Mélisse Martineau always knew she would be a designer—it was only a matter of when. What she couldn’t anticipate, however, was sewing the prototype for her highly sought-after handbag design… by accident.

On a cold Saturday in January of this year, in an attempt to brush up on her sewing skills and prepare herself for upcoming meetings with manufacturers interested in helping develop her brand (which was just an idea at this point), Martineau spent the afternoon at The New York Sewing Center making herself a fun, fringe-lined Japanese knot handbag—similar to a bag she had ordered for herself online a week prior but that never arrived.

A simplistic silhouette originating from Japan in the 1600s, the bag’s primary feature is an innovative slip-through closure that loosely seals the main opening by passing a longer handle overtop of a shorter one. After slightly altering the dimensions of the traditional design and adding a fun fringe trim to the bottom edge, Martineau was left with a fun, feminine and unique take on the Japanese knot bag, which she promptly posted on social media.

Quickly, after her comment section flooded with over 500 viewers asking for a way to buy the bag for themselves, Martineau decided her next move. This was the hero product she had been looking for.

In her own words , “Okay, I guess we’re producing purses now.”

Today, Mélisse , the Florida native’s namesake brand, consistently sells out of its frequent drops online , has hosted in-store pop-ups with brands like Goop and is gaining rapid online traction. But what really makes the brand stand out, alongside its serendipitous origin story, is its commitment to New York City-based operations.

New York City And Mélisse

Martineau, who has personally resided in New York for a few years now, has built her brand on a genuine championing of the city, its people and its resources. The brand’s headquarters, manufacturing, deadstock textile sourcing and marketing imagery are all done in New York’s Garment District with Martineau at the helm.

“It’s felt right and good to put my name on something where I know the start to finish,” Martineau said in an interview. “I know everything that is happening and being produced, and know the people that are involved. It has been a really joyous process for me to be a part of and take part in.”

Made in New York , a nonprofit that supports local manufacturers and makers in the city through free skills-building programs, small business resources and promotional platforms, amplifies the importance of producing locally with a values statement on their website.

“Local manufacturing is essential to an environmentally sustainable city,” the nonprofit writes. “Because urban manufacturers are located near their markets, they can work with their customers and designers to develop new, environmentally responsible products.”

Not only does Martineau genuinely enjoy this element of her business, but having all processes be in New York allows for the Mélisse brand to run on a vertical integration model and tap into what the designer considers to be the “trifecta” of her brand’s success: “scarcity, speed and community.”

“The whole made in New York thing, it’s not just a tagline for us,” she clarified. “It has fundamentally changed how quickly I’ve been able to build this business.”

This vertical model, in which Martineau and her team are responsible for every part of Mélisse’s production, makes it so the brand can get a new product and its respective marketing out to consumers at a rapid pace, drop smaller quantities of product more often, respond to cultural moments and fast-moving fashion trends in real time and integrate feedback from loyal community members into future designs.

Martineau highlighted the benefits of this model in action with an anecdote from this summer. Inspired by the Knicks mania that swept up New York as the team quickly won their way to the championship title, the designer was able to source thematic fabric, craft a sample, shoot social content and put up a listing for the limited-edition bag on her website, all 80 of which sold out instantly. From there, Martineau organized a local pickup system and her office was cleared of any trace of the design in less than 24 hours.

“That experience probably took years off of my life, looking back, but in the moment, it was amazing,” she reminisced. “Having that type of business and being able to turn things around like that and react to customers, rather than producing a line and then waiting 12 months to receive it and then putting it out there.

“It’s that cultural responsiveness that would be nearly impossible for me to ever accomplish if I were doing traditional overseas production timelines and I think being a part of it, especially as a new young business owner, is so important.”

Future Plans For The Brand

Although Mélisse has become a standout brand so early in its inception, Martineau is hesitant to scale the business too fast.

“I think the best advice I’ve received during this process is not to do everything at once and not to jump too far ahead just because something is working,” Martineau explained. “But my dream is that one day I can get dressed entirely in Mélisse. That is my ultimate goal. I want to do clothing. I think clothing is my number one product priority for 2027, and you know, in a funny way, that’ll really be bringing the story full circle because that was my initial idea for the brand.”

For now, the designer is working through the challenges of growing her fast-moving business without sacrificing the commitment she made to protect the values of her customers, her city and her dream.

“There are difficulties, of course,” Martineau said. “There are challenges. I’m learning how to build and scale a business in real time each day as I’m doing this. I also have very expensive taste when it comes to textiles. I want beautiful materials. I want the highest quality of materials. And the cost difference between domestic and overseas sourcing and manufacturing can definitely be enormous. And so, I guess for me the challenge is figuring out how to improve our margins without stripping away the things that made the product successful in the first place.”