Yes, Its quality has remarkably went down, My mom and grandmother hand me down couple of vintage pieces, and I can see the difference from the latest purses I have. Its just so sad that newer generation has to settle for this "quality"
LV and the quality
- Thread starter ellc
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I think if you want better quality, heavy-duty bags you'd need to get pre-loved from before 2006 or so. But obviously it will be used so it will have its pros and cons...patina, possibly dirt and tarnish. And if those bags need a repair---they'll be repaired with the cheaper materials used today. I guess you can't win!!!
I brought my first LV bag the other day online the mono speedy 35 but was so obviously faulty so had to return it so dissapointed 
It wasnt even a small fault it was the glazing on the handles they were the wrong way around so instead of facing inwards towards each other one was facing inwards and the other out! how could that even be missed :/
It wasnt even a small fault it was the glazing on the handles they were the wrong way around so instead of facing inwards towards each other one was facing inwards and the other out! how could that even be missed :/
I had an interesting ordeal with my housemate today. She bought a Tivoli PM in April 2011 which is still under warranty. Went to LV store at Palo Alto trying to seek advise on this overlap on the pleat where the back tear shape pleats meet the triangular piece Vachetta causing a bulge on the vachetta. The pleat was obviously faulty because one pleat was sitting higher on the other pleat causing a crease/vertical line on the triangular vachetta.
So went in to LV store at Stanford Mall, Palo Alto, CA and this sales associate kept telling us the LV is not defected. The problem is because the vachetta has soften due to it being used hence the bulging line visible on the vachetta.
With persistence and believing that the bag is faulty, we drove to LV store at Valley Fair, San Jose, CA and talked to another SA. At first, she gave us the same answer too that there was nothing wrong with the bag. Because every piece is handmade instead of using machine, every piece is different. So we asked her to take another new one for us to compare and it was obvious the new one didn't have that overlap at the pleat.
So she finally give in and say "OK I will ask another senior SA and see what she thinks". She came back to us and told us "OK the other SA confirms that the bag is defected and we will replace a new bag for you!!!"
The problem was not just at the back pleat, it was an even worse problem at the front. Both of us didn't realize there was also a problem at the front until we were checking out the new vs the old on both sides. The problematic area with my housemate bag was only the back all this while so we had been concentrating only at the back until we ran our fingers through the front to find the bigger problem. The canvas underneath the triangular Vachetta was cut short! The new perfect one was cut perfectly. It was shaped perfectly like how the zipper shape is but the defected one was entirely cut short.
So two big problems here.
1. There are definitely defective bag being sold at FULL price at the LV store. How these got through QA I have no idea and the sales gave us the same answer as well. "How this get through QA I don't really know!"
2. First LV store at Palo Alto told us that there is nothing wrong when we kept trying to convince her. 2nd LV at San Jose, CA store confirms that the bag was defective! So why are inexperience SA being hired and giving wrong advise to people. She made us felt as if we did not know what we were talking about when in the first place she was the one kept defending LV products and not standing in our shoes trying to understand or even seek 2nd opinion.
Can you imagine this? I definitely think the LV SAs need to have more training. If we were not persistence about this kinda thing, we would have left and still using a LV bag that costs $1200 before tax thinking it is not defected when as a matter of fact it was!
I wonder if I can file a complaint against the LV store at Palo Alto or even the LV headquarters because she was obviously wrong and did not take the initiative to investigate more or even ask for more opinion and just shove us away with excuses like "because you used the bag for 4 months, hence the triangular vachetta is softer and therefore u can feel the pleat overlap". My friend was like "Regardless of whether the vachetta has soften or not, please press down on it and you feel the pleat is faulty. One is overlapping the other causing this vertical bulge on the vachetta!" She didn't listen to us.
Anyways, I have included pictures here to explain what I mean. Please double check all your bags. Feel every corner. Every single bit because you might be holding a defective bag without knowing.
I will be including picture of the real defected LV Tivoli PM later after I take pics.
So went in to LV store at Stanford Mall, Palo Alto, CA and this sales associate kept telling us the LV is not defected. The problem is because the vachetta has soften due to it being used hence the bulging line visible on the vachetta.
With persistence and believing that the bag is faulty, we drove to LV store at Valley Fair, San Jose, CA and talked to another SA. At first, she gave us the same answer too that there was nothing wrong with the bag. Because every piece is handmade instead of using machine, every piece is different. So we asked her to take another new one for us to compare and it was obvious the new one didn't have that overlap at the pleat.
So she finally give in and say "OK I will ask another senior SA and see what she thinks". She came back to us and told us "OK the other SA confirms that the bag is defected and we will replace a new bag for you!!!"
The problem was not just at the back pleat, it was an even worse problem at the front. Both of us didn't realize there was also a problem at the front until we were checking out the new vs the old on both sides. The problematic area with my housemate bag was only the back all this while so we had been concentrating only at the back until we ran our fingers through the front to find the bigger problem. The canvas underneath the triangular Vachetta was cut short! The new perfect one was cut perfectly. It was shaped perfectly like how the zipper shape is but the defected one was entirely cut short.
So two big problems here.
1. There are definitely defective bag being sold at FULL price at the LV store. How these got through QA I have no idea and the sales gave us the same answer as well. "How this get through QA I don't really know!"
2. First LV store at Palo Alto told us that there is nothing wrong when we kept trying to convince her. 2nd LV at San Jose, CA store confirms that the bag was defective! So why are inexperience SA being hired and giving wrong advise to people. She made us felt as if we did not know what we were talking about when in the first place she was the one kept defending LV products and not standing in our shoes trying to understand or even seek 2nd opinion.
Can you imagine this? I definitely think the LV SAs need to have more training. If we were not persistence about this kinda thing, we would have left and still using a LV bag that costs $1200 before tax thinking it is not defected when as a matter of fact it was!
I wonder if I can file a complaint against the LV store at Palo Alto or even the LV headquarters because she was obviously wrong and did not take the initiative to investigate more or even ask for more opinion and just shove us away with excuses like "because you used the bag for 4 months, hence the triangular vachetta is softer and therefore u can feel the pleat overlap". My friend was like "Regardless of whether the vachetta has soften or not, please press down on it and you feel the pleat is faulty. One is overlapping the other causing this vertical bulge on the vachetta!" She didn't listen to us.
Anyways, I have included pictures here to explain what I mean. Please double check all your bags. Feel every corner. Every single bit because you might be holding a defective bag without knowing.
I will be including picture of the real defected LV Tivoli PM later after I take pics.
i was looking at getting the speedy 25 for my birthday and went to my local louis vuitton. i was shocked at how light the speedy 25 was and the brass hard wear felt cheap. i ended up getting a vintage preowned beautiful speedy 25.
ok heres a comparison:
i have three speedies all of the same kind (30 mono) ones vintage, ones only a few months old and another a fake.... it killed me to buy it... its sort of like trying heroin..... not good... but anyways i compared the three together side by side....
well the old one has perfect stitching, the quality of the leather, like the thickness of the handles are even thicker than the new one!!!! as what charleston-mom said the hardware is a lot better than the new one as well no discoloring, etc....
as for the fake one im actually surprised, the stitching is actually perfect on the outside and the inside i honestly if i didnt know it was a fake i wouldve thought that it was real!!! omg whats happening to me.... the hardware is almost like the real thing, the vintage one, not the newer one... plus the lock in which it came from was actually slightly heavier than the new real one...
to conclude i would say that in terms of quality and workmanship i would say vintage wins first prize, the fake one came second and the real third one was last and this is a shame, even the fake ones do better than the newer made LVs..... what has happened to you... our family has been LV followers since my great grandmother ( i see travelling pics of them and they use LV trunks, i bet the quality is a lot better than now ) so please LV dont make me go to other brands because i really want to buy your products, but for the price i pay the quality is not there D:
i have three speedies all of the same kind (30 mono) ones vintage, ones only a few months old and another a fake.... it killed me to buy it... its sort of like trying heroin..... not good... but anyways i compared the three together side by side....
well the old one has perfect stitching, the quality of the leather, like the thickness of the handles are even thicker than the new one!!!! as what charleston-mom said the hardware is a lot better than the new one as well no discoloring, etc....
as for the fake one im actually surprised, the stitching is actually perfect on the outside and the inside i honestly if i didnt know it was a fake i wouldve thought that it was real!!! omg whats happening to me.... the hardware is almost like the real thing, the vintage one, not the newer one... plus the lock in which it came from was actually slightly heavier than the new real one...
to conclude i would say that in terms of quality and workmanship i would say vintage wins first prize, the fake one came second and the real third one was last and this is a shame, even the fake ones do better than the newer made LVs..... what has happened to you... our family has been LV followers since my great grandmother ( i see travelling pics of them and they use LV trunks, i bet the quality is a lot better than now ) so please LV dont make me go to other brands because i really want to buy your products, but for the price i pay the quality is not there D:
I hope you will pass this on to LV - maybe with pictures, too. They need to hear this. Thanks for doing this comparison!
Agree! 1 vote for this....
Not only the quality has gone done. The SA are freaking irritating, only trained and skilled to talk rubbish.
My mom has a speedy from the late 80's and I recently bought one last year. Hers a 25 mine a 30 and hers seems sturdier to me and better quality. I mean mine is gorgeous, but I have heard and seen bags that do not have the sought after LV quality. Kind of sad because I love LV but I don't know if I want to invest hundreds and not have top notch quality!
I must agree nothing is as it was years ago! vintage louis Bags are classic, I shop on ebay also because many of the older louis styles ie NOE and Alma are so Chic!