Why do people buy designer bags/shoes?

[ettieb]

I have seen a few threads recently with people discussing designer handbags and I'm absolutely baffled why people are spending so much money on a handbag.
What can be so special about a handbag (or a pair of shoes) that people will pay hundreds of pounds for them when they can get a decent leather bag for a fraction of the cost of a designer bag?
There must be a limit to how good the quality of a bag can be... surely no bag is worth £800?
The most expensive bag I have ever bought cost £35 and I felt very guilty as this is a lot of money for a bag in my world.
Is it a status thing? Do they buy and carry these bags so other people will know that they have lots of money to waste?
I honestly don't get it, it just seems obscene to me. I get that people can spend their money on whatever they want but it just seems such a waste and so show-offy.

@Sirius3030 I am unaware of personal attacks on you. I don't think I have made them. But if that has befallen you MNHQ take that very seriously so you need only to report and they will delete the offending posts.

I dispute that there is a world of difference between buying running shoes for £40 or a £100,000 handbag. They are both non-essential items. The price is irrelevant. It's just personal choice v resources and if you can't afford it, you can't afford it.

But most of us would say that if you can't afford £40 for running shoes that's far worse that not being able to afford £100,000 for a handbag. The comparison is mind-boggling. But maybe you think differently. Do explain your working.

No one needs specialist shoes for running in or a posh handbag. They just need basic shoes and a basic bag. The issue is whether you can afford those essential items out of your reasonable income along with other essentials such as food or shelter or travel - I mean to work, not to go on holiday. You did mean work travel in your monthly spreadsheet, didn't you?

It's obvious to most sensible people that if you can't afford the ones you want, buy others instead. It would be insulting to assume people couldn't work that out. We both accept that unfortunately some people cannot afford them and I accept that is a shame. I admit I am doing very little to change these things. What tangible steps are you making to create change?

If you have concluded that your contributions to this thread have been wrong then it is your decision, and yours alone to admit. Thankfully, we still have free will.

As is your withdrawal in order to prepare a lecture. You've lectured us at length and I'd hate to deprive others of your wisdom, so hurry away with your important work.

Meanwhile, I am going to go off and perform a small humanitarian act of my own. I don't like to boast, but feel free to ask.

Fgs - it’s not a choice between doing good and buying a bag.

As someone who buys designer bags and shoes (as well as High Street ones) I can tell you I do it because I see something I like and want and it reminds me why I work 80 hours a week to be able to have the things that then bring a little smile to my face.

I don’t do it for ‘status’ I hate that sort of rubbish, I wasn’t brought up to think I was better than anyone in the world, but I was brought up to understand that if I want to have the things I want on my terms and not to be beholden to anyone else then I need to work hard and have dedication…. You wouldn’t know which things I have are designer as it has no big labels or any of that rubbish, I buy things because I love them, want them and have earned them… like my Matalan jeans too 😂

I work hard and I enjoy shoes, bags and fast cars…. I also wear supermarket clothes… who gives a damn, if I earned it I will do as I please.

Does buying “for the label” including loving that label’s designs? As I love mulberry. I love the styles and the colours they come in. So yes I totally buy for the label.
or do people mean just to say you’ve got a mulberry? Because who goes around saying that kind of thing? Surely people just wear what they like and can afford to buy?

I don’t care about bags.

But I do love shoes. And I will buy interesting and beautiful shoes just for how they look. One favourite pair is from Topshop. An expensive brand I used to buy is Sophia Webster. I have lots of her shoes which are works of art. Unfortunately as she got more famous, her shoes now cost more than I am prepared to spend. They are still incredible to look at.

But yes I have designer shoes. Not to do with showing off. Not even to do with quality or how long they last. But simply because of how beautiful they look. Not sure if that makes me the most superficial consumerist on the thread. Maybe!

@pixie5121 Mulberry have some beautiful cross body bags. Sadie satchel, Darley, Amberley - a cross body is my definite favourite and I have all of those and love them.

Personally, it's because I don't have an extravagant lifestyle in any other way and a handbag is something I can buy because I love what it looks like, it doesn't matter what it looks like on me, because it's a bag. I love dresses, but they are such a disappointment because I'm short and dumpy and they never look how I want them to. Handbags never let me down! I drive a pretty rubbish car, live in a very average house, the vast majority of my money is spent on my kids/pets/house, so I have a few designer handbags because they make me happy. I'd have more if my budget allowed, but I buy what I can afford and I don't feel bad about it!

People spend money on things which baffle me too, but it's personal choice! My dad has a classic car collection which is worth hundreds of thousands, and the cars rarely see the light of day, but they make him happy 🤷🏻‍♀️ My husband happily spends money on antique cameras (although to be fair I do get that a bit because he takes some amazing photos!). Everyone has different hobbies/interests/passions, we don't need to understand them as long as they aren't hurting anyone.

@pixie5121 Instant Finds and the Designer Finds on Fb are personal shoppers for Bicester so you could see what stock there is and prices to get a feel before making a trip. Also, the mulberry outlets do personal shopping via WhatsApp too.

@pixie5121 they'd definitively have lots of stock at Bicester. The Mulberry Xmas sale was really good and I think they have some stock left. Also another sale coming up in June.

20% off at Bicester at the moment - but not all Mulberry’s are included.
you can phone up to check. They also used to post out - think still do.

I only buy what I like. Yes, I admit I can afford the more expensive ones, but I own both designer handbags and very cheap handbags. The way they go with my clothes, the occasion, my mood of the moment etc. make them all special to me and I take very good care of all of them!

I'm not a huge handbag purchaser (I'm more interested in clothing), but the ones I do have - a couple of Lanvins, a Bottega Veneta, a Loewe, a YSL and a Chanel Classic Flap (inherited), have been with me for many years.

That's a lot of handbags to me
I have one decent handbag (Radley), two small inexpensive ones for going out in the evening and one slightly more roomy scruffy practical canvas cross body one for days out and going on holiday (so that I can carry water, sun cream, sunglasses etc).

The one I use the most (once or twice a week max) is the decent one.

What is the consensus on matching shoes and bag BTW? I have a wedding coming up soon. I will probably only use the bag once or twice so I don't want to pay £££

but why the need to single out an Hermes bag as well-made and therefore worthy of purchase? It is a well made handbag, but you can't carry much coal in it so if that's what you needed to do to keep your family from freezing to death, then it's useless.

@limitedperiodonly I pretty much agree with you - we like what we like ... and we make discretionary purchases within our budgets and to give us pleasure (hopefully).

I only mentioned Hermes because I'd watched a really interesting video filmed in their atelier about their making and refurbishment of bags. I personally, don't really like the style or look of the "popular" bags eg the Birkin.

But the "designer" tag can also be a real cheat - I buy my handbags (I tend to have one at a time at wear it to death) from T K Maxx usually, and what I notice there is some of the "designer" stuff (Donna Karan, I'm looking at you) are plastic and not well made. I buy mostly unbranded bags that are solid leather, lined with inside zip pockets etc etc.

I suppose my opinion is that people who maybe don't know much about how clothes or bags or shoes are made (I make all my tailored clothes so only use good fabrics and interline, line etc etc in proper tailoring fashion) can get dazzled by the "designer" label, and not see the lack of quaity.

It's a commercial money-making swizz. I don't despise the people who fall for it, I just think it's a trick to cheat people out of their money.

I love designer stuff.

I’ve had a Mulberry handbag which was £800 ish in 2016? Was used less than 15 times as it was so heavy! It was well made though.

sold that and bought a cheap market one for £15 and it was ok but obviously nothing like the quality of the Mulberry.

last week I bought a Prada one at £1900.

it’s very light, lovely quality but i’am worried about it as your carrying around nearly 2k on you.

you have to watch it like a hawk in cafes etc

don’t do designer shoes as I only wear barefoot shoes.

Sorry for the terrible grammar there 😬

I have 3 decent bags, I’m not sure they’re really ‘designer’ they are Mont Blanc, Aspinal & Prada. The Prada I bought with my first big, investment banking bonus, over 20 years ago and I still love and use the bag. DD also loves it and I guess it will be passed on to her at some point.

I paid a chunk off the mortgage, put some in savings, paid for some work we needed doing on the house, but I’d worked hard for that bonus and wanted something, just for me, as an acknowledgment of what I’d achieved. Those 3 bags, between them, have lasted 20 years so for me, they’ve been pretty good value.

DH spent his bonuses on watches, nobody ever questions why he’s wasting money on expensive watches when he could buy a Swatch which would tell the time just as well. We also don’t buy expensive cars, mine is 12 years old & DH drives an old Skoda that’s about 10 years old.

DH spent his bonuses on watches, nobody ever questions why he’s wasting money on expensive watches when he could buy a Swatch which would tell the time just as well.

I think it's pretty established now that if men buy it, it's quality workmanship and sophisticated taste and high end product. If women buy it, it's mindless, rampant, show-off consumerism.

I’m jealous of anyone who has managed to find the perfect (for them) black leather bag
At nearly 60 I’m still trying! Budget isn’t unlimited but I have just never found ‘the one’ there is always something - pockets, size, weight, zips, hardware, compartments, length or style of strap
I frequently buy second hand or outlet sale so generally get my money back when our relationship doesn’t work out!

But it's only two more than you have, and one of those I inherited and don't really use, and one my husband bought me as a gift. Plus I'm positive I'm older than you 😆. So I've bought 4 handbags over the 20 years I've been in a position to buy expensive bags. I don't think that's excessive.

And to me the matching shoes and bag thing is a not necessary. I wouldn't have them clash wildly unless it was part of a 'look', but I don't think they need to be slavishly matched. When in doubt, black shoes and silver bags match up with almost anything, imo.

Posted that and I realised I'd forgotten one more. It's a Miu Miu, no obvious external branding, that I bought somewhere around 10 years ago, possibly 12. The leather still feels like satin and not one of the embellishments has come off.