What is luxury?

I shop a lot of luxury items. I have a passion for it, it is a skill, and I generally am very good at evaluating and finding amazing deals on anything I want.

That being said, I must question what luxury actually means today. I was looking at some older Louis Vuitton bags today, and in some of the reviews one person mentioned that the strap had ripped just after purchase on a 1980s vintage Louis Vuitton bag.
If that bag had been Coach, a few years ago, Coach would have repaired it free of charge, no questions asked. What I used to love about Coach was how they stood behind their product. Louis Vuitton? I have never heard of them being willing to authenticate any of their older products, nor have I ever heard of them being willing to repair them. Hermes will, but it costs a fortune to have one of their bags sent in for refurbishing and it takes a while (6 weeks was the last I heard, but that was a while ago). So, what is luxury? Burberry won't even take a return if the bag gets denim transfer, and their bags are notorious for it (which is why the page of my blog that details how to remove stains from a Burberry has so many hits).
So has luxury come down to a flashy name and design with no customer service and a product they just expect you to replace over and over regardless of price? Because that is how it seems.

Coach was way more as a company. They put the fact that it was a product made in the US inside every purse. If you had an issue with anything, they fixed it and made it right, and they teuly stood behind every purse they made.
The reason I stopped my blog and sold my collection was because as a company, they changed. Everything is made in China, and since they don't want anyone to know, they removed the country of origin from their creed. If you take a bag in for repair now, they charge for the repair up front and invariably send you a coupon back saying they can't fix it. I was so disgusted. So I bought other bags, I branched out, and I found that it is industry wide. Luxury is not luxury anymore.
So why am I back? Because I would rather save bags that I know are amazing  than give money to any retailer who refuses to stand behind their overpriced product. Coach is not the company I loved, they suck now, but the prosucts made while they were a true American luxury company are so amazing that we don't need them to stand behind them. The bags are solid, no lining, thick leather, great hardware, and that kind of quality is not available today. So here I am, back to collect and save as many as I can, and show others how to do it, and how to make those bags stylish for any era... Becauae they are timeless, and they truly glow with quality.

First new bags in years!

And I am off! Two Coach New York bags and a Coach United States bag all getting a bath today. It has been along time! I am thrilled! I have a lengthy wishlist of the Coach classic bags I want, and these are the start! And please pardon my bath, it is old yet great and functional, not unlike these amazing bags! 

What I did notice is how much better the leather was between the New York produced bags and the United States produced bag. The United States one dried almost instantly, while the New York ones are still sopping wet. 

I am back!

After 8 years of battling to rebuild my life after my 2nd divorce, I am back to bags! I am very sorry for the lengthy break, and glad to see my work is still relevant!
I traded off most of my Coach collection after the divorce, in exchange for a Louis Vuitton that I love too much to carry. For the last five years I have almost exclusively carried my Burberry, but now I miss my court bag, the bag that started this whole love back when I was active duty Army and needed a nice bag to match my class A uniform.
I have a few bags on order and I can't wait to get started!