Inside Our Custom Gift Tote for the 2026 ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards

Earlier this year, Sarep + Rose made the custom gift tote for the 2026 ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards.

Which is still a pretty wild sentence to type.

Why I'm sharing this now

We actually haven't talked much about corporate gifting on the Sarep + Rose site. We've done it. We just haven't been particularly good at telling people that we do it.

This project is a good example of what I mean when I say corporate gifting doesn't have to look like “corporate gifting.” It doesn't always have to be an existing product with a logo stamped onto it.

Depending on the project, we can think about the actual object: what it is made from, how it will be used, how it should feel, what needs to be customized and what makes sense for the people receiving it.

For ESSENCE, that meant creating something specifically for a major event. Another project might call for leather journals, travel pieces, wallets, home accessories, a custom bag or something we haven't made yet.

Sarep + Rose works with skilled makers and production partners across Africa and has always sat somewhere between fashion, travel, home and useful everyday objects. Corporate and VIP gifting gives us another way to use that range without making something that feels generic simply because it is being ordered in quantity.

The goal is still the same as it is with everything else we make: Make something good enough that people actually want to keep it.

The project started, as most custom projects do, with a very practical need: ESSENCE needed a bag for the gifts being prepared for guests attending the 19th annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards. But if we were going to make the bag, I didn't want it to feel like a throwaway 'freebie' that would be useful for one night only to be forgotten. So we made a proper tote bag.

Black cotton canvas, leather trim, long shoulder straps, and a custom Sarep + Rose x ESSENCE leather patch stitched onto the front. We also made a commemorative leather luggage tag specifically for the event.

The idea was pretty simple: the bag holding the gifts should feel like one of the gifts too.

ESSENCE later included our Sarep + Rose tote AND a select number of our Leather Wash Bag toiletry kits in a custom navy blue inside the 2026 Black Women in Hollywood gift bags, alongside the other fashion, beauty and lifestyle pieces selected for guests.

And while seeing the finished bag photographed for the event was obviously the glamorous part, most of the work happened well before that.

The parts you don't normally see.

Beautiful finished photographs are one thing. Particularly with a custom bulk order, a good idea is only the beginning. Materials and construction have to hold up consistently at scale. Production timelines have to meet event deadlines. Goods have to travel between countries and across states. And somebody has to obsess over the little things before hundreds of people see the finished product.

That somebody is very often me. 😂

Then there is receiving the shipment, opening boxes, checking construction, looking at stitching and leather, inspecting the custom branding, counting pieces, repacking everything and making sure that everything that leaves our hands looks like what we agreed to make.

Those are the less romantic parts of producing something at scale, but they're also the parts I take very seriously. Because “custom” only works if the hundredth piece still feels like somebody cared about it as much as the first.

And then we shipped a pallet to Hollywood

Once everything had been inspected and repacked, the order was wrapped, palletized and shipped out to California.

I took pictures (and some videos still waiting to see the light of day) because, frankly, there is something very satisfying about seeing an entire project sitting on a pallet. Months earlier it was conversations, materials, measurements, samples, approvals and a lot of WhatsApp messages. Then suddenly it's a real, physical thing taking up warehouse space and waiting for a truck. That part never gets old. One of those very tangible wins that keeps me going.

The bags made their way to Los Angeles for the 19th annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards, where they were used for the event's VIP gifting. And yes, knowing that something we made was sitting in that room, carrying gifts for some of the most influential Black women in entertainment, felt very special.

Planning something?

If you're looking for gifts for clients, employees, VIP guests, an event, a retreat or something else that requires more than ordering identical promotional items from a catalog, whether it's 50 or 550 - we'd be happy to talk.

We can work with existing Sarep + Rose products, curate a selection around a budget, or explore more customized pieces depending on quantity, timeline and scope.

And if your idea is slightly strange and you're not sure whether it can be made, those tend to be some of my favorite emails.

hello@sarep-rose.com

Corporate Gifting FAQ

Does Sarep + Rose offer corporate and bulk gifting?

Yes. Sarep + Rose works with companies and organizations on premium corporate gifts, VIP event gifting, client gifts and bulk orders using existing products or, depending on quantity, timeline and project scope, customized designs.

Can Sarep + Rose create custom-branded gifts?

Yes. Customization can include elements such as product selection, materials, color, packaging, co-branding or purpose-designed pieces, depending on the needs and production requirements of the project.

Where are Sarep + Rose products made?

Sarep + Rose is a New York-based lifestyle brand that develops products with skilled artisan and production partners across Africa, using materials and techniques selected according to each product and project.