Genuine Leather Handbags

You’re in a department store, looking for a new handbag and the sales assistant is pressuring you to buy a nice, but overly expensive slouch bag. That’s when she says the money-making phrase “it’s genuine leather”.

What about genuine leather makes a bag so pricey? I can assure you, the entire cow would not have cost what that Hermes clutch does! Is it really worth buying real leather, when there are such convincing synthetic imitations on the market?

I set out to find out whether the quality of a genuine leather handbag truly justified the enormous price tag, and compared the real thing to the imitations. I have to say, even though I am a bargain hunter, I was quite surprised by what I found.

Genuine leather handbags simply aren’t worth it.

You could pay from $100 to well over $1000 for a genuine leather handbag that just isn’t that nice. I’m not talking designer brands either, for those you’ll be looking at $6000 – $10,000. I mean just your average, plain black carry-all in a department store. There’s nothing that amazing about this handbag, it’s nicely lined and it’s a good size, but really, I could get a synthetic bag that looks exactly the same for so much less.

The beauty of synthetic handbags is that because they are not real leather, they come with a cruelty-free guarantee. No cows were harmed in the making of this bag! The other great thing about synthetics is that you can get some really lovely, classic designs that look just like leather for only a fraction of the cost of the real thing.

So here’s what I found out on my handbag mission!

You could get one genuine leather handbag for around $600, which will last, but won’t necessarily be in fashion next season. OR you could get six (yes six!) synthetic handbags for the same price. The faux-leather handbags I saw were all within the $40-$200 range, which I think is great value, and some of them looked very real.

The verdict? I bought six genuine leather handbags. On a side note, if your hubby is anything like mine and does the “Another bag?!” routine, you can always tell him it’s an investment. An investment into the coming season’s look! I bought a simple and classic brown carry-all, a black slouch bag, a silver clutch, red clutch, a lovely cream lace-covered purse and a fantastic tan sling bag. I now have a bag to match every outfit in my wardrobe.

I’m not saying you should never buy genuine leather, because sometimes it’s worth buying paying more to have a timeless bag last, but when it comes down to it, our fashions are changing every day, and there aren’t many handbags that can really be called timeless. It’s so much easier to go faux and keep up with the trends as they happen, rather than blow out your budget on one bag and buy nothing else for the year.

It’s up to you my dears, but as this frugal fashionista has found, genuine leather is a thing of the past. Now it’s all about cruelty-free faux leather, having a different clutch every day, and accessorising with unique, colourful handbags.

Good luck with your bargain hunting!