Back to the roots
Born in Antwerp, KAAI empowers ambitious women with bags designed to keep up with every chapter of their day.
A conversation with founders
Ine Verhaert & Helga Meersmans
Every September brings a certain kind of energy. Calendars start filling up again, familiar routines return and ideas slowly turn into plans.
For KAAI, this season also marks a return to where it all began. Shot on the streets of Antwerp, Back in Motion celebrates the rhythm of women moving forward, through work, conversations, opportunities and everything in between.
We sat down with founders Ine and Helga to talk about returning to their roots, finding their rhythm again after summer and what continues to shape KAAI today.
Q: This season’s campaign is called Back in Motion and was shot in Antwerp, where KAAI was born. Why did it feel like the right moment to return to your roots?
Ine: Antwerp is where KAAI was born, so Back in Motion felt like the perfect moment to return to where our own journey started.
September is a natural reset: people return to work, reconnect, make new plans and find their rhythm again. That feeling of movement is very close
to KAAI.
Helga: Exactly, we design for women with dynamic lives who’re moving forward, in their own way and at their own pace.
Although KAAI is now carried by women around the world, our Belgian roots remain an essential part of who we are.
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Q: Antwerp plays a leading role throughout the campaign. What
is it about the city that continues to inspire you after all these years?
Helga: Antwerp has always been part of KAAI’s design language. It combines fashion, creativity and a certain understated elegance that feels very natural to us.
We have also been inspired by the city’s Art Deco heritage from the beginning. The clean lines, strong geometry and balance between beauty and functionality are reflected in the structured silhouettes of our bags. In our new brand story, we describe Art Deco as “a quiet inspiration behind every clean line.”
Ine: At the same time, Antwerp is a city in motion where people are constantly moving, meeting and creating. That energy is very KAAI.
“Although KAAI is now carried by women around the world,
our Belgian roots remain an essential part of who we are.”
“Back in Motion is about finding your own rhythm
and moving forward with your goals in mind.”
Q: September is coming up and often feels like a fresh start. What does Back in Motion mean to you, both personally and professionally?
Ine: September almost feels like a second New Year. After summer, there’s renewed energy: the agenda fills up, people reconnect and ideas become plans again.
Helga: For me, Back in Motion isn’t about doing more or moving faster. It’s about finding your own rhythm and moving forward with your goals in mind.
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Q: The campaign celebrates women constantly in motion. When you picture the KAAI woman, who do you see?
Helga: There isn’t one KAAI woman. She isn’t defined by one age, profession or city.
What connects our community is a certain mindset: she is curious, purposeful and ambitious in her own way. She works travels, meets people, cares for others and often moves between several roles in one day.
She doesn’t need a bag that complicates her life. She needs one that simply works - beautiful on the outside and thoughtfully organised on the inside.
For us, For Women on the Go doesn’t mean women who need to be busy all the time. It means women who are going somewhere, whatever somewhere means to them.
“September is our new year”
Q: Favourite coffee spot?
Ine: Little Havana a few doors away from our office. It’s where many ideas begin.
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Q: Place in Antwerp you keep going back to?
Ine: Friday evening apero at Colibri. The perfect way to end the week.
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Q: Early bird or night owl?
Helga: Definitely a night owl.
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Q: One word that describes September?
Helga: New Year.
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Q: What’s always in your handbag once September begins?
Helga: A charger! September means meetings, events, travel and lots of running around, so a phone with 2% battery is definitely not ideal.
Ine: My AirPods are always there too, so I can listen to podcasts on my way to the office. And I love starting September with a fresh notebook, preferably one I discovered somewhere during my summer travels. There’s something about a blank notebook that makes a new season feel full of possibilities.
September always makes me want to feel organised and ready for what’s next.
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Q: After a summer break, what’s the first thing that helps you get back into your rhythm?
Ine: Definitely getting together with the team again. A good coffee, opening the agenda and sharing all the ideas that somehow came up during the Holidays.
I also love that first September feeling in Antwerp. Everyone is back, the city starts moving again and it feels like a fresh start.
Helga: Personally, it’s also about getting back into my routines: exercising regularly, eating well and making plans for the weekends with friends and family. After the freedom of summer, I actually enjoy finding that rhythm again.
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“Trust your instinct, listen to the women around you
and don’t wait until everything is perfect.”
Q: If you could go back to the very beginning of KAAI in Antwerp, what advice would you give yourselves?
Ine: Trust your instinct, listen to the women around you and don’t wait until everything is perfect.
Some of our best ideas have come from listening to our community. Understanding how women really live, work and travel, and what they actually need from their bags.
Helga: I would also tell ourselves to make time for inspiration. Meet other entrepreneurial women, travel, discover new places, enjoy art and nature. As a founder, it’s easy to become completely absorbed by the day-to-day of building a business. But stepping outside of it, meeting inspiring people and seeing new things is often where the best ideas
begin.
From Antwerp to everywhere.
Back in Motion is a return to KAAI’s roots, but also a reminder to keep moving
forward at your own pace, in your own way.
