LONDON — First tailoring, now bags. The Richemont-owned British luxury brand Dunhill is putting leather at the center of its 2026 strategy with a refreshed collection and a Heritage in Motion campaign, to signal the brand’s British classicism and craft-led core.
“The new leather collections really place the client at the center of my thinking, balanced with a substantial expression of Dunhill’s heritage,” said Simon Holloway, creative director of Dunhill since 2023.
The goal, he added, was to design “beautifully functional objects — a briefcase, for example, that appears very classic at first glance, but on closer examination reveals a more modern attitude.”
He structured the lineup around the concept of a “complete leather wardrobe” for work, travel and everyday use. It starts with Heritage, a bespoke collection of bags predominantly crafted in bridle leather made in Walthamstow, North London.
The collection then expands to Alfred, Holloway’s interpretation of the briefcase, available in three sizes and offered in shades of chocolate, whiskey and black. Bourdon is a softer, more rounded silhouette, predominantly realized in grained leather, while the Century style was inspired by the world of travel and trunks.
“We still make extraordinary trunks, from cocktail cases to large valet trunks, and Century was conceived as a holdall with a beautiful padlock that recalls the smaller pieces of luggage that would have accompanied those trunks. It carries a certain spirit of early 20th-century exploration,” Holloway added.
Then there is Duke, a refined English folio with telescopic handles, and Dispatch, a limited, Made in England style that celebrates the tradition of fine local case-making.
“More broadly, I wanted to remove Dunhill from the trend cycle and build belief and value into everything we make. Craftsmanship sits at the center of that, whether in the quality of the materials, the hardware or the construction itself. The silhouettes are deliberately timeless. This is not about seasonal novelty; it’s about beautiful materials, rich color and enduring design,” he said.
“Ultimately, it is conceived as a complete leather wardrobe for a modern man who appreciates a more timeless way of dressing,” Holloway continued.
The Alfred 30 in black patina calf
Courtesy of Dunhill
The designer emphasized that he is not chasing “the fashion bag,” as he prefers pieces “with permanence and longevity — objects that feel relevant because they are well made, useful and enduring, rather than because they belong to a particular moment.”
Craft and construction are central to upholding that standard. “The collection really needed to feel unmistakably like Dunhill. Whatever the bag, it had to feel assured and present, while remaining relatively understated,” he said.
Making the craftsmanship tangible is a big part of the plan.
“You feel it in the choice of leather, in the way the bags are stitched and constructed, in the handles and in the finishing. The hardware is also incredibly distinctive, executed at a very high level of quality, and reflective of the standards we apply across everything we do at Dunhill,” he said.
“There are details such as the hand-burnished patina calf, the stitched handle on the Alfred bag or the steering-wheel stitch on the Century bag. These are all genuine expressions of craftsmanship,” he added.
Discreet details, such as using solid leather handles instead of foam-filled ones and reeded metal detailing, finished in vintage palladium, are also signs of quality for the discerning client.
“Some of the bags are also extraordinarily complex to make. The Alfred, for example, consists of more than 120 individual components. Yet the end result feels simple, highly functional and, I hope, very beautiful,” Holloway said.
Simon Holloway
Hyku Desesto/Courtesy
The Heritage in Motion campaign, a series of four videos tracing the relationship between motoring, craft and British design over the years, serves as the main storytelling platform for Holloway’s vision for the brand. It runs across leather goods, footwear and outerwear.
“It’s important for us to explain the origins of what we do. Dunhill has a remarkably rich history, and I think it’s a story worth retelling through both product and imagery. Not everyone immediately associates Dunhill with its beginnings in the world of motoring accessories and the lifestyle that emerged around the automobile,” Holloway said.
“What’s fascinating about the house is that it was born at the intersection of several disciplines: leather goods, clothing, metal craftsmanship, and travel accessories. That history remains tremendously inspiring. What interests me is connecting contemporary products to that lineage,” he added.
The first chapter, released last week, focused on Alfred and its link to the brand’s motoring heritage. Holloway described Alfred as an example of how one new product can contain several eras of Dunhill within a single object.
“The handle references the motoring era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The metal hardware draws on a tradition of craftsmanship established during the Art Deco period of the 1920s and 1930s and reinforced in the post-war years. Then the silhouette itself is a modern interpretation of a document case. So, in a sense, multiple chapters of Dunhill’s history are brought together in a single piece. That connection between past and present is something I find particularly compelling,” he said.
Looking ahead, Holloway said he is in it for the long game.
“I would actually be very happy if the collection remained relatively unchanged. The ambition was never to create something that required constant reinvention. If, in two years’ time, people see these pieces as enduring objects that continue to feel relevant because of their quality, craftsmanship and permanence, then I would consider that a success,” he said.
