Am I being too picky?

[880]

But is it unreasonable to expect uniform quilting?

These bags are not bespoke, hand crafted. According to several professional bespoke leather artisans, chanel does not even use top grade leather. With chanel bags, I personally prefer lambskin or aged calf to caviar pebbled
leather. I was told once that Hermes epsom leather is essentially smooth leather that didn’t make top grade and was subsequently embossed. So, I kind of conflate caviar leather with H epsom.

I was primarily a chanel bag person, from 1990, gifted by my mom, to 2008, when I switched to Hermes. My older chanel bags were not perfect either. Most Hermes bags are not bespoke, and some stitching and hides are not perfect. Buy a chanel or Hermes bag because you love it, but don’t expect perfection. OT, I do have one bespoke bag (Duret), and you can see the difference: every stitch is perfect; every corner is perfect; and I was personally able to select one of three top quality hides.

 

[bagsaremyjam]

These bags are not bespoke, hand crafted. According to several professional bespoke leather artisans, chanel does not even use top grade leather. With chanel bags, I personally prefer lambskin or aged calf to caviar pebbled
leather. I was told once that Hermes epsom leather is essentially smooth leather that didn’t make top grade and was subsequently embossed. So, I kind of conflate caviar leather with H epsom.

I was primarily a chanel bag person, from 1990, gifted by my mom, to 2008, when I switched to Hermes. My older chanel bags were not perfect either. Most Hermes bags are not bespoke, and some stitching and hides are not perfect. Buy a chanel or Hermes bag because you love it, but don’t expect perfection. OT, I do have one bespoke bag (Duret), and you can see the difference: every stitch is perfect; every corner is perfect; and I was personally able to select one of three top quality hides.

Not sure who you’re speaking to, but I personally know someone who was an Hermes artisan. Chanel and Hermes are handcrafted. They may not be “bespoke” to the degree that clients are picking everything out from beginning to end, but let’s not take away from the artisans that do hand craft these bags.

 

[880]

Not sure who you’re speaking to, but I personally know someone who was an Hermes artisan. Chanel and Hermes are handcrafted. They may not be “bespoke” to the degree that clients are picking everything out from beginning to end, but let’s not take away from the artisans that do hand craft these bags.

I was indirectly and perhaps clumsily referring to @Tina1010 ’s comment (whether it’s too much to ask that quilting on a CF be uniform). Of course, in an ideal world, quilted stitching should be uniform. It is clear that they are not. I will also say that even in my earliest bags from 1990, purchased new from the boutique by my mom, were not uniformly quilted either. One of my bags from the 1990s, a belt bag, also had a manufacturers defect in its hardware that required me to take it back to 57th st numerous times, so I don’t necessarily believe, as many others do, that chanel today is of significantly lower quality (I know that is an unpopular viewpoint, as well as my preference for lambskin over caviar).

Several bespoke leather artisans (one of whom had previously trained Hermes artisans) have told me that many chanel and Hermes bags are not hand stitched (in the strictest sense, in that they are made by machine, also see the link below). Parts of a CF are hand assembled, but I was referring to items entirely made by hand, by a single artisan. I was not referring to full custom or bespoke design available with Hermes Special command or Horizons projects.

I also did not mean to denigrate any leather artisan or criticize machine stitching with respect to hand stitching. In fact, some of my favorite chanel (so black mini chevron reissue) and Hermes (mini Della cavalleria) bags are machine stitched. I am also starting to purchase chanel bags again after a long hiatus of many years. Do I think machine stitched chanel bags are worth their current, eye watering, retail price? My answer would be, only if you absolutely adore one enough to overlook its flaws. As I am no leather expert myself, when I refer to highest quality hand stitching, I am simply comparing my own entirely hand stitched duret bag (no machine work whatsoever) to my current collection of kelly sellier and Birkin bags, not to CFs. Apples to apples.

JMO, from what I have been told, and of course YMMV

enclosed is a link to an article about the ‘hand crafted’ and machine sewn aspects of chanel bags

Are Chanel Bags Hand Made? — Collecting Luxury

As the prices are SOARING at the house of Chanel, are these hand bags even hand made? Well the answer is YES & NO. There are some parts to making a Chanel bag that takes labor from the hands to do, i.e. tightening metal closures, lightly hammering some pieces into proper place and of cours

www.collectingluxury.com

ETA:
also a thread on Duret, whose artisan owner is arguably the pickiest bag person I have ever met

Duret bag

My journey for an exotic bag started a couple years ago. I spent enough time on my research. I found loads of information on this forum and I am very thankful two ladies Tracey SH and 880 who helped me enormously in this journey. The bag that appealed to me was on the Duret site. I liked her...

forum.purseblog.com

returning to the question: am I being too picky. IDK. For me, a bag purchase is more emotional than practical, so I think I’m actually somewhat blind to issues that may be flaws to others. I just feel that they are individual to the bag I love. So, I would say to @Tina1010 , you know if you love it enough to overlook flaws, or if you are willing to let it go, even if it means you may not find another of the same.

 

[Tina1010]

I was indirectly and perhaps clumsily referring to @Tina1010 ’s comment (whether it’s too much to ask that quilting on a CF be uniform). Of course, in an ideal world, quilted stitching should be uniform. It is clear that they are not. I will also say that even in my earliest bags from 1990, purchased new from the boutique by my mom, were not uniformly quilted either. One of my bags from the 1990s, a belt bag, also had a manufacturers defect in its hardware that required me to take it back to 57th st numerous times, so I don’t necessarily believe, as many others do, that chanel today is of significantly lower quality (I know that is an unpopular viewpoint, as well as my preference for lambskin over caviar).

Several bespoke leather artisans (one of whom had previously trained Hermes artisans) have told me that many chanel and Hermes bags are not hand stitched (in the strictest sense, in that they are made by machine, also see the link below). Parts of a CF are hand assembled, but I was referring to items entirely made by hand, by a single artisan. I was not referring to full custom or bespoke design available with Hermes Special command or Horizons projects.

I also did not mean to denigrate any leather artisan or criticize machine stitching with respect to hand stitching. In fact, some of my favorite chanel (so black mini chevron reissue) and Hermes (mini Della cavalleria) bags are machine stitched. I am also starting to purchase chanel bags again after a long hiatus of many years. Do I think machine stitched chanel bags are worth their current, eye watering, retail price? My answer would be, only if you absolutely adore one enough to overlook its flaws. As I am no leather expert myself, when I refer to highest quality hand stitching, I am simply comparing my own entirely hand stitched duret bag (no machine work whatsoever) to my current collection of kelly sellier and Birkin bags, not to CFs. Apples to apples.

JMO, from what I have been told, and of course YMMV

enclosed is a link to an article about the ‘hand crafted’ and machine sewn aspects of chanel bags

Are Chanel Bags Hand Made? — Collecting Luxury

As the prices are SOARING at the house of Chanel, are these hand bags even hand made? Well the answer is YES & NO. There are some parts to making a Chanel bag that takes labor from the hands to do, i.e. tightening metal closures, lightly hammering some pieces into proper place and of cours

www.collectingluxury.com

ETA:
also a thread on Duret, whose artisan owner is arguably the pickiest bag person I have ever met

Duret bag

My journey for an exotic bag started a couple years ago. I spent enough time on my research. I found loads of information on this forum and I am very thankful two ladies Tracey SH and 880 who helped me enormously in this journey. The bag that appealed to me was on the Duret site. I liked her...

forum.purseblog.com

returning to the question: am I being too picky. IDK. For me, a bag purchase is more emotional than practical, so I think I’m actually somewhat blind to issues that may be flaws to others. I just feel that they are individual to the bag I love.

Hi! Thank you for all this insight. This was most definitely an emotional purchase for me, not at all a practical one. This probably will be the only classic I am able to purchase, so that's why I am even more invested in the quality of the piece I hope to make mine someday. The problem with my bag was not the stitching itself, it looked perfect as far as I could tell, but that the pieces of leather selected to put that purse together did not really belong together imo. They even felt different to the touch as I could feel the grains on the bottom half but not at all on the top half. Lets say you were buying a luxury watch and the material on both straps were clearly different, would you buy it? Or if a car was assembled with a variation of paint, would it be acceptable? I feel this piece wasn't given the thought it deserved or they hoped no one will notice. Probably a lot of people might not notice but I did because I really care about what might be the only CF I'll ever own. I've looked at about 7-8 pieces now and this was the first time I noted the mismatched quilting.

With this post, I was hoping to learn about the flaws that you all chose to accept, just to get a sense of how picky I am.. because I'm truly not trying to be difficult and make it hard for the SA. I just want a bag that I can always admire and feel that the money was well spent without having to compromise on quality.

 

[880]

This bag went back today .. I'm sad but also relieved. I don't want to have doubts as this is my dream bag and I want it to be as close to perfect as possible. The SA at first didn't really get what I was talking about but when I showed her the bag she noticed right away and understood why I am returning. I also checked out 2 brand new bags at NM, the construction of the bags was excellent, but they were quite dull in color and quilting was basically flat so I declined. I am not making a rush decision again!

Thank you all. I've learned so much about chanel over the last month that now I feel I know enough to make a right decision next time! Hopefully I can get one before the next price increase.

I just saw this and I think you made the right decision. Also, it helps your SA judge your taste and level in terms of what to expect in the future And, if you feel this way about chanel, I think you would be horrified at some of the exotic mismatched panels on some bags at Dior.

 

[bagsaremyjam]

Hi! Thank you for all this insight. This was most definitely an emotional purchase for me, not at all a practical one. This probably will be the only classic I am able to purchase, so that's why I am even more invested in the quality of the piece I hope to make mine someday. The problem with my bag was not the stitching itself, it looked perfect as far as I could tell, but that the pieces of leather selected to put that purse together did not really belong together imo. They even felt different to the touch as I could feel the grains on the bottom half but not at all on the top half. Lets say you were buying a luxury watch and the material on both straps were clearly different, would you buy it? Or if a car was assembled with a variation of paint, would it be acceptable? I feel this piece wasn't given the thought it deserved or they hoped no one will notice. Probably a lot of people might not notice but I did because I really care about what might be the only CF I'll ever own. I've looked at about 7-8 pieces now and this was the first time I noted the mismatched quilting.

With this post, I was hoping to learn about the flaws that you all chose to accept, just to get a sense of how picky I am.. because I'm truly not trying to be difficult and make it hard for the SA. I just want a bag that I can always admire and feel that the money was well spent without having to compromise on quality.

When it comes to classics, they are generally very well made. But they can all vary greatly. None are exactly alike. If you put three, five, or ten of the same bags next to each other they will all look different.

The leather and grains vary from bag to bag in the classic colors, from matte to shiny, more textured caviar to smoother, you get the idea. I would look at shape (yes, even the shapes differ, from slight size differences, slight strap length differences, to flap shapes and angles, etc), leather, puffiness (or lack of) of quilts you’d like. I feel like the lamb generally looks similar, but the fullness of quilts vary.

I have a medium caviar flap that has very full quilts with a shiny, smoother caviar. I looked at 15-20 bags I believe. I think at the time though the ones I looked at seemed to have a much harder, less shiny caviar in general.

 

[Tina1010]

When it comes to classics, they are generally very well made. But they can all vary greatly. None are exactly alike. If you put three, five, or ten of the same bags next to each other they will all look different.

The leather and grains vary from bag to bag in the classic colors, from matte to shiny, more textured caviar to smoother, you get the idea. I would look at shape (yes, even the shapes differ, from slight size differences, slight strap length differences, to flap shapes and angles, etc), leather, puffiness (or lack of) of quilts you’d like. I feel like the lamb generally looks similar, but the fullness of quilts vary.

I have a medium caviar flap that has very full quilts with a shiny, smoother caviar. I looked at 15-20 bags I believe. I think at the time though the ones I looked at seemed to have a much harder, less shiny caviar in general.

Yes I've noticed this too. That's why this piece was hard for me to let go because I loved that it had more of a square shape rather than a rectangular shape. I personally love the square look on the body of the small, so finding it in a medium size was a win win. But I just couldn't ignore the mismatched quilting, it was on the front and pretty obvious in person. What a bummer because otherwise it was constructed so well.

 

[Tina1010]

I just saw this and I think you made the right decision. Also, it helps your SA judge your taste and level in terms of what to expect in the future And, if you feel this way about chanel, I think you would be horrified at some of the exotic mismatched panels on some bags at Dior.

That's so sad for the price they charge. Thank goodness that I am not into dior bags .

 

[bagsaremyjam]

Yes I've noticed this too. That's why this piece was hard for me to let go because I loved that it had more of a square shape rather than a rectangular shape. I personally love the square look on the body of the small, so finding it in a medium size was a win win. But I just couldn't ignore the mismatched quilting, it was on the front and pretty obvious in person. What a bummer because otherwise it was constructed so well.

You’ll find the perfect one, but you have to be patient. It’ll be worth it. And don’t settle because it’s an insane amount of money. One will come along that you love. But you’ll have to find a lot of SA’s because one SA is likely not going to have enough options in one store. Unless you get lucky.

 

[Tina1010]

You’ll find the perfect one, but you have to be patient. It’ll be worth it. And don’t settle because it’s an insane amount of money. One will come along that you love. But you’ll have to find a lot of SA’s because one SA is likely not going to have enough options in one store. Unless you get lucky.

Ugh my timing couldn't be worse. 5 months ago I lived on the east coast where I had multiple options of store location in NJ & NY. Now I'm in an area where I only have 1 boutique and one NM location. I asked NM if they can source from other locations but apparently they can't anymore. And I'm not sure if Chanel stand alone can source from other stores but that has never been mentioned so I suppose not. My mom is on the east coast but she has no idea about Chanel bags and how to check for quality so I can't depend on her lol.

 

[bagsaremyjam]

Ugh my timing couldn't be worse. 5 months ago I lived on the east coast where I had multiple options of store location in NJ & NY. Now I'm in an area where I only have 1 boutique and one NM location. I asked NM if they can source from other locations but apparently they can't anymore. And I'm not sure if Chanel stand alone can source from other stores but that has never been mentioned so I suppose not. My mom is on the east coast but she has no idea about Chanel bags and how to check for quality so I can't depend on her lol.

You can contact Chanel stores located inside department stores, but you’ll never be able to reach a standalone store. I personally think it’s ridiculous that we can’t actually contact a store directly. It’s a lot of work to call different stores, but that’s what it’s going to take to be able to have a larger selection to choose from. And make sure they take a lot of photos. Especially now with the bag limits. Even if you return a bag I was told you can’t just rebuy another one since the system is showing there was a purchase. That logic doesn’t make sense to me at all if there’s a return, but there are so many restrictions now I would inquire.

 

[Suncatcher]

With this post, I was hoping to learn about the flaws that you all chose to accept, just to get a sense of how picky I am.. because I'm truly not trying to be difficult and make it hard for the SA. I just want a bag that I can always admire and feel that the money was well spent without having to compromise on quality.

I would argue it doesn’t matter how picky is everyone else. Even if everyone has a higher tolerance for lack of perfection compared to you, so what? It is your money, your decision and YMMV. No need to validate where on the spectrum of PITA to easy going are you. I’m glad you returned your bag as it was never going to make you happy. That should be the ultimate measure, not the opinion of others.

 

[Tina1010]

You can contact Chanel stores located inside department stores, but you’ll never be able to reach a standalone store. I personally think it’s ridiculous that we can’t actually contact a store directly. It’s a lot of work to call different stores, but that’s what it’s going to take to be able to have a larger selection to choose from. And make sure they take a lot of photos. Especially now with the bag limits. Even if you return a bag I was told you can’t just rebuy another one since the system is showing there was a purchase. That logic doesn’t make sense to me at all if there’s a return, but there are so many restrictions now I would inquire.

Yeah I've tried that but there is only 1 dept store near me which carries Chanel. Plus I feel it's so pointless contacting other stores because they will not ship classics and no one holds any longer so I probably don't want to purchase without seeing it in person anyway. In June, when I contacted Chanel over the phone, I was able to get a status on inventory, but this month they changed the rules and said to speak to an SA directly. They won't even tell over the phone which store might have the bag in stock for me to figure out if there are any locations that I can possibly make a trip to. They are making it difficult to even get information.

 

[Tina1010]

I would argue it doesn’t matter how picky is everyone else. Even if everyone has a higher tolerance for lack of perfection compared to you, so what? It is your money, your decision and YMMV. No need to validate where on the spectrum of PITA to easy going are you. I’m glad you returned your bag as it was never going to make you happy. That should be the ultimate measure, not the opinion of others.

Yeah when you put it like that it makes complete sense. I guess I was just thinking of ways to reason with my decision and not have any return regrets.

 

[bagsaremyjam]

Yeah I've tried that but there is only 1 dept store near me which carries Chanel. Plus I feel it's so pointless contacting other stores because they will not ship classics and no one holds any longer so I probably don't want to purchase without seeing it in person anyway. In June, when I contacted Chanel over the phone, I was able to get a status on inventory, but this month they changed the rules and said to speak to an SA directly. They won't even tell over the phone which store might have the bag in stock for me to figure out if there are any locations that I can possibly make a trip to. They are making it difficult to even get information.

Ugh that’s truly annoying. They’re making it so much harder than before how to go about trying to get a bag. On one hand I understand because they’re going to lengths to stop resellers, but in the interim make it really frustrating for customers, especially who aren’t near boutiques.

I won’t get into details, but I recently purchased from a reseller and was shocked at the sheer volume at which they’re operating. There were so many names involved with multiple addresses, etc. There were several things I noticed that made this apparent. It was shocking to say the least. I naively thought most of these resellers operated on a smaller scale.

I normally do not go the reseller route but wanted something that was sold out. I know of another reseller but she’s truly a personal shopper. She doesn’t hoard items to sell. When she does sell items she already has on hand, they’re from her personal collection or from a client’s. She tracks down what you want to purchase before you pay for it.

Anyway, I do know that stores now have a lot of stock during launch, but won’t sell to clients who cannot pick up at the store. They’ll only sell and ship out products after the first week and a half or so of a new collection dropping. Apparently this is in place so clients have a chance to purchase items, as opposed to all the stock being completely reserved and gone when a collection launches. I get what they’re doing, and I think it’s great, but it can be very frustrating to longtime Chanel clients who aren’t trying to hoard or take advantage of the system. Some stores give different client privileges depending on your relationship with an SA, while other stores seem to strictly adhere to the rules.

I also believe some of these SA’s know who the resellers are, but won’t say anything because they cannot prove it. They’re also making so much money off of them so I doubt they’d want to risk losing money. I also think some of these resellers have been part of the system for so long that they have loyal SA’s who will give them everything they want.