A love story, lost luggage, and the beginning of ADA Collection.
Partners in love and business. Gaston and me in an ADA handbag campaign photographed in Argentina.
ADA Collection’s story began with founder Ada Deferrari’s trip to Argentina before law school. In Buenos Aires, I met my future husband and business partner, Gaston, and connected with my first handbag producer. A realization while studying business law led me to pursue fashion, eventually moving from leather handbags to belts.
“Hey, I found your future husband. Get down here now!”
That was my best friend Agnieszka, calling me from Argentina in a joyful panic.
I was in Costa Rica, traveling after college and taking a year off before law school. I had a plan. Apparently, my best friend had one for me, too.
The night before, she and her fiancé had run into two of his friends and ended up having drinks together. One of them was Gaston. After talking with him, she decided there was someone he needed to meet: me.
He played tennis. He was funny and witty. He had even spent a semester in Santa Barbara, where I had gone to university. According to Agnieszka, he was already calling dibs on meeting me.
The call was half teasing, half serious. But Argentina was already on my travel radar, and I had the time.
So I went.
Lost luggage, found leather
When I arrived in Argentina, my suitcase did not.
The airline gave me a stipend to get by for a few days. I ended up spending it on a leather handbag and a pair of shoes. Perhaps that tells you something about where my priorities—and my future—were heading.
At the time, I was simply buying things I loved. I had no idea that the store would connect me to the factory that would produce my first handbags, setting me on the path to what eventually became ADA Collection.
Then came the other introduction.
On one of my first nights in Argentina—Valentine’s Day, as it happened—Gaston asked me out on our first date.
Within those first days, I had met the man who would become my husband and business partner, and discovered the place that would lead me to my first producer.
Of course, I didn’t know any of that yet.
A second date with conditions
Our second date was on a tennis court.
I told Gaston he could have another date only if he beat me in a set.
Well, you know how that ended. But he says I put up an impressive fight. I’m keeping that part on the record.
As we got to know each other, I was also getting to know Buenos Aires. I enrolled in business law classes at the University of Buenos Aires, still exploring the future I thought I wanted.
But the more I learned, the more I realized that my strongest interest was in building a business.
How did the idea for ADA Collection begin?
The moment I remember most clearly happened on a bus ride home after class.
As the bus pulled away from Plaza de Mayo, I looked out the window and felt something come over me. The message in my head and heart was unmistakable: I would start a business in fashion and leave the law school plan behind.
It felt so real that I listened.
The next day, I went back to the store where I had bought my handbag and shoes and asked for the contact information for their factory.
I called. Somehow, I got a meeting. And soon I was on another bus, this time heading to my first handbag factory to meet Natalio.
I was 21, asking to buy handbag samples. I can imagine he had a few questions about how serious I was. But he was kind, and he took a chance on me.
That meeting gave me somewhere to begin.
The Portafino, from my handbag-design days. My love of suede continues in our belts today.
Explore our suede belt collection
Learning a new kind of partnership
The relationship with that first factory wasn’t always smooth. There was a lot to learn, and having a local boyfriend who could help with negotiations made a difference.
I already spoke Spanish. When my family moved from Poland to California, my parents enrolled my brothers and me in Spanish lessons, giving me a foundation I would later be very grateful for.
But Buenos Aires had another lesson waiting: porteño Spanish, with its own expressions, rhythms, and that wonderful Italian-sounding accent.
Gaston helped me navigate those conversations. He already had a business of his own, and he was a strong negotiator. I cared deeply about the designs, the feel of the leather, and how a woman would use each bag. He helped me work toward prices that made beautiful leather more accessible.
We discovered that we worked well together.
Some of our dates became factory visits. Sometimes he came back to California with me and met the boutique owners who were becoming my customers.
Our relationship and the business grew alongside each other.
Why did I start designing handbags—and later belts?
From the beginning, I wanted to solve problems.
I loved soft, supple leather. But I also thought about the details that make a handbag useful: inside and outside pockets, compartments, and straps that sit at the right length for the woman wearing them.
I wanted someone to reach for her bag because she loved how it looked and because it made her day a little easier.
Beautiful leather, with pockets that earned their place. This whiskey shade was part of our handbag story—and you can wear the color today in our Whiskey Wrap Belt.
Back in California, I brought products to handbag parties hosted by a friend. She, her sisters, and their friends helped me edit the designs. Their feedback helped shape the finished products.
Those gatherings taught me to listen to the women who would actually wear what I made.
As I shared in my previous story, eventually a handbag strap became a belt. The product changed, but that instinct stayed with me: pay attention, notice what could work better, and create something beautiful that helps.
Handbags and belts, sharing the spotlight. A little pink at the waist makes a black dress feel completely different.
How Gaston became my husband and business partner
A few years later, in August 2006, Gaston and I married.
We continued building the business together, pouring our love and energy into it as we built our life together, too.
Today, Gaston has another company and plays more of a consulting role at ADA. But helping people, solving problems, and bringing value to what we do remain at the heart of both our work.
When I think back to that trip, I think of Agnieszka’s phone call, the missing suitcase, a Valentine’s date, and the bus pulling away from Plaza de Mayo.
I went to Argentina during a break before law school. I came away with a different future: a career in fashion, the beginning of a business, and the man I would share my life with.
And yes, I’m still glad he won that tennis match.
—Ada
Every ADA design starts with the same question: how can this make getting dressed a little easier—and more beautiful?
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