Venturing into a New Brand
I love finding new labels. I search them on socials, watch reviews and unboxings, check out their sustainability practices…stalk the brand basically.
My Freja New York Chrystie in Oat, $278
When I stumble onto a new label, there are things that can push me away or totally pull me in. Let’s go over the top 4 things I routinely consider:
Sales, Web Presence, Reviews, & Sustainability
1.) Sales- I will not buy a bag that has heavy or frequent sales. It makes me question the markup of the bag for one. For two it’s going to lower the overall value of the product. Reselling bags, or even gaining some equity in a bag, is part of the purse lovers world. When you purchase a label that gets repeatedly discounted, your resale price (or equity in the bag) is essentially gone. Why would I buy your preloved bag when I can wait for a good sale and get it brand new? Louis Vuitton does this best. No sales, insane resale market.
“No Sales or Discounts = Top Investment”
2.) Web Presence- I will not buy a bag from a bad website. I hate to throw under the bus here but a specific brand comes to mind as an example, Teddy Blake or Parisa Wang. Now Parisa Wang bags are aesthetically stunning. I have yet to pull the trigger on one but I have paroosed the website a time or two. Something that has stopped me in my tracks is their traditional retail value and the “our value” they use on the site to show a mark down of their product. It reminds me of a Homegoods or TJ Maxx tag. If I’m shopping luxury, that’s not a promising sign. Teddy Blake’s page reminds me of an online outlet site, so many red discounts and attention grabbers end up littering the page and taking away from the bags themselves.
from teddyblake.com
3.) Reviews- So I take this one into consideration but unless the buzz is absolutely atrocious I will probably touch a flame to see if it burns as bad as everyone says it does. Because on the opposite end of this, I have ordered bags that had fabulous recommendations just to be let down, wondering “am I high maintenance or were these all paid actors?” Here’s one of my more expensive lessons learned, I took a chance on a Louis Vuitton Montsouri backpack, despite warnings that the newer versions had peeling corners. What happened? I returned within weeks because of horribly peeling corners!
4.) Lastly, sustainability. This is the hot word for fashion right now isn’t it? Be careful because a lot of brands can green wash themselves to sound like they care but traceability is key here. Do they shop supplies through LWG? Are they certified with reputability agencies that hold feet to fire? Maybe even check out the Good On You site to see what they have to say. Either way, I want to hear they are making efforts here.
