For those who work from home, an office, or remotely, the purse from Betta Bag is a chic and professional essential item for the modern woman. The purses, created with care, offer easy organization and affordable and distinctive style. The bag allows you to move with ease between work, the weekend, and anywhere else. The bag has clean and elegant lines, comes in various colors, and has comfortable internal pockets, which allow the purse to adapt to the many roles a women plays throughout her day. 

The Betta Bag was founded in New York by Cristina Carabetta, an entrepreneur, lawyer, and Fashion Marketing graduate. The bag was inspired by her immigrant grandparents and she honors them by ensuring the products are "Made in Italy.” 

Betta Bag is enthusiastically planning on launching two new products in the first half of 2023. The next launch will include a multifunctional cross body bag and a leather card holder. Both new items will be available on the website shopbettabag.com. The products will continue to be produced in Italy in 2023, using Italian tanneries. Even as Betta Bag grows, they will continue to partner with Italy and continue their relationship with Italian businesses.

Featured On - Passport to Thrive

This month, Cristina Carabetta was interviewed on Diane Marie Pisera's Podcast, 'Passport to Thrive'. on the episode titled Developing an italian made handbag collection with Cristina Carabetta.  

In the episode Cristina and Diane discuss inspiration, process, and challenges behind the creation of the Betta Collection. To listen to the episode click here.

Follow - @shopbettabag

 

 

Betta Bag, Better World:

Where Italian Fashion Meets Heritage and Redemption

Like a lot of Italian American women, Cristina Carabetta knows fashion. Like a lot of people in America (an estimated one-in-five), she knows someone who has experienced the criminal justice system. This intersection of criminal justice and fashion inspired Betta Bag, a stylish, sustainable, Italian-made and designed conceived by Ms. Carabetta and designed in collaboration with her formerly-incarcerated uncle. The effort is, in both respects, a tribute to her family and her heritage.

Growing up in a predominantly Italian enclave of Meriden, Connecticut, Ms. Carabetta was acutely aware of her background. The granddaughter and great granddaughter of Italian immigrants was raised in the same community as her ancestors, attending the same institutions and immersed in a similar culture.

Part of the traditions within her own household involved an awareness of fashion. "I've always liked to dress up," Ms. Carabetta said. "My grandparents came to this country with nothing but the clothes on their back, so my mom always made sure that I presented myself well, which was important to her because her mother worked as a seamstress. My mother, who also knew how to sew, would make my clothes."

The studious and ambitious Ms. Carabetta went on to earn an international business degree with a minor in fashion merchandising from Lynn University in Florida. There was an obvious interest in fashion, bu an uncertainty at the time as how to pursue her passion professionally. Other interests beckoned, namely business and law, and she returned to her home state to earn both an MBA and JD from Quinnipiac University.

Armed with her broad and advanced education, Ms. Carabetta moved to New York City in 2019, where she opened her own law firm representing startups and small businesses. And this is when she found her path to fashion.

"Once I became a lawyer, and more involved in and the business environment, I started to realize that there was a lack of professional handbags for women in the market-place.", Ms. Carabetta said. "A lot of the briefcases we see are very masculine. And we as women still needed a pocketbook for our personal things. At one point I had the briefcase on wheels, which was very inconvenient and so not stylish. I had this idea of a bag in mind that was stylish, but also practical and affordable." 

The idea came to fruition with the help of her Uncle Nino, who worked in a leather shop while in prison and became a master craftsman. He would send home beautiful bags to the women in the family, and wallets and backpacks to the men, on special occasions and holidays. Once out of prison, though, employment opportunities weren't readily available, let alone anything in fashion or the creative space. He returned to his previous work as an auto mechanic, but he would always tell the family to let him know if they needed any original leather products.

 During COIVD, Ms. Carabetta was back in Connecticut for a few months. Uncle Nino's repair shop was closed. The idea for a bag was shared. Designs were made, followed by prototypes until the perfect model was made, and the Betta Bag was born.

What makes the Betta Bag better, aside from the stylish design in beige or black, is the number of items that fit inside. It's very wide and opens nearly all the way around. Inside, there are special compartments for electronics, folders, files with organizational pockets for keys, makeup, phone, charger, etc. There's a luggage strap that attaches to a suitcase. The entirely sustainable materials are sourced and manufactured in Italy by design.

"I wanted to re-establish that family connection," Ms. Carabetta said. "With my ancestors being from Italy, it was just important for me to tie it back to my roots." Adding to the familial aspect is an advocacy by Betta Bag for those, like Uncle Nino, who face employment challenges after serving their sentence. Ms. Carabetta, in conjunction with her knowledge of the law, works via Betta Bag raising awareness of the issue, and also directly with groups who help the formerly-incarcerated successfully reenter society through placement in certain industries. One day, she hope to provide such opportunities within her own company.

For now, Betta Bag is expanding into Europe and developing additional products as it realizes the life work of an ambitious, aware kid from an Italian family who grew up loved and loving fashion. "I'm new to this whole market, but it's really exciting," Ms. Carabetta said. "It's something that I created from the ground up that's very close to my heart because I'm working with family, and everything was inspired by my upbringing and by my family."