Aspinal and Mulberry get compared constantly, and for good reason — similar price bracket, similar level of high-street name recognition, both trading partly on “British” branding that’s more complicated than it first appears. Neither deserves to be dismissed for that, but it’s worth being honest about what you’re actually paying for with each.
The Manufacturing Reality
Mulberry has the stronger claim here. It’s the UK’s largest leather goods manufacturer, and around half of its bags are made across its two Somerset factories — a genuine, substantial domestic manufacturing footprint, even if it’s not the fully in-house model Tusting runs. Aspinal’s production is more dispersed: Spain, Turkey, and India depending on the design, with the brand’s origins in Ubrique, Spain rather than in-house English manufacturing at all. If domestic production specifically matters to you, Mulberry is the more honest “British-made” claim of the two.
The Business Health Question
This one flips the other way. Mulberry Group has been through a genuinely rocky patch financially — a £32.2m pre-tax loss in the year to March 2025, narrowed to £8.9m the following year, with a £20m shareholder loan helping shore things up along the way. The trend is currently positive, but it’s been a real turnaround story rather than a stable ride. Aspinal, while less transparent about its finances as a smaller private company, hasn’t had the same publicly visible distress.
The Design Question
Both lean toward classic, unfussy leather goods rather than anything experimental, and men’s ranges from both brands sit in similar territory — briefcases, totes, wash bags, backpacks, all in full-grain or grained leather. Mulberry’s design language carries more instant brand recognition, largely off the back of its womenswear icons; Aspinal reads as slightly more understated for men specifically.
The Verdict
Neither is a bad buy at their typical £400–£600 price point, and the honest answer is that quality between the two is closer than either brand’s marketing suggests. Pick Mulberry if UK manufacturing scale and instant brand recognition matter more to you than a spotless balance sheet. Pick Aspinal if you’d rather not think about where exactly your bag was made, and just want dependable full-grain leather at a fair price.