In conversation, as in design, Alison Lloyd has little time for fripperies. Sitting on a bare, wooden bench inside her first shop in Shoreditch, she wastes few words when asked about starting her successful bags and accessories brand, Ally Capellino. “It wasn’t a very conscious decision. I thought I’d try making a bag on my kitchen table at home and it looked okay. So I made another one. And somehow, I was in business,” she says. “Maybe I was lucky because accessories, then, sort of boomed.”

“Then” was 2000, when Lloyd restructured the clothing business she’d started in 1980 to focus on bags. It was a ballsy move given her brand’s financial struggles at the time, and the fact that the major luxury houses were slugging it out in the ferocious battle of the “It” bag. “I’m quite practical and was entrepreneurial from a young age. I was selling and taking orders for pairs of trousers from the boys in my class when I was fifteen!”

Her popular waxed cotton, canvas and leather bags are a lot like their maker – modest, resilient and modern. The handsome satchels and rucksacks are all about utilitarian and minimalist finesse, with a rugged simplicity that makes them practical and versatile – the “anti-It bag”, if you will.

The same goes for her recent cycling-bag collaboration with Tokyobikes (available until this August), in which she reworked her signature “Frances” backpack using cycle-friendly additions such as a proofed nylon exterior, reflective strips and loops for cycle lights. “The bags are cute and don’t look like heavy-duty messenger bags. But on the other hand, they have quite a lot of space in them, so it really does what you need,” she says. “I think Tokyobikes and Ally Capellino customers are sort of urban cyclists. They don’t wear lycra pants – they are more go-to-work-and-cycle-around sort of people, so that’s probably how the bags will get used.”

And Lloyd herself should know. “I cycle every day, just from home to work, which is two miles. I’m not somebody who goes to Brighton and kills herself and has a sore bum, though!”

Having focused on bags and accessories for more than 15 years, the designer says she’d like to make clothes again. “When we started out, we were so much more naïve. We had no idea what a collection was,” she reminisces. “But I really miss clothes and so do a lot of my customers. People come in say, ‘Oh, I’ve still got one of your so-and-so and I still wear it and I still fit in it.”

True to form, Lloyd’s re-start in clothing was small and humble, with a wool coat she made for Autumn/Winter 2015. Her Spring/Summer 2016 collection has three pieces of outerwear including a mac and a light, transparent jacket with an aluminium layer inside that reflects heat. “I like being inspired by materials, whether that’s wool, a clear plastic, wood or metal.”

I ask whether she plans to expand her clothing line more in the future. “I think so. We’ve done some knitwear for next season.” “Your Spring/Summer 2016 collection looks cool!” I say. “Collection? It’s just three pieces.” And with a quick wave of her hand and a smile, she hops on her bike to her next appointment.

Interview by Jainnie Cho