Louis Vuitton Handbags Review

Overall Rating

Louis Vuitton name

Louis Vuitton quality control

I confess: This year I ordered a fake Louis Vuitton over the Internet. Instantly I felt guilty the moment I placed my order. It's not that it is illegal in the US to buy replica designer handbags. For some illogical reason, it is only illegal to sell fakes but not to buy them for personal "novelty" use. But that is touch . I don't know what they were using in the Chinese factory, but the knockoff triggered several severe asthma attacks until it dawned on me that the knockoff was literally too toxic to touch. One could say I got what I deserved for even considering the option of carrying a counterfeit. Regardless, by the time the fake was in transit, my conscience had already convinced me that I wouldn't be capable of carrying a fake LV in public. Fortunately, the Chinese company was above board enough to return the charges incurred for my lapse of good judgment.

So this week I did the right thing and forked over the big bucks for a genuine Louis Vuitton. Or rather my fianc surprised me with the purse of my dreams - a genuine Louis Vuitton speedy 25. I've been pining after Louis Vuitton since the look of their classic monogram line first began to "grow" on me in the 1980s. So when I recently began seeing them around town in great numbers, I literally began to dream of owning one. And I didn't just dream of owning one once in a great while; I began dreaming of owning a classic LV monogram speedy nearly every day of the week, which I unsuccessfully tried to quench over a three month period by filling my closet with lesser-expensive designer purses, all to no avail. At last I broke down, deciding that nearly 20 years of waiting for the opportunity to hold an authentic LV in my solidly middle class hands was long enough.

Sadly, it didn't take five minutes before the honeymoon was over. I'll start with the pesky observations about my brand-new speedy, and move on to the serious defects.

Firstly, I noticed that the zipper pull and leather tabs at either end of the speedy style bag I received are surprisingly thin. The Chinese LV knockoff leather was weightier and more durable in this respect. Ditto for the Vachetta trim and leather tabs on either end of my barrel-style Dooney & Bourke bag (authentic), which are much more substantial in feel. Under the circumstances, the last thing I expected from a genuine Louis Vuitton was the impression that the leather pulls and tabs would feel flimsy - as if they might wrinkle or ball up like tissue paper within weeks.

But the problem was more serious. Thinking I spotted red lint at the base of a loop where a rectangular brass ring attaches a rolled leather handle to a corresponding loop of leather affixed to the canvas, I attempted to gently brush it off. When it didn't budge, I looked closer. Did I see what I think I was seeing? To be sure, I got out my 10x jeweler's loupe.

What I observed with my naked eye and my loupe seemed shockingly familiar: I once bought a cheap over-the-shoulder satchel that soon frayed in the same spot; specifically, where the handles affix by metal "rings" to the side of the bag. What I had noticed about my cheap vinyl purse became the same observation I confirmed while comparing the loop clearance on one side of my costly LV bag to the other: On the side of the speedy where the rolled leather handles articulated the most freely there was plenty of clearance - enough slack in the leather loops to allow me to peer through small tunnels of leather that enclosed the upper and lower halves of the rectangular brass handle rings. On the side, with evidence of chaffing, however? Almost no clearance: The leather was wound tightly around the metal ring at the bases. And on one of the two handle bases, the aforementioned problem was so bad that sometime between manufacturing and sitting flattened in its box, the leather encircling the affected handle attachment ring had already begun to fray. And because the edges of a Louis Vuitton handbag are red in color, it looked positively messy - enough that even a casual observer should have seen that the bag was defective before it left its US manufacturing plant or for that matter the Louis Vuitton boutique where my fianc purchased it.

The long and the short of it? I have owned my dream handbag less than 24 hours, have not had the pleasure of carrying it once, and already it has a major problem. In addition to the fraying, the rivets that tack down the leather handle bases on the affected side are so tight that the leather below the round LV-imprinted rivets is wrinkled on each side. The wrinkling, in turn, is further evidence suggesting that there wasn't enough slack in the leather to create a sufficient loop for the brass handle rings and that the person assembling it pulled what leather there was far too taught, which caused the leather to stretch and wrinkle below the attachment point. Comparing the wrinkled leather handle bases to the handle bases on the opposite side - the side with enough clearance for the brass rings to articulate freely - there is strikingly no wrinkling or stress on the leather whatsoever - further evidence that the US factory that assembled my speedy used an unequal length of leather to create the leather handle loops on one side of the bag when compared to the generous amount of leather used to create the handle bases and loops on the other.

Now all this is plain enough for anyone with decent vision to see. I just happen to be able to describe it more thoroughly because I spent, during my late high school and early college years, five years worth of Sundays giving estimates on shoe and handbag repairs, which involved writing up repair tickets for the shop owner, who took Sundays off. Watching what came in for repair - which were frequently only quality products that were worth the cost of repairing - I became accustomed to seeing how products wear, what their stress or friction points are, and how they ultimately fail. Experience tells me that even with intermittent use, this speedy will NOT last five years, let alone the 30 I was quoted with proper care.

Fortunately, I did not immediately dump the contents of my purse into my new bag before giving it a brief inspection, during which time the aforementioned workmanship issues became apparent. So yes, this authentic Louis Vuitton handbag was defective - straight out of the box. And, of course, my fianc , who had scrimped to afford it to begin with, felt crushed when I told him earlier today (I couldn't bare to tell him five minutes after I opened the box, which is when I first made the observation that the bag was defective). My fianc assures me he will travel back to the store to set the situation right, but from what little I can gather on the Internet, Louis Vuitton stores aren't known for their willingness to honor their 14-day return and exchange policy, and their sales associates are apparently known to argue with patrons who question whether a problem constitutes a defect.

I don't know whether I am simply unlucky, but I do know one thing: I am not wealthy, and neither is my fianc . My average for purse buying is $40 US, not $600+. So is it tolerable to find that Dooney & Bourke makes a better bag? Or worse, that a Chinese knockoff, aside from cutting off the LV patterns and contaminating their product with some allergenic factory chemicals, is actually made of heavier cowhide leather and heavier weight canvas?

This is my personal experience and my personal opinion, but I thought LV quality would be far better than what I have seen in my admittedly limited experience thus far. I had been told via email with LV prior to my fianc 's purchase that an LV bag may last as many as 30 years if treated properly and not carried on an exclusive basis! Yet the frayed leather, just below what is a high-stress "friction point" on any satchel-style bag, suggests that I will be lucky if the speedy bag I received will last two years before the leather begins to thin or crack further (meanwhile, replacing handles costs nearly $300 through LV). Moreover, since one cannot apply leather conditioners to untanned leather, there is no option to try to nourish the leather with conditioner to prevent the dryness that will seep into those frayed areas and begin to prematurely wear and split the leather away from the handle to which it connects.

I plan on asking my fianc to exchange the bag, but if I were smart I'd ask him to simply take it back.

Members' Comments onDLYNN's Review

• jvpd914 on 27th Feb 2009

  Nothing can be perfect all the time, LV guarantees their items and I'm sure will make it good if a flaw is discovered. Also, just because the bag was made in USA doesnt mean it isnt of the same quality that bags made in Spain or France are made of. If you are unhappy, take it back! Buy a lesser value bag that you can complain about.