In the last few weeks men have been asking me questions about what to get their wives as presents. I'm always flattered when people submit questions to me and I thought I must be reaching some new level in exposure when men are now contacting me. One of my coworkers is looking for a hot handbag for his wife; something that will have her girlfriends talking.

I have some recommendations in mind and Retrodelic, a local company, made the cut. I discovered this company during one of my late night web browsing sessions. I immediately bookmarked it and added to the "things to blog about" pile. That pile is large and soon it was buried among the other things I find on the Internet. Fortunately, Ken Williams, Retrodelic's designer emailed me and that brought my attention back to his company.

Retrodelic bags are a modern take on classic handbag designs. Premium materials like full grain leather are combined with expert craftsmanship to produce a bag durable enough for everyday use and stylish enough to have strangers asking about it. The collection consists of many styles for men and women. Ken is an equal opportunity designer and there are almost as many styles for men as there are women. Women of course can choose from clutches, satchels and totes. For the men there are messenger bags, duffle bags and briefcases.

Ken started Retrodelic in 2003. After years in the software industry, he decided to follow his passion for vintage handbags and luggage fulltime. We bonded over our common industry experience when I visited the Retrodelic showroom on King Street West. The showroom is located in the Toronto's Business Development Centre and the Business Incubator division provides office space and business advisory services to starting entrepreneurs. Ken mentioned that it was great to have a small office space for meeting clients instead of working out of his home.

Ken also talked about hustling the line, which I think he has done a fabulous job. I see Retrodelic all over the place in both web and print mediums. Loulou Magazine loves Retrodelic and I have seen features in four issues of the magazine. Both the Star and the Globe have run stories about Ken and Retrodelic. The fashion blogsphere is also noticing and you can find posts on some the big names sites like Omiru, FashionTribes and Second City Style. Ken has also managed to get celebrities to promote his line; Jamie Foxx, the Oslen twins and Eva Longoria are all proud owners.

I'm a big fan of the Ellie Tote pictured above. It was the first thing I focused on when I visited the studio. I hope Torontonians think twice about buying another horrible Coach bag *shudder* and look to an "it" bag we can call our own.