Handmade just means that human hands operate a machine. (The term is vastly overused unfortunately).
What brand is comparable to Hermes quality?
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there's a thread dedicated to Ramesh Nair's designs. plenty of Moynat bags:
Ramesh Nair’s Designs
Several TPF members have decided to create a place to celebrate our appreciation of Ramesh’s creative designs- from Yohji, Hermès, Moynat, and more. Please feel free to add photos of his designs, site where they’re from, and comment your thoughts. We only ask that this stays a place of...
forum.purseblog.com
Fleuron is a brand that uses a leather the same quality as Hermes and at a fair price. We talk about it here https://forum.purseblog.com/threads/fleuron-paris-does-anyone-know-anything-about-it.1052327/
LOEWE of course! The leather and craftsmanship of their bags are almost comparable with Hermès.
The prices of LOEWE are absolutely correct - the price-performance ratio is excellent.
I love LOEWE (I own also bags from Hermès) because of the beautiful designs and the perfect craftmanship.
The prices of LOEWE are absolutely correct - the price-performance ratio is excellent.
I love LOEWE (I own also bags from Hermès) because of the beautiful designs and the perfect craftmanship.
Handmade doesn’t always mean saddled stitched. I don’t think Valextra bags are saddled stitched, I think an artisan cuts the leather by hand and might hand stitch a few parts and the rest gets carefully machine stitched by same artisan so in the end it was handcrafted by one artisan as opposed to laser cut by a machine and assembled in a row by different people. I think this is true for many handcrafted bags. Very few are saddled stitched from start to finish. Other than some Hermes bags and some Joseph Duclos, I don’t know which brands are completely saddled stitched. Maybe someone else knows? I think Moreau also has some saddled stitched handbags.
When Moynat restarted under Ramesh all of their bags were entirely hand crafted. I am guessing that is no longer the case, at least for the canvas bags.
Peter Nitz does all construction by hand and there are a couple of French standalone artisans that do as well (sorry I don't recall the names but @880 mentioned at least one of them somewhat recently).
Duret (France), Mila Jito (USA) and Quyn Atelier (Vietnam) are three great options.
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Thanks @bagnut1 for the mention and @Christofle for the links above
@Tasha1 created a thread here: https://forum.purseblog.com/threads/duret-bag.1040839/
She and I both have Duret bags, hand cut and stitched by one craftsperson from start to finish, not machine stitched. IMO every stitch is by hand. all hand stitches are perfect; this is far and away the best quality bag I own. Mine is the white speckled Buffalo Dalmatian, black goat lining, above. I was also able to select from three different top quality hides. This was the first Buffalo Dalmatian bag made by Duret. The craftsperson trained H artisans many years ago.
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Thank you so much for this!!!! I’m going to look into it. ❤️❤️❤️ They look beautiful!
Someone just told me that Hermes Birkins and Kelly’s are not 100% hand stitched
Do you know if this is true? Some parts are machine stitched?
If I remember correctly only the interior pockets are machine stitched so you can consider the bag nearly fully saddlestitched.Thank you so much for this!!!! I’m going to look into it. ❤️❤️❤️ They look beautiful!
Someone just told me that Hermes Birkins and Kelly’s are not 100% hand stitched
PS: You don’t really have to worry both the Kelly and birkins are lovely and extremely well made bags so don’t let what someone told you turn you off from purchasing one. (Especially if you love them)
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I cannot emphasize enough how much I admire artisans who can saddle stitch uniformly and perfectly, in the manner you are describing. It looks so easy (ha!) but keeping thread tension uniform across the body of a bag is a big task, indeed. Most of my hand-stitched bags have some stitches that look shorter than others or look crooked, when in reality they are not because the holes are punched uniformly, it is just that the artisan's hands got tired and a single stitch was too tight or loose.
My controversial take is that I'm not particular about a bag being handcrafted (but machine stitched) vs. a bag being saddle stitched entirely by hand. I think both tasks are remarkably difficult, and both stand above the factory made (i.e. totally machine made) uniformity of all the popular contemporary brands.
(Then again, I'm not the type to obsess over a single popped stitch or a scar on the leather because, it's a handmade bag from an organic material, so I expect these things as part of the deal.)
The handful of brands named in this thread who hand-make and saddle stitch larger bags have nothing but my respect. It takes a lifetime of practice, respect for the materials and a genuine love for the work to have the patience to create such beautiful bags- while making it look effortless to boot.
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Thanks for your reply! I was looking at the Mila bags and they are beautiful! I’m assuming she uses high quality exotic leathers? Do you own anything from her?
She uses HCP exotics so very high quality. https://www.groupehcp.com/en/exotic-leather/
She’s going to be making my next bag but I don’t own anything from her yet. But I’ve been communicating back and forth now with her for over a year. She’s very responsive and usually answers within a few hours.
Personally, I’m more drawn towards her multitude of novonappa (barenia) colour options.