My professor told me Chanel bags are all made in China but assembled in Europe?

[LVoeletters]

I thought it was common knowledge that items were made In china and then assembled in a different country. I remember in a previous thread there was a specific percentage of time or assembly of an item for it to be declared that it was made in that country. So unforunately what is happening is technically legal (I would hope companies would at least adhere to this...) but consumers have no idea.


My issue moreso is I wouldn't mind paying the price if it meant the workers were profiting from this. I've started to forgo buying designer boots and started to look for good quality and ethical companies to purchase from. I'm about to order riding boots from poppy barley, although I am tempted by the Stuart W. Thigh high boots... I can't purchase everything ethical 100% just yet but I am working on slowly replacing what I can when I can.

A previous poster mentioned jewelry. For my nonbranded items I've found it fairly easily to source diamonds and stones ethically. And Tiffany only sources ethical stone (I say this without mentioning how they cut said stone). I cannot comment where they are assembled, but I know it's easier for me to make sure my jewelry is ethical because I source the stone and then have a jeweler set it for me.


So technically there are ways to avoid this made in china business, but then you would have to avoid the brand names. There are 3 Chanel bags I want but I'm going to purchase them vintage. After that I'll move on to other brands.

I will also admit I am one of those "made in France" snobs. I adore the label in my LVs even if I know it's not fully assembled there. But I haven't bought LV in like two years.

 

[Chanbal]

Does everyone think Chanel's quality has decreased since largely being outsourced to asian factories? Maybe I'm in the minority but I don't think so. I think all brands have their problems at one point in time..apparently a large number of tpfers who own Birkin and kelly bags are experiencing skunk smells and are returning their coveted bags, which some have waited a long time for, to H France for an exchange (more waiting) or a refund (sadness). The H threads make it sound like everything is handcrafted in France so seems like everyone has quality issues at one point or another...

I'm more upset that C keeps increasing prices on us when I doubt their supplier and production costs have increased at the same rate. though, I hope they use factories that treat labor workers well.

The 'made in China' developed a negative connotation, because of China's cheap products and replicas that have been saturating the European and US markets. An article can certainly be well made in any country, including in China.

I am also upset with the unreasonable price increases, but until we stop buying, prices will continue to increase... The funny thing is that an important drive behind the price increases are the Chinese clients that 'suddenly became rich' and are now buying luxury articles in large quantities...

 

[OCMomof3]

I can believe that since the article/interview was published in 2012. But more importantly in 2013 LVMH bought out Lora Piana and there's no company greedier then LVMH .

I never equated luxury with LVMH as pointed in Dana Thomas's book their production of LV handbags seemed like a production assembly line and even Gucci's production of handbags seemed more personal where one person would work on 1 bag from start to finish.

I don't enjoy agreeing with Kanye West but when it comes to Louis Vuitton I have to agree they charge way too much for what they offer. They always seem to lower their quality while increasing their prices.In addition Hermes has insinuated more then once that LVMH doesn't do luxury. So no surprise they bring that same low cost model attitude to Lora Piana.

But is that limited to LV, in all fairness? I own plenty of LV, and of course they charge too much. So does Chanel. So does Gucci. And on and on. If we are honest, we have totally bought in to the hype and are paying WAY too much for any type of luxury handbag. I love my Chanel and am thrilled to have it, but is it overpriced for what it is? YES.

 

[luxurylove25]

RANKING We have asked 15 luxury fashion brands to answer 25 questions about their production processes and policies, deforestation and the toxic pollution of our Planet’s water resources.

Some of the brands have risen to the challenge: here are the results of the duel.

The 25 questions are focused on three issues.

Leather-purchasing policies: is the leather used by fashion brands coming from cattle linked to Amazon destruction?

Pulp purchase policies: to assess if paper pulp used to make luxury packaging is produced by corporations like those in Indonesia that destroy the rainforests and the habitat of the last Sumatran tigers.

Textile production: to assess whether the production and processing cycles of luxury fashion products use hazardous chemicals that could jeopardize global water resources.

This ranking is based on the content and completeness of companies responses. Brands receive a colour (green, yellow, red and black) as final results from their average score on the questionnaire.


Chanel has not replied to the numerous requests from Greenpeace, refusing to share what is going on behind closed doors with regards to leather and pulp and paper purchasing and toxic discharges on textile production.

*For more luxury brand information go to thefashionduel.com/ranking

 

[Sweet Fire]

I commented on South Beach's post before reading this. Totally agree, calling 'time wasters' to potential clients shows a tremendous lack of education that should be unacceptable at stores like Chanel.

This is exactly why I call before going in most of the time because whoever is nice to me over the phone, is the one who will get the sale. I've actually heard the "surprise" in their voice when I said okay I want to purchase.


I've also witnessed in the store SAs purposely ignoring and will walk right past the ringing phone and pretend to be busy so they won't have to answer it.

 

[Sweet Fire]

The 'made in China' developed a negative connotation, because of China's cheap products and replicas that have been saturating the European and US markets. An article can certainly be well made in any country, including in China.

I am also upset with the unreasonable price increases, but until we stop buying, prices will continue to increase... The funny thing is that an important drive behind the price increases are the Chinese clients that 'suddenly became rich' and are now buying luxury articles in large quantities...

I just witnessed this a couple days ago when I was in LV a Chinese couple spent 60,000, they flew in for the weekend just to purchase luxury goods. One of my SAs at a Chanel boutique always call me whenever the get a new shipment to see if there's anything I want because they frequently have Chinese coming in to buy large stock.


Honestly I will continue to buy if its something I like and want, I just bought a boy last week and will more than likely buy a jumbo from the cruise collection. However if I am not satisfied with the quality I will return it and I think that can help them realize we're not going to accept any bag just because it's "Chanel" and I encourage everyone to not keep or accept bags that are defective. Inspect your bags carefully and maybe if they start getting enough returns, they'll place more attention on quality and realize we do actually care about the product and not just the name that's on it.

 

[chanelwish]

Aside from the Caviar leather, I think Chanel has done a good job of maintaining their quality standards.

I don't think relocating to Asian factories would lead to a decrease in quality.
It's just perception as in the 70's people used to refer to Made in Japan as low quality and then it switched, with more innovations coming from Japan, to Made in Japan representing quality
.
Any decrease in quality would come more from a lack of oversight and supervision.

Chanel price increases are ridiculous and unjustified especially for the classic flaps and refurbishment/repair costs.

you think caviar leather is not good anymore? important question for me, im choosing between caviar and usual leather right now on ebay, i always thought caviar much better!

 

[chanelwish]

Honestly I will continue to buy if its something I like and want, I just bought a boy last week and will more than likely buy a jumbo from the cruise collection. However if I am not satisfied with the quality I will return it and I think that can help them realize we're not going to accept any bag just because it's "Chanel" and I encourage everyone to not keep or accept bags that are defective. Inspect your bags carefully and maybe if they start getting enough returns, they'll place more attention on quality and realize we do actually care about the product and not just the name that's on it.

can i ask you what was wrong with your bag? why do you want to return it?

 

[lara0112]

Chanel is not handmade . I do think most parts are out sourced and then assembled in Italy , France and Spain. Same with LV.

The Italian craftsmen are not even Italians with craft being passed down generations. They are often trained Immigrants .There is a thread somewhere here about this. So even Made in Italy has Chinese workers making our bags.

I still really love Chanel. the romanticized marketing is genius. I buy into it as I love my pieces and sill purchase. But I am fully aware of what is going on. They even want you to think only Chanel leather specialist will be repairing our bags when you drop them off. For a while, people were lead to believe their bag goes back to France to be worked on.

my uncle is the cloth business and has seen this practice with his own eyes happening in Italy.


OP - I appreciate how you feel but you didn't really expect Chanel to tell you outright yes - them not having said outright no speaks volumes. actually I have been wondering about this stuff happening for a while.... makes me think about vintage

 

[barbie444]

Tutu,
I have to ask since you seem to know alot about Dior also. I have been contemplating buying a Diorissimo in the next couple of months, how is the quality? Is it really made in france?

Well, now you can trust that your professor knows what they are speaking of, and it's good to trust the information coming to you in a learning setting. It's hard to know all of the "behind the scenes" things as the companies specifically do not want you to know them.

An interesting discussion to have with your professor is what they think about the fact that the Chinese market is waning, both from a monetary standard and from a luxury goods standard. As I mentioned earlier, they seem to be going to "American" brands (most of which are made in China), which are in the hundreds of dollars rather than in the thousands. The large majority of shoppers are younger compared to European or American buyers, which tend to be a bit older (percentage of young buyer market in China is huge).

 

[Sweet Fire]

can i ask you what was wrong with your bag? why do you want to return it?

No, nothing is wrong with my Boy however I was stating if there was an issue with the bag I would return it and not keep a defective bag just because it's "Chanel"

 

[barbie444]

The only quality issue I have ever had with with Beige Jumbo. After 5 months very little use the hardware tarnished It took months to get it back, sold it after repair and bought another one after inspection it has lose threads FINALLY they exchanged for a perfect one.

No, nothing is wrong with my Boy however I was stating if there was an issue with the bag I would return it and not keep a defective bag just because it's "Chanel"

 

[tutushopper]

Tutu,
I have to ask since you seem to know alot about Dior also. I have been contemplating buying a Diorissimo in the next couple of months, how is the quality? Is it really made in france?

The Diorissimo is a quality bag that is hand made; because of this, I would suspect that this bag is assuredly made by trained tradesmen/women of Dior. I do find the quality of Dior to be quite a bit better than that of Chanel.

 

[PoohBear]

My good friend is an event planner and travels the world to find sites for client events.

She carries fake Chanel bags that she buys in Turkey from a leather shop. I can honestly say they look pretty genuine. The owner swears that the bags he has are made in the same spot as Chanel's. He says China sells the exact same bags to Chanel as they do to him. He says since he's not a large company he cannot get the ones with ID in them.

I always thought this sounded a little fishy, but now I'm beginning to wonder?

 

[barbie444]

Thanks! I'm going this weekend to take a look. I really love the look of it.

The Diorissimo is a quality bag that is hand made; because of this, I would suspect that this bag is assuredly made by trained tradesmen/women of Dior. I do find the quality of Dior to be quite a bit better than that of Chanel.