Sunday, August 3, 2008

How the Designer Handbag Originated

The rise of the designer handbag began in the early 14th century as a small leather pouch used to carry coins. It was usually a small bag created by cutting out a circular piece of cloth, sewing a thin leather strap around its circumference and pulling on the strap to create a drawstring. The pouches were quite small, holding only a few coins and were worn tied around the waist.

Today, designer houses such as Gucci, Coach, Kate Spade, Prada and Dior are an integral part of the designer handbag fashion world. While historically handbags were utilitarian, In the world of high fashion, a handbag’s real value and purpose is the fashion statement that it makes.

The Cost of a Designer Handbag Original

Designer handbags are big business in the fashion industry, Hollywood and in the world of wealth and privilege. These designer handbags bags often cost much more than an average American car and are clearly out of reach for the general population. But for the chosen few who can afford such luxuries, a designer purse is a status symbol. In the highly competitive fashion world, wealthy women will place their name on a waiting list for a designer handbag that costs thousands of dollars and anxiously await the day that their bag is available.

The Cost of a Replica Designer Handbag

There is hope for those who cannot afford the prices of the designer house handbag. A huge counterfeit industry exists in the creation of knock-off or replica designer bags. These handbags are sold for much less and are readily available to the general public. The replica designer handbag market is so lucrative that the demand for the knock-off is often higher than the comparative market for the designer bag. Sometimes, the replica designer handbag so closely resembles the original that it requires an expert to tell the difference.

This illegal plagiarism costs the American government well over $200 billion revenue annually because these illegal sellers don’t pay taxes. Additionally, many times the profits gained from this scam are diverted toward terrorist activities and/or providing support for other nefarious operations.

For more information about handbags, visit Dave Owen's Your Handbags.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

How to buy an authentic designer bag


If you decided to buy an authentic designer bag, but do not want to pay the retail price you can always try to find good "deals" on the Internet. Auctioning websites such as e-bay offer a lot of authentic vintage designer bags. Although not all of them are really authentic. So here are a few advices on how to tell a fake from the real thing.

- First of all, if you really are considering buying what somebody else is offering make sure you get a lot of pictures of the item. Some pictures should be real close up, so that you can see the stitches, the leather quality and so on. Do the homework, study what the real thing is supposed to look like on the official websites. (Louis Vuitton, for example, has close up pictures for most if not all of the items they offer.)

- It is a big plus if the exact same model is still for sale in the official store, so please, study carefully what it looks like. You can either do it online, as I said before, or you can even go to the actual store and ask to take a look at the bag. That is if there is such a store nearby.

- Compare the price that the seller is offering to the retail price of an item of the same kind at the official store (if your actual item is no longer for sale at the official store). If the price is way lower than at the official store, you should be careful. Nobody would ever sell an authentic Gucci, Prada or Chanel bag for less than half of the retail price.

- If the bag has a pattern like LV monogram or Gucci’s “GG” check if the pattern is symmetrical and is not being cut off in a weird place. Designers pay a lot of attention to keeping the pattern “correct”.

- Tags that hang from a handle are usually a clear sign of a fake designer bag. I definitely know that it’s the case for Louis Vuitton bags, because when I bought mine I didn’t have any tags or plastic wrapping around handles. So, be careful and check out what the bag looks like when they sell it at the official retail store.

- If you see glue anywhere, especially where the stitches are – then it is most definitely a fake.

- A used Louis Vuitton bag will never have the light beige handles. The color of the handles is light beige only when the bag is new. Already after a few weeks the leather becomes darker.

So I suggest that you do a lot of research before you consider buying a bag off the internet. I suggest choosing to buy an authentic bag instead. If you do not have designer stores nearby, you can always shop online. Louis Vuitton, Chanel and some other designers have on-line stores at their official websites. Although these stores are country-specific. There are also stores that sell items from different designers. Such stores are E-luxury and Bluefly.

Designer Purses - Find Great Deals Online

The first thing you can do if you want to make bargains currency Designer purses online is to go to a large number of different directories purchase available through designer purse shop These sites are mainly operated by independent dealers trading Designer purses available online through their Web sites. The only way they can make money from the sale Designer purses is buying wholesale Designer purses and designers can sell through their websites designer online trading to consumers everywhere in the world. Thus, whatever their place on the Designer purses they purchase, they pass the savings on Designer purses lovers like you!

With designer purse shop, you can review the long list of amazing Designer purses online vendors by classification. Through the list of seller's Designer purses, you can also make a comparison.

Here's what I think you should do as a fan of Designer Handbags and online shoppers. Go through all Web sites and review the Designer purses that you want. Mark them with their designer bag as an identity. And then go through other designer trading online sellers on the Internet and compare similar or even Designer purses in terms of price and reliability of the seller. Now, it's something that nobody else can help you because you must use your own judgment. Ask yourself questions like; is the creator of the prize purse worth it? Is the Designer purses seller reliable? Is the customer service provided by the Designer purses seller is satisfactory? How fast as the Designer handbags seller answer your e-mail or a comment or comments?

If the seller designer bag is large enough, they will even provide you with small samples of materials they use to make their Designer Handbags. Most of the time, these sellers Designer purses only give you a small piece of material, just to show you what type of material the designer purse is made. Unfortunately, very few sellers scholarship designer will provide these samples. But if you find a designer purse online seller who is willing to sell you a sample, you can be sure they are serious designer scholarship sellers.

Casandra Brooks is a designer purse enthusiast, always willing to talk Designer Handbags or almost anything designer orientated. On her spare time Casandra researches Designer Purses.