The Postbox is a Chennai bag and accessories label run by Hourglass Design Private Limited, an unlisted private company incorporated in Tamil Nadu on 29 June 2016. It sells leather and nylon-canvas bags on its own website, thepostbox.in, and from a store in T. Nagar, Chennai.
Its product pages name the company as both manufacturer and marketer. Its About page says the bags are “made in India with partners”. Its leather is described as “certified”, and its warranty is worded in two ways on different pages. This page sets out what each page says, with the dates they were read.
The Postbox is an Indian brand, run by its own Chennai company, with India printed as the country of origin on every product page read. No parent company is named anywhere, and an angel group invested in 2016. Its bags sold for ₹4,499 to ₹11,650 on its own site on 22 September 2026, and its product pages describe leather and REACH-certified nylon canvas.
Snapshot
- Company
- Hourglass Design Private Limited, CIN U52601TN2016PTC111204, registered office Nungambakkam, Chennai
- Incorporated
- 29 June 2016; the brand itself launched in September 2014, per YourStory and Inc42
- Founders
- Madhuvanthi Senthil Kumar and Nikhil Joseph, per Inc42 and YourStory
- Parent company
- None named in any document read
- Paid-up capital
- ₹2,45,480, per three register mirrors
- Declared country of origin
- India, on the four product pages read on 22 September 2026
- Price band in India
- Mid-range — four bags on thepostbox.in at ₹4,499 to ₹11,650, median ₹5,050, 22 September 2026
- Myntra brand listing
- No brand filter found, 22 September 2026
Who owns The Postbox
The site’s own documents settle who runs it. The Terms of Service, the “More Information” page and every product page read on 22 September 2026 name Hourglass Design Private Limited, at No 7, Velayudham Street, Nungambakkam, Chennai. The register mirrors spell the street “Velayutham”; it is the same address.
The company’s identity number reads the way a home-grown business should. U means unlisted, TN is Tamil Nadu, 2016 is the year, and PTC marks an ordinary private company rather than the FTC a foreign subsidiary carries. Zauba Corp, The Company Check and Tofler all give the status as active and the paid-up capital as ₹2,45,480 — two lakh forty-five thousand rupees, not a missing digit.
The founders, according to Inc42 in December 2016 and YourStory in January 2017, are Madhuvanthi Senthil Kumar and Nikhil Joseph. BW Retail World named Nikhil Joseph as founder in May 2026. Register mirrors list Nikhil Joseph as a director since incorporation.
The only outside money on record came early. The Chennai Angels’ own portfolio page lists The Postbox as active and “Funded 2016, Chennai”, with no amount. Inc42 reported in December 2016 an undisclosed sum from The Chennai Angels, Ritesh Mehta and Aruna Ganesh Ram, and YourStory later added bridge funding from R Ramaraj, the Sify founder. No company release and no later round were found.
No document read gives the company’s shareholding. We tag The Postbox Independent because no parent or controlling investor is named anywhere; an angel stake is a minority holding, not ownership.
A generic name, and two traps inside it
“Postbox” is an ordinary word that other registered businesses also carry, so the brand is best identified by its domain, thepostbox.in, and by the company its terms name.
The second trap sits in the operator’s own name. Hourglass Design Private Limited of Chennai is not The Hour Glass, the watch retailer listed in Singapore. The two share a phrase and nothing else on the record.
The brand is also older than the company that runs it. It began as an online platform, then turned to its own products, and only then was the company formed.
- Sep 2014The platform launches, per YourStory and Inc42
- May 2015Moves from selling others’ goods to its own products
- Jun 2016Hourglass Design Private Limited incorporated in Chennai
- Jul 2016Five trade marks filed in the company’s name
- 2026An Experience Store in T. Nagar, Chennai, listed on the site
No document read says who ran the brand before June 2016.
YourStory, 19 January 2017; Inc42, 24 December 2016; register mirrors; QuickCompany trade-mark mirror; thepostbox.in, read 22 September 2026.
The trade marks, as the QuickCompany mirror of the register carries them, were all filed by Hourglass Design on 26 July 2016. The one covering bags, in class 18, is a “T P B” device mark, shown as registered. The words “THE POST BOX” are registered only in class 35, which covers retail services. Class 25, clothing, carries a “TPB” device mark, also registered.
Who makes The Postbox’s bags
Three sources speak to this, each in its own terms.
The product pages for the Rye, Toba, Pondi and Caravan bags, read on 22 September 2026, print “Manufacturer & Marketed: Hourglass Design Private Limited” with the Nungambakkam address and “Country of Origin: India”. That is the statutory declaration, which names the company legally answerable for the goods; under Indian packaging rules that can be a company that has the goods made for it.
The About page, read the same day, says: “Our products are made in India with partners who have been audited for REACH & LWG standards.” REACH is the European Union’s chemicals regulation; LWG is the Leather Working Group, which rates tanneries. In a BW Retail World interview published on 4 May 2026, the founder said: “We manufacture in India, often alongside global brands, using the same teams and standards.” No partner or factory is named on any page read or in the interview.
Hourglass Design is the company named on the product page; the About page says the bags are made in India with audited partners.
History adds a dated fourth reading. YourStory reported in January 2017 that the products were then made in Puducherry, Pochampally, Kolkata and Jaipur by about 300 artisans. That was nine years ago, and nothing read says whether it still holds.
What the leather and canvas claims rest on
The Postbox sells on materials, so we read its Features page, its Contact & FAQ page, its About page and four product pages on 22 September 2026, and set each claim beside what is named with it.
| Claim, in the brand’s words | Where | Certifier or test house named |
|---|---|---|
| “We use genuine nappa leathers” | Contact & FAQ and Features pages | None |
| “Our leathers are sourced from factories that follow REACH & LWG Standards” | Features page | No tannery and no LWG rating named |
| “Premium Certified Genuine Pebbled Leather” | Toba Crossbody, ₹5,350 | None |
| “Premium, environmentally certified leather”; “Hydro-treated nappa leathers” | Caravan Cross Body Sling, ₹4,750 | None; “hydro-treated” is not defined |
| “custom REACH-certified, WR coated nylon canvas, sourced from Germany” | Pondi Backpack 2.0 | None; no water-resistance rating given |
| “All our leather comes from Leather Working Group-rated factories — both silver and gold” | Founder, BW Retail World, 4 May 2026 | No tannery named; not on the site pages read |
thepostbox.in pages read 22 September 2026; BW Retail World, 4 May 2026.
The word “certified” appears on two product pages, and neither names who did the certifying. The LWG ratings — silver and gold — appear in the founder’s interview, not on the site. None of the pages read says whether the leather is chrome or vegetable tanned.
On the canvas, the Pondi page says the canvas is “sourced from Germany”. The founder told BW Retail World the brand works with a German canvas company that has a unit in Noida. The brand calls the fabric “cordura canvas” and files it under a collection named “100% Canvas / Leather Free”. It does not use the word “vegan” on the pages read, and it does not describe the canvas as PU.
Beyond the canvas, there is no foreign-origin wording. The name is English, the About page says “made in India”, and every product page read says “Country of Origin: India”. No design-city or heritage claim appears.
The Postbox warranty, as published
The homepage names no warranty term. Three other kinds of page do, in two wordings.
The Contact & FAQ page and the Features page say: “We have a 1 year warranty on hardware used on your product from the date of purchase.” The Toba page, like the Rye, Pondi and Caravan pages, says: “Postbox products have a one-year warranty from defects in hardware from the original date of purchase when used under normal conditions and for the purpose intended.”
The warranty page itself reads: “Our products are covered by a 1 year warranty from the day they were purchased, and when used under normal conditions for the purpose intended.” It warns against overstuffing and against carrying sharp objects. Three kinds of page say hardware; the warranty page says products. The site’s terms add that “we will not be responsible to compensate for any damages” arising from manufacturing processes or from differences between the website’s descriptions and the item received.
The return window is seven days from delivery, according to the “More Information” page. Anyone buying a leather bag for the leather should ask, before paying, whether a claim on the leather itself falls inside the year.
What The Postbox costs in India
The Postbox has no foreign site. The founder told BW Retail World the brand has “no immediate international expansion plans”, so there is no home-market price to set against the Indian one, and no import duty sits in the price of a bag made in India. The comparison that matters is across its own range.
| Bag on thepostbox.in | Material, in the brand’s words | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rye Backpack, Black, 20L | Genuine pebbled nappa leather | ₹11,650 | “Regular price”; no separate MRP shown |
| Toba Crossbody, Black | “Premium Certified Genuine Pebbled Leather” | ₹5,350 | Shown as the MRP |
| Caravan Cross Body Sling, Dark Tan | “environmentally certified” nappa | ₹4,750 | Sold out |
| Pondi Backpack 2.0, Charcoal | Nylon “cordura canvas” | ₹4,499; variants up to ₹5,899 | All variants sold out |
thepostbox.in product pages, read 22 September 2026. The pages state prices are “Inclusive of all taxes”.
The price band here is Mid-range. It is computed from those four prices, read on the brand’s own site on 22 September 2026: the median is ₹5,050, and three of the four sit between ₹2,000 and ₹8,000. The Rye leather backpack, at ₹11,650, is the exception and falls in the Premium band.
The same day, the site ran a banner offering a flat 10% off orders above ₹3,500 from 22 to 24 September 2026. The four product pages showed no crossed-out comparison price; the Toba page shows its selling price as the MRP.
The Postbox is not a Myntra brand. A search for “the postbox” on Myntra on 22 September 2026 surfaced no brand filter of that name. For a buyer, that means the brand’s own site and its Chennai store are the places a Postbox bag is sold by the company that makes the declaration.
Authenticity and the site
The homepage, About, Contact & FAQ, Features, Terms, More Information and warranty pages, and four product pages, read on 22 September 2026, publish no verification code, hologram, QR code, serial lookup or list of authorised sellers. Such lists do exist: Casio India’s authorised online seller page, read the same day, names its sellers by company.
The site gives the company’s name and address, and its CIN is on the public register, so a buyer can match it to the name on the product page.
Read the declaration
A genuine product page names Hourglass Design Private Limited, Nungambakkam, as manufacturer, with India as the country of origin.
Buy from the brand
The brand has no Myntra brand listing. A “Postbox” bag sold elsewhere should be checked against thepostbox.in before you pay.
Ask what the warranty covers
Three pages say hardware and one says products. Get the answer for your bag in writing.
Who The Postbox is actually for
The Postbox suits a buyer who wants a mid-priced leather or canvas bag from a small Chennai company that names itself on every product page and sells direct. The prices are printed plainly, with no inflated MRP beside them, and the brand dates to 2014.
It suits less well a buyer who wants a named certifier or tannery printed on the product page, or one who wants a written full-product warranty, since the product pages describe a one-year hardware warranty. Anyone weighing it against the larger Indian bag makers we have audited — VIP Industries, Safari, Skybags or Wildcraft — is looking at a far smaller operation, with a paid-up capital of ₹2,45,480.
Common questions
Is The Postbox an Indian brand?
Yes. It is run by Hourglass Design Private Limited, incorporated in Chennai on 29 June 2016, and its product pages read on 22 September 2026 give India as the country of origin.
Who owns The Postbox?
Hourglass Design Private Limited, an unlisted private company with no parent named anywhere. The Chennai Angels invested in 2016, amount undisclosed. No document read gives its shareholding.
Is The Postbox the same as The Hour Glass?
No. Hourglass Design Private Limited is a Chennai bag company. The Hour Glass is a watch retailer listed in Singapore, and nothing on the record connects them.
Is The Postbox leather certified?
Two product pages call the leather “certified” but name no certifier. The founder told BW Retail World in May 2026 that the leather comes from LWG-rated factories, silver and gold; the site pages read name no tannery or rating.
What does The Postbox warranty cover?
The product, FAQ and Features pages say one year on hardware. The warranty page says “Our products are covered by a 1 year warranty”. Ask which applies before you buy.
Can I buy The Postbox on Myntra?
No brand listing of that name appeared on Myntra on 22 September 2026. The brand sells through thepostbox.in and its store in T. Nagar, Chennai.
References
- thepostbox.in, Terms of Service, read 22 September 2026 — Hourglass Design Private Limited as operator, address, the damages clause
- thepostbox.in, About, read 22 September 2026 — “made in India with partners who have been audited for REACH & LWG standards”
- thepostbox.in, Features and Contact & FAQ, read 22 September 2026 — genuine nappa, REACH and LWG sourcing line, one-year hardware warranty
- thepostbox.in, warranty page, read 22 September 2026 — “Our products are covered by a 1 year warranty”
- thepostbox.in, More Information, read 22 September 2026 — operator named, seven-day return window
- Toba Crossbody, Rye Backpack, Pondi Backpack 2.0 and Caravan Cross Body Sling, read 22 September 2026 — prices, manufacturer and origin declaration, material wording, product-page warranty
- thepostbox.in, cordura canvas collection, read 22 September 2026 — “100% Canvas / Leather Free”
- thepostbox.in homepage, read 22 September 2026 — the 10% banner for 22 to 24 September, no warranty term, Experience Store listing
- Zauba Corp, Hourglass Design Private Limited — CIN, incorporation date, status, capital, director (register mirror)
- The Company Check, Hourglass Design Private Limited — status and capital (register mirror)
- Tofler, Hourglass Design Private Limited — status and capital (register mirror)
- QuickCompany, Hourglass Design Private Limited — the five trade marks filed 26 July 2016 (register mirror)
- The Chennai Angels, portfolio, read 22 September 2026 — The Postbox listed as active, “Funded 2016, Chennai”
- Inc42, 24 December 2016 — founders, September 2014 launch, undisclosed angel round and its investors
- YourStory, 19 January 2017 — founders, launch, May 2015 move to own products, 2017 making locations and artisans, bridge funding from R Ramaraj
- BW Retail World, 4 May 2026 — the founder on manufacturing, LWG ratings, the German canvas supplier in Noida, international plans
- Myntra search for “the postbox”, 22 September 2026 — no brand filter for The Postbox
- Casio India, authorised online sellers, read 22 September 2026 — a brand-published list of named sellers
What is good about The Postbox is how plainly it sells. Its own Chennai company is named on every product page read, India is the declared origin, and the prices are the prices — ₹4,499 to ₹11,650 on 22 September 2026, with no inflated MRP beside them. For a Mid-range bag bought direct from the company that answers for it, that is a clean arrangement.
Read the material and warranty lines closely. The site describes the leather as “certified” and “environmentally certified”, the founder has described LWG silver- and gold-rated sources in a press interview, and the About page says the bags are made with audited partners. The warranty is one year on “hardware” on the FAQ, Features and product pages, and on “products” on the warranty page, so ask which applies to your bag.
A plainly priced Chennai label, worth buying for the bag itself around its ₹5,050 median.
