Introducing the Stella Ryder bag,
our new vegan icon
A mastery of cruelty-free craftsmanship, the Stella Ryder’s sculptural silhouette honours the strength, beauty and power of Stella’s favourite animal – the horse. The campaign is photographed on Sarah Snook.
For a limited time only, receive a collector’s edition of the Stella Times newspaper with your Stella Ryder bag. A digital version is available to download here.
The value of the international feather trade is estimated to be worth as much as $8.3M USD.
Sarah Snook,
our new Stella Star
Sarah Snook is Stella McCartney’s Stella Ryder campaign star, photographed in nature alongside horses. The Australian actor is best known for her award-winning portrayal of Shiv Roy on Succession. In 2024, she won an Olivier Award for her one-woman, sold-out run in The Picture of Dorian Gray on London’s West End, which she will be bringing to New York City’s Broadway in March 2025.
"This season, I was really fascinated by birds; their magnitude, their magnificence and their ability to fly high above us all, looking down with a completely different perspective. They have always been so incredibly fascinating, beautiful and spectacular; they are not like any other creatures on earth. At Stella McCartney, we don't kill any animals, and we certainly don't use birds for their feathers. Summer 2025 celebrates birds; their life and their right to live in harmony with us." X Stella
Cruelty-Free Craftsmanship
Each Stella Ryder begins with hand-cut panels of our soft vegan alternatives to leather – stitched together and shaped into the bag’s curved silhouette using a wooden mould, finished with a functional lock in glimmering brass. Every icon is crafted by human hands in Italy with love, and without harming a single creature.
The number of wild birds in Britain has fallen by 73 million since 1970.
Next-Gen Innovation
Blending sophistication and sustainability, the Stella Ryder’s body is handcrafted using a cruelty-free leather alternative made using recycled materials, with handles and trims in grape-based VEGEA and a lining in organic hemp – a naturally renewable plant-based fibre. Our Summer 2025 runway show debuted a world-first silver metallic edition, crafted from Hydefy; a cruelty-free material made from fungal micro-organisms blended with sugar cane derivatives.
Ostrich feathers are the most used of all wild bird feathers in the fashion industry, with an estimate of over one million birds being killed each year.
The Summer 2025 collection reimagines codes of power, sensuality and sport in tactile fabrics and soft shades, punctuated by red and sky tones. Focal is the new Ryder bag, with a curved shape mirroring a horse’s back – a nod to Stella’s favourite animal, crafted in vegan materials. As always, the collection is free from leather, feathers, fur and exotic skins. New innovations include the first-ever handbag crafted from Hydefy, a fungi-based vegan alternative to leather, cloud knits spun from PEEKABOO recycled nylon yarn and garments in Kelsun™️, a seaweed-based textile available commercially in luxury for the first time. Wearable dove sculptures are carved in gold and silver repurposing electronic and medical waste, created in collaboration with 886 by The Royal Mint.
The Summer 2025 collection is available to shop in Stella McCartney boutiques globally, at stellamccartney.com and in selected retailers worldwide now.
