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Sounds like Coach needs to overhaul their designs while maintaining their well known quality! I just purchased a new Coach on ebay, for an exceptional price (I did confirm the serial ID). While the styling is a little older looking, the leather and workmanship are excellent so I'm happy.
If you look at Coach's boutique lines and Coach's factory store lines, you will see they offer many, many different styles to suit different tastes, and they roll out new products constantly. I think it would be really hard to say that *all* those wildly different are styles are now suddenly out of fashion. Perhaps you're less concerned about a style being out of fashion and more concerned with what carrying a particular brand name might say about you.
If you're looking for exclusivity (i.e. I have a bag most people don't have, so that makes my bag better/trendier), Coach is not going to give you want you want. Coach is about affordable luxury. Compared to other companies with a similar price range, the leather, construction, and life time money-back guarantee of Coach is quite often a better bang for your buck.
If you want your bag to convey exclusivity, you need to go for a higher price point. Try Hermes. And even then, there are quite a few of those walking around if you know where to look.
For trendiness, again, Coach (and Michael Kors, Tory Burch, even Celine, LV, Hermes, etc.) will not give you what you want, since these are established brands. Try for some up-and-coming designer instead, someone no one has ever heard off. Then you can start your own trend.
One sees a lot of Coach logo bags out and about. Does that somehow cheapen it, make it less trendy or desirable? I don't get all this talking down about Coach's logo bags while talking up about Michael Kors's bags. Have you seen all those bags emblazoned with gigantic block letter MKs? Michael Kors has outlets just like Coach, BTW. And FWIW, LV has popular logo bags as well. You've got your usual LV logo but you've also got the popular checked pattern LV bag, which isn't technically the "LV" logo, but pretty much functions as an LV status indicator. (In fact, plenty of designs function similarly to a logo -- just look at a Celine bag, an Hermes Birkin -- they all convey messages similar to what a logo bag might convey.)
I don't like most logo bags since I prefer leather to fabric, coated canvas, and patent leather (which are usually the materials used to make logo bags), but hey, some of the Coach Op Art logo bags are cute. Cute is cute, no matter what the brand or price.
Some folks here are surprised a leather handbag can cost several hundred dollars. I used to be that way. Then I did my research. Non-leather bags can cost you almost $100 these days, and they don't last very long nor are they biodegradable. I love me some cute bargains, but I do not carry non-leather bags if they are made of plastic. Bags made of plastic fake leather that can have dangerous levels of lead, and I do not want to expose myself or anyone else to that. I sometimes carry cloth bags, but they are not as durable as leather. I've found some affordable leather bags at sale prices for around $100 at department stores, but when I feel them, the leather tends to be rough, lower quality, and sometimes the handles, which take the brunt of your abuse, aren't leather (Fossil being a notable exception). This means that bag is not going to last long because that handle is plastic and will crack, and when it does, there is no way to fix it.
So when presented with an option to buy an all-leather handbag that comes with a money back guarantee from Coach that costs slightly more instead, I'll take it. Good leather costs money. Some of their bags are $500, some more, but some are less -- just over $100. For an all-leather bag with a lifetime money back guarantee, that's almost unheard of. Michael Kors does not offer such a guarantee, FWIW.
Wear what you like and enjoy your bags. Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks is trendy because there is always going to be someone else who follows another trend, and trends come and go.
But if being trend-on is really important, then look to your fashion inspirations (perhaps a celebrity or a some smaller fashion publication, not Vogue) and find out what they're carrying. Then buy it and enjoy.
^^ I agree my coach bags have been way more reliable than my Kate Spade and MK bags at the same price point. Coach leather bags are still going strong. Can't say the same about the MK and KS bags I have purchased at the same time. Although I like KS, I might eliminate them from contention, the last 2 I got needed repair in the first few months. And after a year they no longer repair for free. In contrast of my Coach bags, only one has ever needed repair. That was after about 3 years and I didn't rotate bags as often as I do now then. It turned out they couldn't fix it, and they gave me store credit for the full purchase price. No other mid range brand does that so I will continue to be loyal to Coach. And frankly, the bags in the $1000 price range aren't better than the Coach ones either.
Even if you honestly had no idea what Coach is, if you couldn't figure it out with 4 pages of comments, then you probably shouldn't be wasting your time by spending time on the forums.
I was just realized that my coach bags are starting to look dated. I sware I never see women my age with them anymore. I'm 25. All of the women my age and younger either have grundgey/hipster bags or super high end bags in brands I don't really know well.
I always thought Coach was an old stand by but now they seem dated. Has anyone else noticed that? Coach also isn't doing well financially, I think their stock is down. Am I the only one noticing this? So sad because all of my bags are Coach and I can't afford a new purse right now. I also can't stand poor quality Target bags.
Odds are your women friends have not even noticed. You could always ask them.There is something to be said for staying with what you like and being a little original. Pretend you are in a Dr. Pepper commercial. Just call it retro or vintage instead of dated, right? LOL!
^^ I agree my coach bags have been way more reliable than my Kate Spade and MK bags at the same price point. Coach leather bags are still going strong. Can't say the same about the MK and KS bags I have purchased at the same time. Although I like KS, I might eliminate them from contention, the last 2 I got needed repair in the first few months. And after a year they no longer repair for free. In contrast of my Coach bags, only one has ever needed repair. That was after about 3 years and I didn't rotate bags as often as I do now then. It turned out they couldn't fix it, and they gave me store credit for the full purchase price. No other mid range brand does that so I will continue to be loyal to Coach. And frankly, the bags in the $1000 price range aren't better than the Coach ones either.
Yes, I have to agree with you. Tumi and Coach are my go to brands. High end jewelry is where I invest and bags I like mid range with quality materials. Kind of high- low rather than trying too hard.
IMHO, when I started seeing tweens carrying Coach and D&B, I pretty much stopped buying from them (this was early 2000's). I have purchased a few items from their outlets, however, when I do buy Coach, it's usually their leather purses that aren't "in style" but classic so it'll last. I think them having the outlets is what made them more "common" too.
Scarily, what I see a lot of 20-something's carrying are high end stuff. Stuff I'd never be able to afford myself. $5k LV's for one. I also see a lot more Burberry out there. And I don't believe they're fake (they could be, not like I can tell and some of those fakes are dang good).
Myself, I went back to Harvey's Seatbelt Bags (they're so dang heavy though), but I have a few classics (black leather, brown leather, off-white leather Coach and a classic Burberry). I've sold off a lot of my Signature Coach as many have said, they're looking very dated, but people still buy them online. I can't justify nor afford anything above the $500 range, so I tend to buy classics.
One of my fave go-to bags is a simple black leather Coach that I got, over 10 years ago. It's in excellent condition still and it was a daily purse for many years. It looks great with everything. That's what I like to invest in, only because fashion comes and goes and I don't have the income to keep up.
If you want to stay trendy, but keep a bag awhile, try to find something that stands out a bit, maybe a neutral color, but not black/white/brown, or maybe it has something special to it, but that are classics overall...should last you awhile. Almost everything sold in Coach outlets are too trendy.
I don't see rich young women with Coach bags around here anymore. They've gone to MK and Tory Burch for the most part, though you do occasionally see a Kate Spade or Hermes.
FWIW, I've carried my cheap Target purse for four years and it hasn't deteriorated at all.
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I love me some cute bargains, but I do not carry non-leather bags if they are made of plastic. Bags made of plastic fake leather that can have dangerous levels of lead, and I do not want to expose myself or anyone else to that. I sometimes carry cloth bags, but they are not as durable as leather. I've found some affordable leather bags at sale prices for around $100 at department stores, but when I feel them, the leather tends to be rough, lower quality, and sometimes the handles, which take the brunt of your abuse, aren't leather (Fossil being a notable exception). This means that bag is not going to last long because that handle is plastic and will crack, and when it does, there is no way to fix it.
