The spirit of its designers infuses Mismo bags with a real depth of pure function and stripped-down essentials, bags which shrug off frills in favor of continually evolving material selection and intelligent use of color. For Spring 2013, Mismo brings its own unique mustard yellow back into the fray, first seen in 2009 in a collaboration with Storm.

“It’s funny because brighter colors don’t sell well generally,” says Bach, revealing what’s perhaps a counterintuitive strategy for a modern designer. “The mustard color, for instance, we already know won’t sell well but it draws a lot of attention to what we’re doing and is authentic to who we are. Finding the right balance of colors is like creating your own painting. It’s a delicate process.”

The new line features interesting new materials for Mismo, which have been developed over a prolonged period of time. There’s a floral nubuck leather, which has been embossed with a botanical print before being hand-dyed and brushed for a more broken-in feel. There’s also denim sourced from Limonta that shares a similar perfectly worn feel to the touch.