In the United States the primary marketing audience for custom handbags are women, however in Europe, particularly Continental Europe, the use of custom handbags is more diverse. In many areas of Europe, both men and women use the handbag as the primary carrying agent for personal belongings that they wish to carry with them. These personal belongings can take many forms and therefore as one considers who and how to market these products it is important to consider the applicable audience and the purpose of the custom designed bag.

Male Handbag Market

This market for custom handbags is primarily in Mainland or Continental Europe, and therefore the designers need to understand the possible uses of the bags they are designing. Firstly male handbags do need to be a little less girlish and more like tote bags than the average handbag. Indeed most males would prefer that their handbag actually be a shoulder bag. Even in the most liberal of areas it is not often that a man will be seen carrying a true handbag, and in which case they will usually select one from the broad range available as regular handbags. Male focused custom handbags should not include zippers as most males have enough zippers in their lives and do not wish to be trapped by one in their custom handbag. Male custom handbags should be large enough to carry a wallet, car keys, camera, medicines, and other paraphernalia and accoutrements required. Although to many it may seem incredible, it is likely that custom handbags for men should be smaller than those for women. One other consideration is the material from which the bags will be fashioned. For most men, a suede or fabric bag will serve the purpose nicely, and therefore the custom design of the bag should be simple and straightforward.

Traditional Handbag Markets

Most designers will focus their custom work on the female market. In these cases custom handbags are primarily targeted at the rich and opulent. For most females custom handbags are those made in limited quantity for a certain celebrity by a well known designer. For these folks marketing the services of a designer is based on their record of providing specialized bags both custom and mass market of a very high quality and desirability.

Custom work can also focus on events. In such a case a designer may offer their services to a broader market of folks and design special bags for each of them. Such events include award events such as the Academy Awards, or opening of special movies and shows where a large number of the rich and opulent will attend. One interesting fact about all such custom handbags is that they are quite remarkable in that their value may increase overtime as they can be sold for gain in environments such as E-Bay. Marketing for this purpose is most often accomplished by designing a number of custom handbags on speculation and allowing their market to see them.