Sorry, I should clarify again. As Ceejay points out, there *are* city bags in calf skin. But they are usually limited editions (as the ones she showed). "Typically" the city bags are lambskin or goat skin. Depending on the retail site you are looking at, I have seen them describe lambskin bags as calf skin in error (I seem to remember this happening on the Barney's site, but I'm not sure, it was most likely Neimans because they're such slobs with their descriptions.) They are also variously referred to as "arena" leather, "crinkled," and something along the lines of "glossy".
I'm guessing the bags you were referring to were the classic agneau (lamb) bags. All bags after 2007 have been lamb skin (with exceptions like the ones deejay mentions). From (roughly) 2003 - 2007 the bags were very soft chevre (goat) leather. Prior to 2003 the bags came in several iterations including boar, calf and goat.
In about 2013 Balenciaga reintroduced a line of chevre bags in their Holiday collection. You'll hear them referred to as Holiday Hamilton bags or just Hamilton. These were a soft matte pebbled goat skin that had more structure than the "fully collapsible" lamb skin, and were yet again different from the chevre of old, which acted just like the lamb in it's "collapsible," not structured nature.
After the Holiday Hamitons got quickly gobbled up, Balenciaga introduced the Metal Edge chevre bags, which are similar to the holiday hamilton except the leather is shinier and the hardware has the metallic edging to it. These are also more structured than the standard lamb skin, and are still in production in a lot of really beautiful colors.
And then there is the papier line, which is always calf. Of course there are exceptions even to this rule, as they've done some papier bags in wool and other fabrics. But as a general rule, those are calf.
I find both types of bag (chevre and agneau) to be durable. But if you want a bit more structure with your durability, I would investigate the new metal edge chevre bags, (or scour the resale market for a Holiday hamilton, which are fairly rare to find).
I own one ME chevre bag: it is black with silver and it is hands down the bag that I have to baby the least. Rain wipes right off, it holds it's shape beautifully without being too "suitcase like" and I don't worry about handles or setting it down. The only thing I'm mindful of is making sure the corners don't rub against anything abrasive so the don't get deeply scuffed.
Sorry to be verbose, but I Hope that helps!
Thank you !!!!
