Handmade vs designer

[esantoro]

I have a couple of ideas for women's bags. One bag I caught a glimpse of in s Sunsilk shampoo commercial. I'm trying to locate that commercial so I can save a still image of the bag to find out who makes it. All I can say now is that it's a tan/light brown bag.

[Johanna]

**Johanna picks herself up off the floor after looking at a Hermes bag for $56,000.

(If I spend that kind of money, it better have doorknobs and windows and a mailbox in front!)

Pat, when I used to have a shop, I used to fix one or two of those fancy bags every week. They often use crappy hardware and leather-like material on designer bags, but they do have a fancy label and price tag to justify the price. Regardless, you made an excellent point about noting the trends, and modernizing "classic designs". We have to do this in order to put a $300 tag on a purse that's actually worth the money (it will last a lifetime plus) and SELL it.

Johanna

[Zilla]

**Johanna picks herself up off the floor after looking at a Hermes bag for $56,000.

(If I spend that kind of money, it better have doorknobs and windows and a mailbox in front!)

I use to work at Neiman Marcus Store #1 in beautiful downtown Dallas. It use to just amaze me the prices on mass produced bags and shoes but we all know we are paying for the "name". Personaly I can't stand being a walking billboard with some high fliute'n designer. Shoot I even rip off the "wrangler, levi, etc." labels off my jeans. But yet I am willing to spend hundreds of dollars on a nice and good pair of boots.

I think as artists we in the leather "crafting" hobby/business are faced with what is offered to us pattern wise from the likes of Tandy who is promoting the "Western" type of leather kits and patterns. Now don't get me wrong here...Personally I love the whole heavily tooled floral designs. I understand the hours and skill it takes to produce those items and can only wish I could do it as well as many of the craftsmen/women here on this forum but we are talking tooling and carving here. Buffy Trophy Wife isn't going to want a Sheridan style purse or wallet when she is lunching with the Jr. League. She is not going to appreciate the hours of craftsmanship and because it's "hand made" won't pay the price while Cowgirl Sue won't blink an eyelash at digging into her purse for the same thing.

If you take the time to look at what sells commercially there is no "crafting" to it. A big name sat down and doodled an idea and sent it to someone else to mock up then it's sent to Aisa and massed produced under god awful conditions for pennies on the dollar. Shipped to these high end stores and because it has a "name" on it the public is willing to fork out hundreds and thousands of dollars for it.

A few years ago I learned a lesson. I was knitting shrugs and ponchos on a machine. If I put handmade on the item people would try to jew me down on the price but if I made a bigger ta-do about the fiber content they wouldn't and pay the price asked for.

The terms Hand Crafted, Hand Finished make a lot more money than Handmade.

Ok so I'll get off my soapbox

Kevin

[Art]

Hi Johanna,

Unlike some of the mass produced "upscale" bags, the Hermes bags are hand made one offs. The hardware is 18k Gold, Ruthenium, Platinum, or Palladium, hand stitching; a really quality bag that usually retails at around $5-$10k although gems can push that wayyy up, and our Dollar's demise against the Euro will be making new ones even higher. I don't see anything in THAT bag that should command that high a price as the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is farmed and redily available. Most of that price is probably the buy a brand new Birkin bag without the 2 or so year wait; there is a premium for EVERYTHING. These things are knocked off readily so if buying, one really has to be careful. The hardware is the most difficult thing to duplicate in that bag, the quality of materials and construction next.

Nice bag but I like the Kellys much better, but I'm old school.

Art

**Johanna picks herself up off the floor after looking at a Hermes bag for $56,000.

(If I spend that kind of money, it better have doorknobs and windows and a mailbox in front!)

[Suze]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7082001554.html

Didn't go to any of the sites Johanna posted - But have you all seen this one?

$52,500 for something that looks like the box of old purses in the bottom of my closet.

What stupit "new rich" people buy to "show off"

And I agree with Johanna, Spend that much money it better have a doorknob -

Do any of you now have a picture of a leather purse with a real doorknob attached yet?

http://www.creativityinstitute.com/index.a...amp;ProdID=1638

How about this - does it count?

Edited September 21, 2007 by Suze

[LAPat]

One day I saw a woman with a purse that had handcuffs on the straps. It was pretty rock and roll, but I admired her for taking something from one milieu and using it in another. She told me that she was selling the purses for $400 and up. And it was the handcuffs that sold them. So hardware is another interesting area to explore.

I know a lot of leatherworkers are traditionalists and masters as such. Myself I'm on the lookout for old aka "vintage" hardware that I can play with and art from other disciplines that I can explore. Eventually...

A related expereince. When my dog died I was thinking about a tattoo. But I couldn't find anyone that did portraiture that was not doing black line art. And the style was not for me. And I discovered that tattoo art, similar to leathercraft, uses a tremendous number of "flash" pieces, or pre-existing patterns. I was surprised. I mean I know a heart is a heart, and I know that you can combine pre-existing patterns to make something new, and I even believe that most art is nothing but a combination of what has gone before. But I expected to find more original rendering in more styles.

I'm a fine artist, but I don't have a great line, I do better with paint and charcoal and other media that are blendable and malleable. In other words, I carve from light and dark. Which is why I'm attracted to leatherwork. But because I want to do dog art, I am going to have to make my own patterns. And because I'm interested in contemporary or "modern" design, I am on the lookout for that as well.

In any case I have learned alot from this thread as from all of the ones I've read. And I think this is a very vibrant community that is very capable of taking leathercraft into the twenty first century.

When Kevin says there is no craft to what women spend money on, what I hear is an opportunity. It's the way that craft is applied, and I agree that Sheridan is not going to be the next big trend... unless it's turned on its ear. And unless someone gets that kind of stuff into the hands of every trend setter in the country.

By the way, does anyone out there do a decent belt for a cell phone. A very thin, flat holster that actually holds the damn thing for quick draw but doesn't allow it to fall out if you bend over? And doesn't bulk up under a jacket? That you could use on a Calvin Klein suit? Hmmm... See I think that sort of thing would sell, at least to me.

But is it a purse? And do earsets already make this idea useless? Now if I could just find a way to improve on a leash... and get Paris Hilton to use it...

L.A. Pat

[Jordan]

It is truely bizarre what people with lots of cash will spend it on. Gotta find a way for them to send some in my direction.