Left: Up Close and Personal; Right: Boogie Bucket
This is a rare moment on Bag Snob when we feature a bag EVERYONE can afford. I do apologize for not being considerate enough to offer affordable options in my Back To School story but you must now forgive me because I do aim to please =) I have seen Tano bags at Fred Segals and it always catches my eye for its styles, they are hip, friendly, young and have great colors, but it's the quality that gets me. They are extremely well priced, like I mean, couple hundred bucks cheap, so you have to figure that something's gotta give. The leather is thin-ish which is fine because it makes it lighter but the interior is unfinished, which I cannot stand. The slight gloss on some of the leather looks good from far but is far from good, you know the type. The hardware is unpolished, I don't mean they aren't shiny (which they aren't) - hardware is crucial, it should look almost like jewelry but this looks so far from that that it looks like actual hardware from the hardware store. And the standard on anything sewn, no sloppy seams, which this does not meet but it is mostly on the inside, so for the price I guess it might be acceptable to some. You can see why this would normally not make it on to our site but as far as super cheap bags go, this one at least gets major points for design. And for college students, affordable and hip might be all you're looking for. You can find a local retailer on the Tano site or get them at Must Have Bag which is the only web retailer for them. The Up Close and Personal with the handy outer pockets is $199, and the Boogie Bucket (which I like more) is $249. All their bags come in a rainbow variety of colors.
Cute bag! I was wondering what you meant by the interior being "unfinished". On the site you posted it says "Interior: fully lined, with one zipper pocket and one leather slit pocket for your cell/pda"... Please clarify. Thanks! :)
I was surprised to see these bags make it onto the site...I think it is safe to say for a leather bag of this size you are not going to get anything great for under $300 unless you buy used on Ebay....There was a chic boutique in a small town in Canada (yes small town chic) that sold these. While they are good looking from my experience the quality is not there. If you want a nice looking DURABLE bag at a low price point that will LAST check out Matt and Nat from Montreal bags. They are a bit less expensive than these because they are "vegan" bags and use no animal leathers and etc. The quality is extremely good and these bags LAST. For a lower price nice leather option Marc by Marc Jacobs bags are extremely well made, a much better investment.
I understand you're looking fro cheap, but tehre are sooooo many nice, roomy tote bags for under $1000 that aren't quite so... Tano. :p
I know some of these aren't usual Bag Snob material, but for the price range, off the top of my head:
* 7 for All Mankind, Canberra Tote
* Foley + Corinna, Jet Setter Junior or City Tote
* Linea Pelle, Dylan Zip Tote
* Rebecca Minkoff, French Tote or Nikki Hobo
* Badgley Mischka (Sp?), Hope Patent Bucket
* Hayden-Harnett, Sonia or Corcovado Tote
All of these bags will fit a laptop, all are in the $300 - $700 range, and all are great value for money. And some are on sale. They can be found at Shopbop.com, Luna Boston, and Hayden-Harnett.
Just thought I'd provide some in-between bags to compliment Kelly's cute choices, too.
Hi Kelly,
I think you got the prices mixed up.
Isn't the Up Close and Personal USD 249 and the Boogie Bucket USD 199 ?
These bags look okay from far away but up close they are very cheaply made and the leather is nothing to write home about. You'd be much better off saving the coupl hundred and putting it towards a more heavyweight brand with better construction. Absolutely everyone has one of these in NYC and they start to look old (literally!) very quickly.
These bags look okay from far away but up close they are very cheaply made and the leather is nothing to write home about. You'd be much better off saving the couple hundred and putting it towards a more heavyweight brand with better construction. Absolutely everyone has one of these in NYC and they start to look old (literally!) very quickly.
To clarify my comment on the interior being "unfinished", I mean that it does not look clean and neatly sewn, so I guess I should have said sloppy but then I said the seams were sloppy so I didn't want to keep saying sloppy. I know these bags are not Snob Worthy that's why all those caveats =)
Pffft. I look FORWARD to the days where I count as an "everyone" and can afford a $200 bag.
to those commenting on the price of the bags...lets remember the blog is called BAG SNOB. Did anyone log on to see something they could buy at the gap?
Thanks to the very honest comments on this board you guys have rescued me from blowing $249 or $199. The Boogie Bucket totally appealed to me in the photo so I was going to send money to a cousin to buy me one.
Instead will put that away and keep saving up for a Botkier/ Gerard Darrel/ miu miu vitello instead.