Am I the only one who is underwhelmed by this $1400+ bag? Mine smelled heavily of plastic/chemicals, it's super thin, the hardwear is light and seems like the gold will chip quickly.....and it's just overall underwhelming for the price. Thus far, I've only owned Celine, Chloe, YSL, and MG (most are pre-loved) - where for half the price I got a full leather bag with substantial hardwear. You even get more with Gucci. I don't get why people are such huge LV/speedy/neverfull fans (besides the awesome resell value - which indicates how popular they are).
What am I missing?
Monogram speedy and especially neverfull are my least favorite bags by LV. I feel like everyone and their mom has them, so I don't plan on buying them ever. If you're really feeling underwhelmed by the bag, I would return it and maybe look at a different LV bag, one that you would like and be happy to own. The plastic and chemical smell you're talking about is a product of the canvas process -it comes with any LV canvas bag. Yes, you are paying mainly for the LV brand, but it didn't build it's reputation and recognition from nothing.
I think it's a little unfair to compare LV to the other brands you mentioned, you're kind of comparing apples to oranges. The other bags may be full leather but LV built its name and reputation on its canvas... Its canvas allowed luggage pieces to be airtight, lightweight, and water-resistant. So much so that LV was able to introduce rectangular luggage pieces in the mid 19th century for stacking and easier transportation. Prior to this, luggage pieces were usually leather and had rounded tops to encourage water-run off, but no stacking. Leather isn't as water resistant as coated canvas so even then, it wasn't guaranteed your things wouldn't get damp. LV was so revolutionary, that other luggage makers imitated their design. Those rectangular luggage pieces you now see everywhere in baggage claims, it started with LV.
Most of the other brands you mentioned are not cheap either, especially when you look at comparable sizes. I'm assuming MG is Mansur Gavriel -it's the only outlier in price point. Most of the other brands though, when new, have the same price point as LV's canvas and full leather bags. LV just so happens to have a higher resale value. Because you mentioned Gucci as a brand where you get even "more," I just want to point out that in the 2000s, LV was producing bags with much more hardware detailing.
Back then, all the extra frills of hardware was in fashion and then it fell out of favor. LV got rid of all that extra stuff shortly after. Historically, fashion is more conservative during economic lows and is loud during economic booms. We are starting to enter a boom, hence why designer brands are popular again, along with more "obnoxious" designs. Having money and flaunting it isn't as frowned upon as it was a decade ago. Gucci, in particular, has done a really good job embracing youth fashion. They are coming out with more detailing, and albeit gaudy at times, fashion items because that is what's in demand for the younger audience and ultra rich. LV recently released their Geant collection which is very obnoxious for some people, but it follows the trend of "bigger and more" that is quite prevalent in fashion right now. That being said, certain LV bag styles, such as speedy, are considered classics and staples because they have shown to be popular despite economic hardships and fads.
