Vintage Coach is great. I also do like some of the newer styles. I am not the type of person who needs to spend thousands on a purse.

When I visited family abroad, they loved that I brought them Coach items. It is seen as a coveted brand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone kindly gifted me a coach tote and it’s not my style. It really seemed fake because the material was like plastic, but I searched and it’s an “outlet” style.

Coach peaked in like 2005 but it’s been a weird downfall.

They peaked between the late 1960s and 2001, when they stopped using full-grain leather and moved their production to China. This was the start of the logo era. Look for any of their bags from 2001 or earlier-- they are incredible quality. I have some gorgeous bags made in their NYC factory in the 70s. Even if you find a really beat-up looking vintage bag online or at a thrift store, you can easily wash and moisturize them and they will look great.

+1
The solid leather, no logo vintage bags are the best. The new ones made out of synthetic fabric with huge logos are awful. I have a couple of beautiful saddle bags that are classics.

Back in the 1990s they used to have a factory in Florida where they made them and they would have a real factory sale once a year.

I loved the backpacks from the 1990s, they were such high quality.

Spent the holidays in northwestern Mexico, in areas with a lot of well-off tourists from other parts of Mexico. Lots and lots of Coach bags, very very little more expensive. Some European pop brands like Bimba y Lola too.

I stumbled upon one similar to this in an antique store last year. I couldn't believe my luck. It fits all my stuff so much better than any other bag.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/205214589185?_skw=vintage+coach+bags&itmmeta=01JHS29HP05WNH94ETWZGP24Q9&hash=item2fc7be2101:g:4IgAAOSwTSRnf8gP&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlx%2Fg4NGRDiZUMmtZPu44tpHCDboWP9WfupQohcTtSckBOE0Mmp4uQcH5M74FvjWqHo7iebzpNLh6qOfkbk6s%2BtHHaHG3fKa69AtNTwFjXJ%2Fz%2BHCbZTKdD11DurSNKJjqqKBqpPND3PaRN9aI%2BJoBC%2FBMYAMiocCLyZWLE2w%2FtcGJGrJ1yrbP7Vs1fnQN%2B%2BokjKAYgQc9%2B6hQDdax4sLzuP3ZE5UxXFsH8EluTOMgSEbc75qKrfMfR0kpqQL6DCI8DcMTV0AB%2FzLORnbhsMTfeVVn%2FEH2pEu7yH6N%2FHxSs7DQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5SbpqKOZQ

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone kindly gifted me a coach tote and it’s not my style. It really seemed fake because the material was like plastic, but I searched and it’s an “outlet” style.

Coach peaked in like 2005 but it’s been a weird downfall.

They peaked between the late 1960s and 2001, when they stopped using full-grain leather and moved their production to China. This was the start of the logo era. Look for any of their bags from 2001 or earlier-- they are incredible quality. I have some gorgeous bags made in their NYC factory in the 70s. Even if you find a really beat-up looking vintage bag online or at a thrift store, you can easily wash and moisturize them and they will look great.

+1
The solid leather, no logo vintage bags are the best. The new ones made out of synthetic fabric with huge logos are awful. I have a couple of beautiful saddle bags that are classics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone kindly gifted me a coach tote and it’s not my style. It really seemed fake because the material was like plastic, but I searched and it’s an “outlet” style.

Coach peaked in like 2005 but it’s been a weird downfall.

They peaked between the late 1960s and 2001, when they stopped using full-grain leather and moved their production to China. This was the start of the logo era. Look for any of their bags from 2001 or earlier-- they are incredible quality. I have some gorgeous bags made in their NYC factory in the 70s. Even if you find a really beat-up looking vintage bag online or at a thrift store, you can easily wash and moisturize them and they will look great.

The leather was great but they must have hired someone different for design in the early 2000s because that’s when they started having some personality - they had some more interesting styles at a higher price than most of their bags.

I do wish I had kept my 1992 plain black Coach. I miss real leather. I can’t believe how many companies sell $600 “vegan leather” bags. Plastic. It’s plastic.

My parents bought me a plain black Coach purse - thinking it was crossbodyish - with an outside pocket in the late ‘80s, maybe early ‘90s. I traveled overseas for work and the pocket was perfect for me to slip my passport and paper ticket into when making my way through check-in, immigration, customs, boarding, etc. Once I crossed all those hurdles, I would slip the two items back into my purse for the duration of the flight, then stick back in on landing.

I was on the road for 5-6 weeks, sometimes longer, moving from country to country and that purse got me through again and again. Sad to say I have no idea what happened to it. I ended up in grad school, then a wholly different line of work with nearly zilch travel. Think of it now and then fondly.

Anonymous wrote:Any bag with a logo is tacky

I agree, but the old, classic Coach bags have no logo. They're perfect.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone kindly gifted me a coach tote and it’s not my style. It really seemed fake because the material was like plastic, but I searched and it’s an “outlet” style.

Coach peaked in like 2005 but it’s been a weird downfall.

They peaked between the late 1960s and 2001, when they stopped using full-grain leather and moved their production to China. This was the start of the logo era. Look for any of their bags from 2001 or earlier-- they are incredible quality. I have some gorgeous bags made in their NYC factory in the 70s. Even if you find a really beat-up looking vintage bag online or at a thrift store, you can easily wash and moisturize them and they will look great.

The leather was great but they must have hired someone different for design in the early 2000s because that’s when they started having some personality - they had some more interesting styles at a higher price than most of their bags.

I do wish I had kept my 1992 plain black Coach. I miss real leather. I can’t believe how many companies sell $600 “vegan leather” bags. Plastic. It’s plastic.

There is no stigma with coach

I don’t carry a coach bag, but the shearling jackets are really good if you are into warmth

Anonymous wrote:My teens claim their generation doesn’t use purses.

I’m 40 and I rarely use a purse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Is there the same demographic wearing coach bags outside of the USA?

Coach is much less well known outside of the USA. I don't think anyone can speak for the whole world. As for my experience I spent 10 years in
Poland and I can say most people had never heard of Coach so did not associate it with a stigma.

Coach retail costs considerably more in Japan and Hong Kong than it does here. Also, they have different styles.

Anonymous wrote:Op here: stigma being its now a mid-range low quality brand, people have strong feelings about the brand, the raids, the counterfeits, the purses being seen as “tacky”, etc

Just from my search I created this post here without reviving any of the old threads, here’s a few where this feeling is expressed:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1215420.page#27878685

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1147407.page

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1124516.page

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1231891.page#28493361

You sound like a snob. I'm happy with my $20-40 purses from marshalls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carry what you like.

Don’t worry about what demographic typically favors a purse. I mean, seriously…

People don’t know what they like. They just know what marketers tell them to like.

+1.

Also, people know what their friends like.

My teens claim their generation doesn’t use purses.