with focus groups is unheard of.
Outlook: What shifted was the need to be like someone else, where being real shone instead. More and more Chinese customers value their own values and the transformation has caught up with brands like this mentioned.
Greater Moves: China’s Top Notch Renaissance
Songmont is a leader of brands such as Shushu/Tong, Angel Chen, and Rains which all burst through China with their own statements in culture and quality that rivals top dogs.
As global customers value slow and independent brands who have strong values, Songmont stands tall as new Chinese luxury – its from the East, but sounds out worldwide.
Its has proven to be a turning of shifts that impact luxury globally. Centuries of what makes leather, silk, and watches special can only come from Europe they say.
That day is waning as China is defining their own what it means to be what Songmont is.
How This Impacts Customers Worldwide
Songmont, as well as other brands give meaning to customers worldwide that western luxury lacks.
When you sport a Songmont Luna, you’re not just showing off being rich, you’re telling a story – grandmothers turning their lives around, preserving tradition, cultural identity.
At $150, Songmont hits a good sweet spot of quality and access. Its an affordable for those in the city and for college goers.
The bags age well and has a feel of a personal touch and luxury to it, its a 180 to fast fashion that loses worth in just a blink.
The Future: Itself, Not Just a Logo
Old luxury says to buy it to become someone instead. New luxury means to be who you already are.
The old ones are borrowing, making distance. New ones are heritage while giving quality.
Old ones needed logos, new ones value craft and meaning.
What pushes oriental philosophy is user taste through designs that complement the modern lifestyle. With practical, nice looking, stable bags.
That kind outlook, that is what the future holds, not trend, but truth.
Finding Your Good Fit
When you go look to purchase, always think of:
Daily Wants: Luna gives a lot of options to hold and wear. Song is elegant in a formal occasion. Chocolate focuses what you have and want to carry with you.
Your Leather: The shine you get with natural leather is only part of the fun. Nappa is gentle. And Vegan is responsible!
Cultural Touch: Get what inspiration that calls to you – Chinese architecture, Tibet, or Silk Road.
Your Wallet: Luna, Song, and Drippy give the greatest bang for the buck!
What Time Built
In making luxury accessible, some brands confused getting more for less instead of making something last along with tradition and dilution.
What sets Songmont on its own path, since established in 2013, has reached far and in many magazines. The heart isn’t awards but making something with a long history since Song returned from Google to team up with her grandmother.
Its a story that can’t be made up nor can it be rushed.
Time, values, and truth make it. What makes the movement tick is that the west can’t just copy. You cant copy paste luxury from the west, it has to be from the East for Chinese consumers with confidence.
Craft, identity from Culture all matter in an age where most is made.
What gives Songmont the push is its roots, thats the future – to better the brand that has its location in mind, expresses itself, and does above and beyond as time flies with it.
Growing stronger and taller pines under the mountain. Thats more then a name, but a promise.
