Flying Gabrielle! Anyone else have this issue

slegg61

slegg61

Member
Dec 21, 2008
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#1
All--
I was wearing my Gabrielle for about the 10th time today when I had a very exciting experience. I was wondering if anyone else has had similar issues. I am sure Ignes will handle it, but I wouldn't mind knowing how long repairs take, etc. Also, I have a bag similar to some others so this is an FYI in case you have one like mine: Black 109 on the body with patent leather in the handles, on the sides, bottom and on the body straps. I think the thin crinckle patent leather holding the metal pieces to which you hook the shoulder strap on to the body may have gotten too stressed by the weight of the shoulder strap and just snapped!

What happened: on the body of the bag there are two metal pieces on the side where the crossbody strap is attached by metal clips. These two metal pieces are sewn onto the bag's body with leather flaps. One of the leather flaps must have come unstitched. When this happened, the metal piece and the crossbody strap to which it was attached, went flying backwards like a whip. It sent the entire bag spinning into the air and landed about 20 feet away. It was quite a sight!

Luckily, the leather on the body of the bag is unhurt, but the leather piece attaching the metal piece to the bag is broken. It was very thin-- the crinkle patent leather.

Anyone else have a similar issue or experience with repairs?
 
#2
Just wanted to say that I love the topic title! And that I'm also horrified at my immediate response because that's a terrible thing to happen to a Gabby. :sad:

Hope your bag gets repaired well! The leather flaps you mention are Black109 on my own Mini-Gabby but I just got a bit paranoid.
 
#3
I am going to upload some photos that I just took so you can see-- unfortunately, on closer inspection, it looks like all stress points on the bag are failing-- and I am no expert, but i looks like they have glued the black patent leather to some sort of stiff cardboard or stiff leather or something b/c it is not one piece, the patent actually is in 2 layers and peels right off the underlayer.
 

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#4
I had a similar exp with a francis - I just went to pick it up by the messenger strap and it popped right off. It sounds like a similar problem - without the 20' trajectory!

Maria was really gracious and gave me a new bag. The side loops of the francis that hold the messenger strap were only stitched on, not studs on it. The workmanship on the rest of the bag was wonderful, I just think that the security of the straps holding the messenger strap was an oversight...I didn't have the bag 'loaded' up but I did have my laptop in it and maybe a journal or two and an apple.
 
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#5
I didnt have mine loaded either-- wallet, eyeglass case and a magazine and my bottega lanyard with my work badge:smile: It was prob more like 10 feet, but let me tell you it was something else.... that cross body strap went flying from the front over my head and whipped the bag backwards so that it was still in the air when I turned around!
 
#6
Too bad no one caught it on video because that was a $10K winner for AFV if there ever was one and imagine how many bags you could get!

But ouch on the bag! My Gabi is South American Ostrich and I worry about the weight I put on it but so far have only had the hardware unclipping problem. But your photos look eerily like a failure I had on a Junior Drake bag where the leather tore at the hardware on its third day of use. A cobbler told me the leather loop was stitched too tight around the hardware to sustain any strain at all. That bag went back to Nordstrom.
 
#10
Ok so a mini-update-- my bag still hasnt reached the production team, but it is apparentl on its way from the us and will be handcarried on. I did verify today that they will first try a repair. AND, which is a bit disturbing to me and may be good info fror someof you.... the black patent is glued onto some non-natural material to "give it strcture." I am pretty darn sure this non-natural material is cardboard. My patent was peeling away from it where it broke away from the purse body. In a number of places, the patent wasnt actually covering fully this material, leaving about 2/3 of the back exposed to the leather it sits on. Which leaves me wondering about water resistancy, etc. Anyway, just thought I would share. I told Maria I do not want to deal with this situatio again. Cost me about 20 bucks to mail it back and I waited about 3 months to get the bag in the first place, which I had for not very long before it broke. I will definitely not be happy if they cant get the patent issue solved because I do not want a plain black bag!
 
#11
Ohhh... that doesn't sound very encouraging. I'm sorry!

In my one experience w Ignes repair, I have to say Maria really underplayed how sucessful they could be. It was an entirely different issue (yellow paint on SAO), but Maria was not very encouraging if they could repair and even once finished she wasn't happy w it really. But to my eyes it looks 98% perfect. But I also had different expectation because I caused the need for the repair, not Ignes!
 
#12
Still no word from Ignes. Not even confirmation they actually forwarded my bag to the production team for review, which I was told has to happen as per Ignacio before they will decide what to do further (repair or replace).... I am beginning to get a little impatient I must say.
 
#15
After owning 8 Chanel bags, I agree with my husband's comments "Chanel bags are great so long as you don't carry anything in them!"
I have had more hardware malfunctions then I want to share..........
 
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