Small wonder the men's business at Henry Beguelin, the French understated-chic handbag maker with a new shop in the meatpacking district, has more than doubled in the last year.

Seven companies, ranging from a handbag maker to a financial printer, have pre-leased about 15 percent of the 960,000 square feet of renovated space spread over eight floors.

So what is a handbag maker doing atop the list?

Now it is fully occupied - by a carpentry shop, a furniture importer, a woman's handbag maker and a record-storage company, among others.

Marrot designs have since been used extensively under license by companies as diverse as Nike, Anthropologie and the handbag maker, Hayden-Harnett.

How, for example, can one keep price ceilings on shoes while decontrolling the price of handbags and permitting handbag makers to bid for scarce raw leather?

Soon, most of the nation's leather would find its way to the handbag makers, who would fill shops with their wares.

The exhibitors who come from around the country include painters, photographers, ceramicists, handbag makers, jewelry artists and woodworkers.

And traditional handbag makers are injecting more fun and fashion into their designs to appeal to a wider audience, while maintaining the quality which makes them so distinctive.

Smaller tenants, like the handbag makers Chinese Laundry, Hobo International and Barganza, value these clean, bright spaces because they work well as showrooms.