Ballen is a Made in Colombia women’s accessories brand built upon conscious craft. It offers essential bags characterized by modern silhouettes, care for details and high-quality materials including fine Italian leather and other natural origin materials sourced locally.

This family-driven and historically shaped brand is managed by founder and creative director Ricardo Ballen, who constantly revisits its legacy of equestrian Colombia and his knowledge of Italian craftsmanship.

The brand is committed to sustainability and innovation, and operates following an ethical-production concept that guarantees fair working conditions to its artisans, but also exclusive attention to style, details and design. 

From slick leather totes to robust buckets made with tagua seeds and other local materials, its collections are crafted entirely in-house by local expert handicrafts people.

The collection presents a series of silhouettes that are practical, timeless and artisanal. Designs are available in a delicate, earth-toned color palette and visually impressive white stitching details.

“Ballen operates under an ethical production process,” explained Ricardo Ballen. “Crafted with sustainability at its core, we directly employ natural fibers and repurposed Amazonic seeds in our designs–such as tagua, açai and bombona. We support the preservation of the Amazon by working hand-in-hand with local communities who manually collect these wild flora and who play a key role in keeping areas free from deforestation, allowing the preservation of healthy forests. Our purpose is to provide natural flora a second life, highlight nature’s beautiful imperfections and celebrate our roots through each of our carefully crafted pieces.”

The brand has recently launched a plant-based model made with, in addition to repurposed seeds, a vegan-leather made from cactus pulp.

Aiming to avoid overproduction, one of fashion’s biggest issues today, Ballen only produces limited stock for its Medellín showroom and follows a pre-order model for its e-commerce by producing only the necessary quantities.

Ricardo Ballen’s inspiring muse is Carina, his wife, longtime partner and now mother of their son Lucio. Carina embodies the essence of the Ballen woman, who loves to travel and collect heirlooms. Her timeless sense of style and cultural awareness lie at the core of the brand’s creative journey. As part of its conscious-driven ethos, Ballen employs eco-friendly packaging. Being committed to use 0% plastic, the collection is packed in compostable bags made out of cellulose and multipurpose linen fabric dust bags, which can be easily reused for other purposes. As part of the experience, the brand includes notes that can be easily planted to grow into a Guayacan tree, a beautiful flowering tree native to Colombia–encouraging its clients to be mindful and support the planet.

The collection is sold at retail prices ranging between US$225 and US$470.