Special to The Desert Sun

These days it seems that a catchy brand name is almost a prerequisite to selling high-end leather bags. There is Chanel and Dior, Gucci and Hermes, Prada and Vuitton. Most have exotic European flavors and are hard to mistake for anything else. Nonetheless, there are a few brands out there that have overcome their blah names to become noteworthy, and one of those is Mark Cross. The name may be vanilla, but their products are definitely not. Let's see why that is.

To start with, Mark W. Cross & Co. has been around a very long time. Its founding dates to 1845 when Boston resident Henry Cross entered the saddlery business with a firm named for his son. From the beginning, Henry's intentions were strictly high-end, and by century's close Mark Cross horse furnishings

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