5 ways to spot a great handbag

One of the key aims of the bags & handbags online magazine is to find & bring great quality handbags to you that are extremely good value for money, so we though that a great way to start this section of the magazine would be to give you our top 5 tips on spotting a great quality handbag.

This is of course especially important as we approach Christmas – if we’re going to send the men-folk out on a shopping expedition for our Christmas presents, then we want them to come back with something at least half decent. Just point them here & they’ll be good to go.

I remember my mother telling me that good quality handbags (meaning leather handbags) would always come with a dust cover to keep your bag protected when not in use, but I’ve found that this rule of thumb isn’t really practical.

We’ve found a good few excellent leather handbag manufacturers who don’t provide a dust cover with the bag (they must only cost about 20p to make, so heavens know why they don’t), and on the other hand we’ve found some quite cheap mass produced synthetic bags that do.

Clearly mother doesn’t always know best!

So, just how can you tell whether a bag is well made & worth the money or not? Here are our top 5 tips to spot a great handbag:
 

1) Does it have Feet?

All good quality handbags come with little metal feet or studs on the underside to protect the bottom of the bag when you put it down. There are usually four, one in each corner, & without them the underside of the bag will become dirty, tired, & worn – imagine putting your gorgeous new handbag down only to realise it had been on a damp or wet floor – the feet help to keep the material off the floor, keeping the handbag in tip top shape.

2) Check the material

Okay, so this is a little subjective, but you need to feel & look at the material that the handbag is made from to see whether it’s a good quality synthetic or leather, or whether it’s something you’d rather cover your kitchen floor with. Good quality fabrics & synthetic materials are pretty easy to spot, they should feel nice, look nice, & not be wafer thin, they should feel & look like they have some substance to them.

Leather is a bit more tricky, although the rules are pretty much the same, and it can take some time to train your eye & touch. However, you’ll be able to tell if your handbag is made from poor quality leather when it get wet – dark patches, a change in colour, & smears indicate that it isn’t made from the best leathers.

3) Check the Stitching

Usually the stitching to the outside of a bag will be pretty good, after all, that’s the side that the prospective customer is going to see, so it needs to at least look nice – if it isn’t, for example, if there are loose threads, uneven stitching, or even missing stitching (yes, it happens & you need to look closely – as an example, compare the 4 handle terminations where the handle joins the bag – you can sometimes find 2 or 3 stitched & the others not!), then steer clear.

The stitching that you need to pay the most attention to is inside the bag since this is what holds the bag together, & if tthe bag has been made without care then this is where you’ll see it. Check the stitching around the trims, & even how the lining is stitched into the bag too, a good handbag will look as well made on the inside as it does on the outside.

You don’t want it falling to pieces just as you’re running for the bus!

4) The Lining

Following on from checking the stitching inside the bag, & the outer materials, check the lining too for pretty much the same things. Does it feel & look like a good quality material? Is it carefully stitched together & into the bag? Does it look like it fits the bag properly? The answer to all of these things should be a resounding “yes!“

5) Look at the fittings

By the fittings we mean the metal hoops, links, rings, etc that you might find adorning your potential new handbag, and also look at the zips or other fasteners too. What you’re looking for is good quality fittings that have some substance. If they feel like they’ve been made from tin plate, don’t sit nicely onto the bag, & just have a cheap feel & look to them, then personally I’d avoid it.

Zips can be another bone of contention. We’ve had bags that look great & tick most of the boxes, but then you look at the zip & it looks like it belongs on a pair of £7.99 jeans. Remember that your handbag is going to be zipped & unzipped quite regularly, & if the zipper isn’t up to the job it’ll break in no time at all.

Other fasteners need to have a similar inspection, with care taken with bags that have magnetic fasteners – is the magnet really powerful enough to keep the flap snugly shut?

There are of course other considerations that you can make.

I like to look for little features in the handbags that just help to make life that little bit easier, for example, does it have a nice little pocket to keep your mobile phone safe?

One of my favourites is the little clasp that you find inside some bags to clip your keys onto – how many times do we stand in the rain fumbling through the essentials we keep in there to find the car or door keys?

What clever handbag designers!

Please feel free to add your own tips & tricks in the comments below, & if you enjoy Bags & Handbags then please tell your friends, family, & colleagues about us too!