This is a great postI decided I needed a handbag for fun family summer trips (to oceanside towns and rural weekend trips). I really didn’t want to spend $$$$ on a bag that could be exposed to sun, sea air and perhaps sand. I looked at Kate Spade bags and found one that ticked all my boxes. The display bag looked, well... trashed.Marks all over it, the handles were shiny from lotion and a corner was dinged. The SA brought out two unhandled bags to choose from. One had a string-like thing hanging from it. The SA thought it was glue, so she went to rub it off with her finger and a chunk of sealant became separated from the leather. She pulled it to see what would happen and the whole sealed edge of the bag (about 8 inches) pulled off.
She rolled her eyes and said, it looks like that one is going back. So, we looked at the other bag. After some inspection, only 1/2 the flap panel was stitched on the back. It was glued, but it looked like whoever made the bag ran out of thread and forgot to finish the section.
The SA was floored.
No Kate Spade bag for me.
I decided to check out the YSL camera bags. Once again, the floor model was trashed. It had deep scratches and nicks. No problem with the used look since I was going to use it as a throw around bag, but I wanted to trash it myself. This SA got three from the back. All three were overstuffed for shipping- the holes in the leather were stretched and the thread was showing- one to two millimeters. I unstuffed one and the threads were relaxed, sticking out and the holes in the leather, looked like slits. I told the SA, never mind.
All companies have flawed products, some are more costly than others. My Chanels are tough. I love Chanel designs.Owning luxury handbags has ruined me for less expensive brands- I expect excellent craftsmanship. Perhaps I’m a bag snob.
The SA’s thought I was entertaining checking out sealant, stitching and making sure nothing was crooked. The Kate Spade SA said customers usually just put the display on the counter and buy the bag without checking anything.
She called Kate Spade (and a few other brands) Nordstrom Rack brands (because that’s usually where they end up at season’s end).
I think I’ll stick with Chanel, Hermes & like brands and inspect, inspect, inspect.
It’s not chanel or whatever brand. I feel that it may be just how society and our value have changed so much over the last 10/20 years. Not saying all, but generally and quite pervasively, due to seemingly the singular focus on making money and focus on self. There appears to be soooo little concern or perspective on “leaving a legacy” or “pride” over ones creation work or reputation. It’s about how to be famous, be part of the 1%, etc because now more than ever we know more and more what that lifestyle looks like and there is this overwhelming focus on it. Companies/businesses have changed too in what they encourage in their employment practices. We often talk about “fast/disposable” fashion and yet, the way that companies treat their human capital, isn’t it exactly the same? Minimal investment, easy to replace or outsource and remove. No long term thinking.... etc.
It shouldn’t be shocking to see decline in social moral, ethics, professionalism, quality, and care in general. What is the point and the motivation? This can go from Wall Street to education to pretty much anything I can think of....
Are we really only seeing this in chanel? If we look a bit harder we see this all around us.. there are exceptions for sure, but I feel it’s now the minority.
The pendulum needs to swing back quite a bit imo.
