I love old stuff. This is just a fact. I love combing through old racks of clothes and looking at dusty shoes and then reimagining the very same pieces in my own closet. More than anything else, though — I love vintage bags. Somehow more than I love new bags, which is quite a statement on its own.

Vintage shopping has seen a resurgence in the last decade or so and loads of shops have cropped up with professional photos of old stuff, telling their extinguished tales and rekindling them through modern and trendy styling. It is this technique that sells a used sweater with “only a few holes” to their loyal instagram following for $200. But that’s a blog post for another day.

It’s easier than ever (and in my opinion, better than ever) to shop for some old goodies. Get yourself a deal, get yourself something truly unique, shop sustainable fashion without the greenwashing. You also don’t need to stress about accidentally making that first scratch on your supple lambskin bag. Somebody else did it for you!

But how do you shop for old things? How do you know that you’re getting a good deal? What do you look for in terms of lasting quality, and know what can be repaired and what’s a lost cause?

Welcome! I’m here to help.

How to Shop Online (for Old Stuff)

1. Ask For More Information

If you only take one piece of advice from this article, let it be this one. Any reputable seller will be able to provide more information on the bag you’re looking at. This includes measurements, more information about item condition, and additional photos of the bag in areas that you’d like to see more of. For instance, I emailed VSP Consignment in Toronto about a Prada bag (“as is” condition) that I eventually bought. The only reason I did was because when I asked to see more photos of the wear of the bag, they emailed me back quickly with around 15 detailed photos of the corners, hardware, strap, logo, interior, lining, etc. Though the bag was final sale, that really helped me see what I was buying and I felt a lot more confident. They also gave me the name of a local leather repair shop, who I showed the photos to to get a quote on the cost of repair. Never be afraid to ask for more information. If the seller/shop acts like you’ve inconvenienced them or are unable to provide adequate information, shop elsewhere.

2. Dimensions

Have you ever opened up a bag purchase and felt like it was a lot bigger (or smaller) than it looked online? We’ve all been there. I like to see the rough size of the bag before I buy it. So, I mark the dimensions on a sheet of paper to see how it’ll be in relation to my proportions. If the bag you’re considering is final sale and a good chunk of money, I recommend this. Of course, however, this very optional and super dorky, but it works for me! Use scissors and tape if you have to. Don’t be shy.

3. What does the bag come with?

I prefer my secondhand bags to come with at least a dustbag, and it’s more of an added bonus if my vintage bags do. It’s less common for that to be the case, particularly if the bag is very old. The bag may come with the original box, a receipt (though in my experience this is uncommon), a dustbag, a card of authenticity, and some bags I’ve seen even come with the damn ribbon the box was tied up with. All of these extras increase the cost of the bag. If you don’t care for the extras, you can save some money and find a bag without them.

4. Am I Getting a Good Deal?

The best way to determine if you’re getting a good deal is to do some research. Look around the web for similar bags and see their prices as well as the corresponding condition. You might see the same bag at one price in an alright condition and a much higher price for a bad in pristine condition. Ultimately, the only person to determine if you’re happy with the way you spent your money is up to you. If the price seems “too good”, investigate why. Is the bag damaged? Or is it in great condition and spectacularly below the going rate for that bag? If it’s the latter, I encourage you to ask about it. It can be a sign of a dubious origin or outright counterfeit. This is the opposite of a good deal.
If you’ve done research and you just want to know if it’s a good buy, make a little checklist of your dealbreakers, yellow flags, and green flags. See if the bag you’re considering meets more green flags or yellow flags, or if you can identify a dealbreaker. Would you rather have this purse for $X, or would you rather have $X in cash?

5. Avoiding Impulse Buys for Vintage Bags

Since there’s often only one, and since it may be a rare find, it can be easy to immediately purchase a vintage find without a second thought. I urge you to leave it for a day. Two days, however long you want in order to confirm this is something you want and will use in the long-term. An exception to this rule is if you’ve been looking for this bag for a while and it was already a planned purchase if you ever found one. If this is the case, pull that trigger. Add to cart.
But if you’re seeing it for the first time, I suggest you wait. The bags I buy vintage/secondhand I’ve often sat on for quite a while. It’s okay if the bag sells during this period. There’s no sense rushing into a purchase, particularly one you cannot return and may be costly.

Signs of Wear: What to Look For

There can be many signs of wear in a vintage or secondhand item. It all depends on whoever had it before you and how well they kept it. Did they condition the leather regularly? Did they often carry uncapped pens in their bag? And perhaps the most important question: how old is the bag?

Scratches

Leather scratches. Even the hardiest and toughest of leather can scratch, and generally the older the bag is, the more scratches it’s bound to have. When looking at a scratch, try and see if it’s superficial or if it’s deeper. Look closely at the bag, either in person or use the hell out of the zoom feature on the website you’re on. I’ve even taken screenshots of purses and put them into photoshop and upped the brightness to see marks better.
If it’s a superficial scratch, depending on the type of leather, you can likely (not guaranteed) buff it out with some leather conditioner and a soft cloth. Always do a test patch in an inconspicuous area of the bag first. You can almost certainly at least improve the look of most marks by massaging it with some conditioner. Are those scratches in an obvious area? Is it a dealbreaker in the event that you can’t remove them completely?

Ripped Stitches

Ripped or unraveled stitches can happen, but they can be fixed by a leather repair shop.

Faded Logos and Serial Numbers

If the bag branding reads “RADA” or “ADE IN ITA-Y” it can hurt your chances of selling it, especially if it’s missing a serial number and proper logos. I’ve seen a number of secondhand and vintage Chanel bags that are missing at least in part their serial numbers, which isn’t a big deal to me, but if you want those logos, serial numbers or year of manufacturing intact and the bag doesn’t come with an authenticity card, it might be better to look elsewhere.

Faded Plating

I’ve heard whispers that faded plating can be repaired with a gold foil pen, an electroplating kit, etc. and I’ve never tested any of these alleged fixes. Plating repairs can get incredibly expensive (say, if you wanted a jeweler to re-plate the pieces). Generally, I operate under the assumption that if the plating is faded, it’ll either stay that way and I’ll be okay with it or I’ll leave the bag behind.

Cracked Leather

Leather is skin. It cracks because it’s dried out too much (read: not conditioned enough, improperly stored). Inspect your bag using whatever is available to you and try to see if the cracks are surface level, superficial and light, or if they’re fairly deep. Surface-level cracks can be easier to hide or easy to eliminate altogether. Here is a great guide on how to ease the appearance of cracks, both surface-level and deeper — there are many of these guide available online, but you may need to buy tools to repair your leather.

Sad, Worn Corners

Worn corners can be dealt with similarly to cracked leather. It may take several rounds of conditioning and the corners may improve in appearance but also may not completely disappear. You may also choose to color/paint the corners.

Faded Leather

The only way to remedy faded leather is to paint it. You can do this yourself, or you can take it to a leather restorer. Note that third-party repairs lower the resale value.

Cracked Resin

On the outside of the bag, along the edges of the bottom and sometimes elsewhere, like the flap, there’s something called “resin glazing” that gets applied to seal the raw edges of the leather. This can crack, and once it does little tufts of God-knows-what can come out.

Stains

Stains are usually seen on a bag’s lining. Ink and miscellaneous make up products can be difficult to remove because you can’t really wash your purse. I’ve seen people wash leather before but I would not recommend trying it. I know that some leather shops don’t service non-leather linings, but you may have some luck with a bit of rinseless wash and a toothbrush on a fabric lining, but as always, do a test spot.
Exterior stains may require a professional.

Authenticity

Authenticity is guaranteed by a lot of larger online platforms, like Fashionphile and Vestiaire Collective. But what do you do when a smaller seller (like an Etsy shop) has a bag listed with no information regarding the processes used to guarantee authenticity?

Detective work. Grab your magnifying glass.

Ask the seller about their authentication process. Ask for photos of logos, branding, etc. And use that nifty little zoom tool to inspect stitching if it’s an online purchase. If you’re in-person, you can pull up a little guide on your phone for how to determine, say, if a Gucci Jackie bag is authentic. There are a lot of guides out there to help buyers like you make an informed purchase. Ultimately, though, if you’re still not sure and the seller wasn’t able to answer your questions in a satisfactory manner, I’d skip it. When in doubt and all that.

A Chanel bag sells for well over $1,000. Even the 40-year old ones with cracked leather and missing serial numbers. If the bag is in good condition and the price is suspiciously low, it’s probably for a reason.
And remember — boxes, tags, and even authenticity cards can be fabricated. Reputable sellers are your best bet, as well as being justifiably skeptical. If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.

Fixing Secondhand Bags

Leather Restoration for Secondhand Bags

Bags need to be conditioned every several months to keep the leather in its best shape and you can absolutely do this yourself. There are also a number of leather shops that, among shoes and other leather goods, service purses. They condition the leather, treat cracks and cracked resin, and buff out any scratches. They can restore many different parts of the bag as well, and depending where you are in the world the repair shops may get even more specialized. I suggest familiarizing yourself with your local options to know if it’s a possibility for you to have a bag refurbished if you acquire a bag that needs extensive work. You can show photos of the bag and problem issues before you purchase it to see if they can fix it and to get a rough cost of repair. I’ve done this before with success but the shop may also tell you that they need to see the bag in person before giving a quote. If the local shops don’t offer the services you need to repair the bag, consider doing it yourself (some Googling, trial and error, and perhaps a bit of money).

Smells

Yes, old things usually come with a smell. Sometimes the smell is a strong perfume, like the kind an 80-year old woman would wear on her way to a luncheon. Sometimes, it’s just an ‘old’ smell. These smells often fade with use and time and in my experience, eventually the smell disappears. Sometimes, though, it’s a mustier smell. I got a trunk for my husband once from an antique shop and I was not diligent about inspecting the trunk before I brought it home. It was a beautiful old-timey trunk and the hinges were a little weak on it, but that didn’t bother me. I brought it home, I opened it up, and left it out for him to find. Unfortunately, when he came through the door, the first words out of his mouth were “What the hell is that smell?”

The trunk was moldy. So, so moldy. If it was a cheese, it would be blue cheese. If it was a salad, it would be one with a lot of blue cheese. If it was a mold, it would be the moldiest of molds. You get it.
I didn’t notice it because the entire shop had that smell. Come to think of it, it must have been that trunk and I bet that they were thrilled when I carried it out!
We left it outside in the hot summer sun for a few days to dry it out, but to no avail. Eventually, we gave it away as it had stunk up the house. I’m sure there was a way to clean it, but I remember it being fairly involved and I deemed it not worth it.

Where to Shop for Secondhand Bags

Here are some companies I’ve personally shopped with and have had positive experiences:

Fashionphile (USA, ships worlwide)
VSP Consignment (Canadian, ships worldwide)
Vestiaire Collective (Wordlwide)
Farfetch Pre-Owned (Wordlwide)
Etsy (Though this encompasses many different sellers so make sure you confirm the things you need to individually with each shop)

Summing it Up

Whew, that was a lot of typing! I hope that this will help you make informed choices on how to shop sustainably via secondhand bags. Here’s a quick summary (or a TL;DR) of what I’ve just covered:

• Invest in a quality leather conditioner and cleaner, but always make a test patch first in an inconspicuous area.
• A website’s zoom tool is your friend.
• If you have questions, ask the shop. This can include but is not limited to additional photos, authenticity questions, and item condition questions.
• Make friends with your local leather repair shop. It’s important to reach out to see what services they offer and include that in your decision to purchase your bag. Do they offer all of the services needed to refurbish your bag?
• Scratches, no matter how severe, can often be improved with some TLC.
• Always do a test patch first in an inconspicuous area.
• The only person who can decide if you’re getting a good deal is you — but substantial of research does help.
• Read the details of their conditions chart
• If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.
• Know what your dealbreakers are as well as your green flags. “I’d like to have my purse have all of the plating intact but I don’t mind if the corners are a bit ugly”. “I don’t want bags with any fading, and I’d like the interior to be without stains”. You get me.
• I suggest that you do not buy a bag based on the idea that you *might* be able to fix it
  
  Thanks for reading. Tell me about your best vintage find below!
  -Megan