Is Coach coming back up?/What about that Bowery Turnlock?

Nov 29, 2016
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Pardon that subject line; I don't mean for it to be offensive. I didn't know how else to say it.

I am a long-time vintage Coach girl. Recently, I've sold about 15 and bought a couple of LVs (I still have my favorite vintage Coach bags). I know lots of folks on and off tPF started to lean away from Coach for different reasons. To each her own, no judgment either way.

I was just watching an adorable YouTube from Labels for Lunch. She reviews the Coach Bowery Turnlock Crossbody. It's a super cute bag and her review is adorable.

She makes the case that Coach is at the moment low priced but really coming up in style and craftsmanship. (I have no opinion of modern Coaches since mine are all vintage). I wonder about your thoughts. Do you feel like Coach is coming back up? Did it ever go down? Do you agree with Labels for Lunch that in a few years, Coach is likely to be uber-hot and we will look back at today's prices as a great investment?

Am I making sense?

Also, what about that bag she has? It's very cute. I've looked around tPF and other Bowery cross body bags look different. They don't seem to have the studs. Hers is "cracking," as she says. :smile: Maybe it comes with and without? Someone, give me the details if you have them. I think her bag is great, but cannot find anything like it for sale. I did see one that was all black for about $200 (probably a good price).

Anyhoo, that was something of a ramble.

Thanks.
 
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First of all, the Bowery isn’t a well known Coach bag, and I think it went to the outlets already. I could be wrong but I think that is the case. So I guess I am saying it is an example of one of many Coach bags, and there are others that are higher profile. But as for Coach itself it all comes down to what a person likes, and what they want from their handbag.

For me, I like the variety of styles, the somewhat reasonable prices, and the quality. That hasn’t changed since I started buying them several years ago.

Others might want a more high profile brand, higher resale, etc, but I think Coach matches many of those brands in quality.
 
I think Coach is bringing back versions of their vintage silhouettes but they are not crafted from a single piece of leather and the hardware is not replaceable. So I don't think the new bags will have the same lifespan as the older ones.

I have a FP Bowery in black and I might sell it. The bag looks adorable but has not been functional for me. It's slightly too small but wide so I can't carry it as a shoulder bag comfortably and the chain is too long for my height. You can wear the strap three ways for crossbody, long shoulder, or short shoulder/hand carry.

Here are some photos:
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The Bowery is now at the outlets in either crossgrain leather or coated canvas. I'm not sure if the chain attaches the same way on the MFF versions.

The Parker 18 is probably a better option as it's a bit larger.

If there were a vintage version available of the current Coach models out now (like the Courier, dinky, Willis) I think I'd hunt down the vintage version first as opposed to getting the new version.
 
I started buying coach new design, particularly 1941 collection from 2 years ago, Bowery is one of the few coach New York (retail store non-1941 collection) bags I have purchased.
I also purchased several coach vintage bags from eBay and tried to rehab several. In my opinion, coach 1941 is still worth buying even compares to coach vintage bags. It has better functionality for the mordern life, soft leather lining and I more decorative elements (Rivits, tea roses, pebbles leather, quoted leather, chain straps.. etc) to chose from.
I didn’t like coach New York collection at the beginning as I thought the quality isn’t there. But recently it’s catching up, with several popular bag design (dreamer, Parker)
Btw, I do not buy made for factory bag from outlet, no matter what brand. To me, these are official counterfeit products. They are cheaply made and meant to be sold at cheep price.

Last, I love current coach product, same as I love vintage coach bags. I won’t spend several thousands for a leather bag from LV which to me the quality difference isn’t that much from coach 1941 collection.

whether coach price will go up? I don’t know. as they’ve done great bags for 4 years now, they never increased the price. It’s the opposite, their started discount 1941 collection at sale from the recent 2 years and even send them to outlet after season.
It’s disappointed to see 1941 bags goes to outlet for deletion, if these bags are made by any other premium brands, it would have charged more than the full price, and people will still happy to pay for it.

Maybe they should do the price increasing, since to some bag collectors, that’s one factor to drive them to buy, Another factor for them is a highe profile brand name, which coach as a affordable luxury brand, isn’t trying to place itself to there yet.
 

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I started buying coach new design, particularly 1941 collection from 2 years ago, Bowery is one of the few coach New York (retail store non-1941 collection) bags I have purchased.
I also purchased several coach vintage bags from eBay and tried to rehab several. In my opinion, coach 1941 is still worth buying even compares to coach vintage bags. It has better functionality for the mordern life, soft leather lining and I more decorative elements (Rivits, tea roses, pebbles leather, quoted leather, chain straps.. etc) to chose from.
I didn’t like coach New York collection at the beginning as I thought the quality isn’t there. But recently it’s catching up, with several popular bag design (dreamer, Parker)
Btw, I do not buy made for factory bag from outlet, no matter what brand. To me, these are official counterfeit products. They are cheaply made and meant to be sold at cheep price.

Last, I love current coach product, same as I love vintage coach bags. I won’t spend several thousands for a leather bag from LV which to me the quality difference isn’t that much from coach 1941 collection.

whether coach price will go up? I don’t know. as they’ve done great bags for 4 years now, they never increased the price. It’s the opposite, their started discount 1941 collection at sale from the recent 2 years and even send them to outlet after season.
It’s disappointed to see 1941 bags goes to outlet for deletion, if these bags are made by any other premium brands, it would have charged more than the full price, and people will still happy to pay for it.

Maybe they should do the price increasing, since to some bag collectors, that’s one factor to drive them to buy, Another factor for them is a highe profile brand name, which coach as a affordable luxury brand, isn’t trying to place itself to there yet.
I love the flower turnlock. I wish they would put it on a style and size I want.
 
No offense, but I can't imagine how LV. particularly canvas, can compare favorably to vintage Coach.
Ok, I realize I am in the wrong forum. But wut? I like classic coach glove tanned leather bags (the ones they used to sell 10 years ago or something - that’s closest I’ve gotten to vintage coach). They’re the only coach bags I like at all and I will always keep them in my bag collection. I’m very picky about bags so that’s saying a lot. But they are not even remotely as awesome as LV canvas bags. I can’t even imagine how you can think the reverse. :eek:
 
Ok, I realize I am in the wrong forum. But wut? I like classic coach glove tanned leather bags (the ones they used to sell 10 years ago or something - that’s closest I’ve gotten to vintage coach). They’re the only coach bags I like at all and I will always keep them in my bag collection. I’m very picky about bags so that’s saying a lot. But they are not even remotely as awesome as LV canvas bags. I can’t even imagine how you can think the reverse. :eek:
Well yes, then you are in the wrong forum. Obviously most of us here really like Coach bags because we are posting our reveals and information in the Coach forum. Not to say that some do not buy LV here, and love it, as that is true too. But I wouldn't go over to the LV forum just to say, how can you like LV canvas? And as for how you can't imagine we could think the reverse of you? Well very easily--for me, I have no interest in a LV canvas bag, and I love my Coach leather bags.
 
Regardless of quality, I don’t buy from brands that put their stuff on clearance or in outlets. That includes brands like Gucci, etc.

It cheapens the brand and the MFF stuff lowers everyone’s opinion of the quality.

To elevate their brand they will need to stop doing 25% off, sending retail to outlets, and selling their bags for 70% off. The quality doesn’t matter if people perceive that they can buy your product for 30% of the retail price, because that’s all it’s worth.

It’s too bad because I think some of the designs are cute. But I can’t pay $500 for a bag that will sell for $100 in 6 weeks.
 
Regardless of quality, I don’t buy from brands that put their stuff on clearance or in outlets. That includes brands like Gucci, etc.

It cheapens the brand and the MFF stuff lowers everyone’s opinion of the quality.

To elevate their brand they will need to stop doing 25% off, sending retail to outlets, and selling their bags for 70% off. The quality doesn’t matter if people perceive that they can buy your product for 30% of the retail price, because that’s all it’s worth.

It’s too bad because I think some of the designs are cute. But I can’t pay $500 for a bag that will sell for $100 in 6 weeks.
This comes up in these Coach discussions a lot, and though I dislike having spent more on a bag that ends up at the outlets--I think there is a difference between buying Coach because a person wants to buy an elevated brand, and buying Coach because you love the handbag you purchased.

For most people in the real world, they carry a bag because they like how it looks, the quality, the function, etc. And I am the same way. I am not trying to buy a bag to show people I buy an elevated brand, though people think I do because most of them aren't carrying Coach or any other expensive brand. I am carrying the Coach bags I carry because I like them, and think they are beautiful.

So in my opinion, Coach can continue to mark down as much as they want, so I can afford to buy them. Because many of us would not buy without the sales. I do prefer the regular sales over the outlet situation, but that is because I am not near an outlet so I can never score on those anyway.
 
Ok, I realize I am in the wrong forum. But wut? I like classic coach glove tanned leather bags (the ones they used to sell 10 years ago or something - that’s closest I’ve gotten to vintage coach). They’re the only coach bags I like at all and I will always keep them in my bag collection. I’m very picky about bags so that’s saying a lot. But they are not even remotely as awesome as LV canvas bags. I can’t even imagine how you can think the reverse. :eek:

IMHO LV's only redeeming quality is resale value. LV canvas is very expensive, common, and heavily faked. The canvas and vachetta do not age well and require complete expensive makeovers to rehab.
There are plenty examples of Coach vintage leather bags that are 20, 30, 40 plus years old that have been rehabbed (at home) and look absolutely beautiful still.
 
No offense, but I can't imagine how LV. particularly canvas, can compare favorably to vintage Coach.

I have both vintage Coach and LV canvas bags. And, yes, Coach and LV are a different aesthetic. I have worn both for many years, so I guess they are part of my history, lol. And both make me happy, so how do you rationalize that? On the flip side, I haven't purchased anything new from Coach since the Nomad hobo. And my LV canvas bags are Speedies, so I guess I prefer the classics and not much of the newer styles from either brand.

To answer the initial question, I do not think Coach will ever elevate to high-end luxury status until they stop having sales so often, bring out more bags for longer that have a chance to become a classic, and get rid of the outlets. Most of the high-end luxury brands have at least one style that people still want and have wanted for years, the LV Speedy, the Balenciaga City, the Chloe Marcie, the Hermes Birken, etc. that keeps them talking about and interested in the brand. I like the Coach Bedford hobo, but by the time I decided I may get it, it was gone, LOL.
 
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I have worn both for many years, so I guess they are part of my history, lol. .

You and me both!

To answer the initial question, I do not think Coach will ever elevate to high-end luxury status until they stop having sales so often, bring out more bags for longer that have a chance to become a classic, and get rid of the outlets.

Good points. I'm sure all of that will never happen. :smile: