"Popular" girl handbag?

NoWomanNoCry

Member
Jul 2, 2014
43
22
So I'm kinda embarrassed to admit this, but when I was in high school 98-02 I always admired the popular girls in school handbags. I've always been into bags since I was a small kid, but I think high school is when I started admiring Coach and it was because I saw all the popular girls wearing them and I wanted to be like them LOL! I was poor so having a Coach was completely out of the question, but I remember girls coming into class with their bags and I was in aww of them. It was mainly the Carly bag. So I always said "when I get older I'll get me one" well I remember few years after graduating I went to a flea market type of place and they had people selling them..$70 and I was like SOLD! I get to work to show off my bag and I'm told it's a fake..I had zero idea people made fake bags. I learned a lot since then and I got my first 100% authentic bag back in 2010 from my husband. He knew how bad I wanted a Coach...sadly they didn't have Carly's anymore and I've recently read about how the Carly bags aren't that good because they fray on the top edge of the bag..total let down. It doesn't stop me from going on Posh and still browsing them though lol

Anyone else have a handbag story to share?
 
So I'm kinda embarrassed to admit this, but when I was in high school 98-02 I always admired the popular girls in school handbags. I've always been into bags since I was a small kid, but I think high school is when I started admiring Coach and it was because I saw all the popular girls wearing them and I wanted to be like them LOL! I was poor so having a Coach was completely out of the question, but I remember girls coming into class with their bags and I was in aww of them. It was mainly the Carly bag. So I always said "when I get older I'll get me one" well I remember few years after graduating I went to a flea market type of place and they had people selling them..$70 and I was like SOLD! I get to work to show off my bag and I'm told it's a fake..I had zero idea people made fake bags. I learned a lot since then and I got my first 100% authentic bag back in 2010 from my husband. He knew how bad I wanted a Coach...sadly they didn't have Carly's anymore and I've recently read about how the Carly bags aren't that good because they fray on the top edge of the bag..total let down. It doesn't stop me from going on Posh and still browsing them though lol

Anyone else have a handbag story to share?

Carlys are one of the most faked Coach styles so you're better off not even looking for them. Anyway it would have been some other Signature C style if you saw it in high school since the Carly wasn't even introduced until 2005-06. And yes, the top edge of the fabric did often fray.

Almost all of the Signature C fabric bags have been highly faked. Always make sure whatever you're thinking of buying is authenticated first here at the Authenticate This Coach thread in the Coach Shopping forum and you won't have to worry about getting stuck with a fake.

We also don't recommend Poshmark since they don't remove fakes when they're reported to the site management, and if you DO buy a fake, getting a refund is almost impossible as quite a few members here have already found out.. Sorry to sound so negative but it's for your own safety.
 
Last edited:
I have two Carly bags, both in leather, one large in black and one regular sized in red. The leather versions didn't have the issues like the fabric ones did. I purchased both of mine second hand, one locally from Craigslist and the other on Ebay. You can sometimes get lucky and find them cheap if they are listed poorly. I got mine for $55 and $40 respectively. I'd recommend if you go the route of looking for one, go with the leather ones since they hold up much better and use this forum as a resource for authentication so you know what you get is the real thing.
 
So I'm kinda embarrassed to admit this, but when I was in high school 98-02 I always admired the popular girls in school handbags. I've always been into bags since I was a small kid, but I think high school is when I started admiring Coach and it was because I saw all the popular girls wearing them and I wanted to be like them LOL! I was poor so having a Coach was completely out of the question, but I remember girls coming into class with their bags and I was in aww of them. It was mainly the Carly bag. So I always said "when I get older I'll get me one" well I remember few years after graduating I went to a flea market type of place and they had people selling them..$70 and I was like SOLD! I get to work to show off my bag and I'm told it's a fake..I had zero idea people made fake bags. I learned a lot since then and I got my first 100% authentic bag back in 2010 from my husband. He knew how bad I wanted a Coach...sadly they didn't have Carly's anymore and I've recently read about how the Carly bags aren't that good because they fray on the top edge of the bag..total let down. It doesn't stop me from going on Posh and still browsing them though lol

Anyone else have a handbag story to share?

Oh bless you I'm sure you were just as lovely as the popular girls if not more so glad you have a lovely coach buying husband these days
 
Carlys are one of the most faked Coach styles so you're better off not even looking for them. Anyway it would have been some other Signature C style if you saw it in high school since the Carly wasn't even introduced until 2005-06. And yes, the top edge of the fabric did often fray.

Almost all of the Signature C fabric bags have been highly faked. Always make sure whatever you're thinking of buying is authenticated first here at the Authenticate This Coach thread in the Coach Shopping forum and you won't have to worry about getting stuck with a fake.

We also don't recommend Poshmark since they don't remove fakes when they're reported to the site management, and if you DO buy a fake, getting a refund is almost impossible as quite a few members here have already found out.. Sorry to sound so negative but it's for your own safety.

I only buy from a Coach store now..I do browse Posh, but I'm too scared to buy on there because of fakes.
Whatever bags they had back in the day looked exactly like the Carly. I remember the strap had the shoulder pad also.
 
I only buy from a Coach store now..I do browse Posh, but I'm too scared to buy on there because of fakes.
Whatever bags they had back in the day looked exactly like the Carly. I remember the strap had the shoulder pad also.

Quite a few early Signature C bags had shoulder pads. (BTW, Signature C fabric only started being used by Coach in 2000). What most of us consider the distinguishing feature of the Carly styles are the triangular set of leather strips in the bottom corners, and the turnlocks on the leather trim strip running between that leather triangle and the strap mountings on top.

While some styles between the introduction of the Signature C fabrics may have had a pad on the strap such as the Girlie bags from between 2000 to 2003
8139_GirlieWool C_d2.jpg

or a solid piece of leather on the bottom corners, like the Signature Duffles from the early to middle 2000 decade
6347_SIG SMALL SLIM DUFFLE-d1.jpg

or leather strips in the shape of a triangle holding the bottom corners but with strap-and-buckle leather trim on the sides like the Chelsea Hobo 9698 from 2004 (no picture, sorry).

the Carly was the first to use the leather strips in a triangular shape along with the side turnlocks and the strap with the center pad. Those details in that unique combination are what distinguish the original Carly styles. This is the "classic" original Signature Carly, style 10619, click on the thumbnails.
10619_BKHE3-1_d2.jpg
10619_carly_15x9x5_2007-e.jpg

But as I already said, whatever you fell in love with in school couldn't have been a Carly since according to both my memory and my Coach catalog collection the Carly styles at least in the first 2 years of the line's existence - the line was introduced in the late Fall 2006 catalogs - always included the 3 details mentioned above, whether they're fabric or leather.

Also every genuine Carly you'll find anywhere will have a year code (2nd and 3rd digits in the serial number) of "06" or later, meaning made in 2006 or after. (Most fakes will also have the same year codes so don't depend on them to prove a "Carly" is authentic.)
10619_saddle3.jpg

So keep your mind open to other styles, because if you fell in love with a Coach during the school years you listed, it definitely wasn't a Carly, sorry. But that just expands the possibilities for finding something else you'll like that you might not have considered otherwise. Just please remember to have it authenticated here before you buy it.
 
Quite a few early Signature C bags had shoulder pads. (BTW, Signature C fabric only started being used by Coach in 2000). What most of us consider the distinguishing feature of the Carly styles are the triangular set of leather strips in the bottom corners, and the turnlocks on the leather trim strip running between that leather triangle and the strap mountings on top.

While some styles between the introduction of the Signature C fabrics may have had a pad on the strap such as the Girlie bags from between 2000 to 2003
View attachment 3860155

or a solid piece of leather on the bottom corners, like the Signature Duffles from the early to middle 2000 decade
View attachment 3860152

or leather strips in the shape of a triangle holding the bottom corners but with strap-and-buckle leather trim on the sides like the Chelsea Hobo 9698 from 2004 (no picture, sorry).

the Carly was the first to use the leather strips in a triangular shape along with the side turnlocks and the strap with the center pad. Those details in that unique combination are what distinguish the original Carly styles. This is the "classic" original Signature Carly, style 10619, click on the thumbnails.
View attachment 3860183
View attachment 3860185

But as I already said, whatever you fell in love with in school couldn't have been a Carly since according to both my memory and my Coach catalog collection the Carly styles at least in the first 2 years of the line's existence - the line was introduced in the late Fall 2006 catalogs - always included the 3 details mentioned above, whether they're fabric or leather.

Also every genuine Carly you'll find anywhere will have a year code (2nd and 3rd digits in the serial number) of "06" or later, meaning made in 2006 or after. (Most fakes will also have the same year codes so don't depend on them to prove a "Carly" is authentic.)
View attachment 3860187

So keep your mind open to other styles, because if you fell in love with a Coach during the school years you listed, it definitely wasn't a Carly, sorry. But that just expands the possibilities for finding something else you'll like that you might not have considered otherwise. Just please remember to have it authenticated here before you buy it.
I don't know much about Coach, but the way you wrote was so professional and lovely. Like a documentary.