Pure Sage

Lee Flanagan graduated from Georgetown University armed with a degree in Economics and embarked on running her family business, which manufactured surgical needles. From grandmother to mother to daughter, Lee would be the third generation of women to run and own a manufacturing company. The lessons she learned from her mother and grandmother- hard work, resilience and, most importantly, the self-confidence to be a great businesswoman in a male-dominated industry- were invaluable. Years later, while pursuing a Masters of Public Administration degree at Columbia University, Lee focused on Social Entrepreneurship, where the idea that a company could be financially successful while also having a positive environmental impact appealed to both her ingrained business sense and her commitment to environmentalism. Lee was initially introduced to the reusable bag market as an Angel Investor for a female owned and operated company and, in the long days of the pandemic, Lee's research discovered that there were limited options in the high-fashion, high-quality reusable bag space. In 2002 Pure Sage was born. The mission was simple: design, manufacture, and sell beautiful bags that would feel great and inspire consumers who are trying to live more sustainably but who do not want to give up their sense of style.