Fernanda

I said that I would blip this, so here it is. This is Fernanda who came with my new Kipling purse that I bought a few weeks ago. She can stay on my purse, or be a key chain, or just get stashed in a drawer (no!) or whatever...right now she is still on the purse. I got a nice sale price and used my birthday money to buy it and I really like it. I have seen Kipling before, but didn't notice that every thing that they make comes with a monkey of some kind. So, I had to do some Internet sleuthing and this information is from their website. They can explain it much better than I. So I guess this is a bit of a plug for their product. The monkeys are all named and they are named after a person who works for Kipling. And the purse is washable. In the washing machine!! I'm a fan.

Founded in 1987 with its name inspired by Rudyard Kipling, the author of "The Jungle Book", Kipling has evolved beyond its original roots of providing high quality backpacks suited for the adventures of everyday life into a distinctive, worldwide brand offering a range of carryalls for a variety of lifestyles.

Its bags are effortlessly stylish, colorful and fun as well as practical and durable enough for even the most active individual. Headquartered in New York City with products developed and designed in Antwerp, Belgium, Kipling North America is a division of VF Sportswear, Inc.

The VF Sportswear Coalition includes the Nautica® brand as well as the Kipling® brand. Kipling products are distributed in 55 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, South America and the USA, and have been distributed in North America since 1993.

Why attach a "monkey" to the bags? Whenever you think of Kipling, you think of the monkey. Of course the brand name "Kipling" and Rudy Kipling's famous work "The Jungle Book" give Kipling the perfect connection. Monkeys are symbols of fun and adventure, so the monkey naturally became the brand's mascot. And not very much later, it became the monkey key ring. Every Kipling monkey is named after an employee from somewhere around the world. Every collection has its own unique monkey! The monkey has definitely become a collector's item for anyone who is fun-loving and young at heart... We already know of Kipling addicts who own no less than 425 monkeys!

Some amazing statistics...
23 Kipling bags are sold every minute, somewhere in the world.
More than 35 million people in the world now own at least one Kipling bag.
There are more Kipling bags than there are people in Belgium.