I'm a bit frustrated by the amount of bags that are being imported from China. I knew Coach to be an American company, but recently read the print on the label inside my bag a bit more closely. It says:
Handcrafted in China? What? While I did buy my bag at an outlet location, it is a Kristin black patent leather hobo bag that was featured in the Coach signature stores previously and only moved to the outlet for clearance. Yes, I know how to check the serial number to know whether the bag was a signature or factory bag, and this checked out too.......
I know that I got a bargain on the bag, but it began to irritate me when I read the fine print and saw that it had been made in China. I understand why so many companies manufacture goods in China. Cheap materials + cheap labor = huge profits...... this is how businesses continue to be profitable, right? But look a little closer at their website, and you'll find that bags are often over $500. This seems to me an example of a company relying on their well known and respected name justifying the hefty price tag for a bag that is not necessarily being made to previous standards.
So I decide my new bag probably won't be a Coach. Sure, their factory online sales have great deals here and there, but how great is the deal if the bag was manufactured to only be a factory bag.......ever. It would never be found inside a Dillards or Coach store. Are these bags inferior in some way? And what about the mental games that are used to lure customers into buying these bags? I've never been to a Coach outlet store that didn't offer you 30% off the already reduced prices. Ok, so a bag is marked $398 as the original price, but it's now 50% off and seems like a steal at $199 + 30%........or is it?
If a bag is manufactured strictly for the purpose of being places at an outlet store, then the original price was always going to be that $199. Right? The people at Coach aren't stupid. They have manufactured these designs to be profitable even with the extra 30% off at the outlets. There is something about this that just really bothers me.
I will say that you're lucky if you can find a selection from the Chelsea, Kristin or Poppy lines to choose from on clearance and take that 30% off because that really is a deal, but I still go back to the points that Coach is still in business to make money and question whether the quality is what it once was given the importing from China.
So I decided that I would like to find a bag that is made in the USA. Guess what. It's surprising difficult to find any leather bags that are as stylish as what you find in Coach that are made in the USA without a hefty pricetag. In fact, of the lines Dillard's carries, I couldn't find any that I liked that had tags with anything other than "Made in China" printed on them. Dooney and Bourke claims to still make some of their bags here, but they also list Italy and China online so who knows where they're coming from really. Brahmin, Michael Kors, and Gianni Binni all seem to be coming out of China.........and all seem to be selling on brand name.
Marc Jacobs and Bagdley Mischca seem to still be making their products in Italy, and Louis Vuitton has production in France, USA, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. However, these lines all offer quality bags at a significantly higher price point, and that does not make them practical for most shoppers.
I really want to avoid the high end purse that is made in China. It just seems so wrong. I purchased a wallet for Jtl for Christmas. It was a very nice leather wallet from Kenneth Cole that included a warning that, "California Proposition 65 Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, and birth defects or other reproductive harm". How could I give my husband a gift that could possibly contain lead which could possibly lead to cancer?
Where was this fine, leather wallet made? China. The same place where lead paint is used occasionally on children's toys and melamine turns up in batches of dog food. Do I really think that there is enough lead (or other contaminating agent) in the leather wallet to cause cancer? Probably not, but nothing says you're special to me like a warning of birth defects and cancer. Right?
In my job, I see tons of merchandise every day come into the store that is being imported from China. I understand that the majority of the goods are equal to any other, and often at a significant price break. I have a hard time with high end merchandise that is being shifted into a country known for being able to reproduce anything for a lesser production cost.
I don't know when I'll finally find a chemical free bag that is made in a country other than China, but I am not going to give up. There are days when I wish I hadn't become obsessed with learning where things are made, but it's happened and now I must choose whether it's more important to me to stand behind my beliefs or have a name brand that everyone knows. Think I'll stick with being patient and waiting to find that perfect European or American designed bag that is free of chemicals that are unnecessary.
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