When you combine mischief with sophistication, what do you get? Handbags, of course. When the mischief gets carried away, well, then you'll find news articles printed on leather handbags. And those news articles are about talking rabbits.

"We're having so much fun with this," said Rebecca Hahs, who along with husband Gary Hahs created an accessory line that is taking the fashion industry by storm. "Before we began we did a lot of research looking at trends and the marketplace. Once we saw the niche, we went ahead full force."

The niche Ransom + Scout and Company fills is a quirky, new approach to handbags that appear not only in high-end shops but in museum gift stores as well. "Already we're getting reorders. Our first shipment went out in May. We're having a ball," Rebecca Hahs said. Being in the fashion industry may be a new venture for the Hahs, but being part of the business world is right up their alley.

For many years, Gary Hahs worked in marketing for Genesco, a national shoe retailer. "I thrive on the challenge and satisfaction of having new products. You can do everything right, but the consumer still has the final vote," he said. He also joined the management start-up team for EyeMasters, one of the nation's largest optical retailers. He directed the company's marketing efforts, including brand management, joint ventures, acquisitions and new store expansion plans.

Rebecca Hahs' background includes a bachelor's degree in business followed by stints in marketing with nationally known companies. Realizing her passion for art and design, she returned to school to earn a bachelor of fine arts in communication design. For more than 10 years, she focused on two-dimensional graphic design with her own award-winning company, Hahs Design.

In 2001, both wanting to change careers, they bought The Essential Guide to Santa Fe and Taos, which they owned for six years. Looking again for something new, Rebecca Hahs took a class at Santa Fe Clay. "I had to make a rabbit's head and loved it. I started taking pictures of it and knew I needed to do something with all this," she said.

Hahs says she loves bags and accessories and thought it might be fun to make up stories about the rabbits and print them as images on leather. "It was a wild idea, yet there wasn't anything out there like it. Now we're in 40 stores across the country and even in Johannesburg, South Africa," she said. She called a writer friend in L.A. to see what sort of stories he could come up with. Now Ransom, Scout Apollo and Truman get themselves into all kinds of jams and debates, and their stories are printed on the bags.

What's also fun about these bags is how they are made. They're designed in Santa Fe, the stories written in Los Angeles, the bags made of Italian leather in San Francisco, the pink tissue paper that comes with them printed in Canada, and the whole thing is put together — the stories printed and the bags assembled — in China.

"It's totally global. And our photographer is in Washington," Rebecca Hahs said. In Santa Fe, the bags are exclusively carried at Goler Shoes. Two locations in Albuquerque have the line.

Molly Massen, who works at Substance, a shop in Taos, says the Ransom + Scout bags are "fabulous." "I'm a native New Yorker and a shop-a-holic. I haven't seen anything with so much character in 20 years," Massen said. "Before I even knew they were in New Mexico, my sister found a bag and shipped one to me and said I had to have it. She was right."

Julie Huttunen owns a store in Denver and said, "We've already had to reorder. They are so unique. They're definitely something you can't find in the mall. And the story behind the bags is great, and the bags are in really cool shapes."

As with any business, especially one starting out, Rebecca Hahs says they are working 24/7 and making plans to expand to home products, stationery items and kid things. The bags retail for $45 up to $450.

"I'm so new at being in the fashion industry, it's just plain fun learning everything there is to learn," she said.