With a number of features helping experts, resellers, and investment buyers to separate an authentic Chanel handbag from a counterfeit item, it’s safe to say that the ins and outs of the brand’s manufacturing and design process have been well documented over the years.
While limited supply and exceptionally high demand keep the brand in the public eye and ensure that every authentic handbag fetches a high price and an even higher return on investment, it’s the quality craftsmanship and materials that ensure every bag withstands the test of time – from a functional and a style point of view.
In this blog, we’re focussing on the popularity of Chanel handbags and the different materials that are used to bring the designs to life – as well as sharing some of the changes that the brand has spearheaded in terms of exotic animal skins and other less sustainable materials.
How Chanel Has Built a Reputation on Quality and Innovation
There are a handful of elements that most luxury brands have in common. One of those is quality design; another is popularity among celebrity and A-list buyers; another is the simple mathematics behind high demand and limited supply.
Chanel’s own reputation is built on a combination of these, as well as the innovation of its founder, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. Not only did she create pieces that allow buyers to inject elegance and style into their everyday wardrobes, but she was responsible for the first ever shoulder bags for women, developed the concept of the Little Black Dress fashion staple, and put emphasis on the importance of scent in completing an outfit. It is often said that Chanel No.5 was the designer’s breakout product and secured her rise to fame as well as her position in the luxury market.
In terms of handbags, Chanel’s reputation as one of the leading designers of luxury handbags on the market is built from the timeless design and especially the use of quilted leather, which Chanel used as a means of not just elevating the aesthetic but reinforcing the structure of the fabric so that it retained its shape, both while being worn and when on the hanger. This quilted design continues to appear in new Chanel products today, and is just one of the staple features that the fashion world owes to the brand and its founding designer.
Chanel’s Movement to Ban Fur and Exotic Skins
In 2018, Peta reported on Chanel’s announcement to ban the use of fur and exotic skins across its collections, both in the fashion and accessory sectors. Leading the way for the luxury industry, the ban on exotic skins specifically affected Chanel’s handbag collection – particularly as some of the most expensive luxury handbags ever made use the skin from rare crocodiles and alligators around the world.
Nevertheless, it is important when considering the materials used by Chanel to recognise this incredibly significant landmark shift in the brand’s own manufacturing – with vintage exotic skin bags seeing an uptick thanks to their limited status, and the move to create more sustainable pieces future-proofing the brand.
With that said, what are the materials that Chanel continues to use across its handbag collection, and which ones are rated as the best among buyers?
The Materials Favoured by Chanel Across Its Handbag Collection
There are six different types of leather that Chanel uses across its handbag collection. When browsing and reading more about these, it’s important to note that the leather used impacts not just the texture and look of the bag but also its structure and stability – meaning that, when buying a Chanel bag, you should liken your intended use with the right fabric for you.
The most popular and commonly used leathers that Chanel lists are caviar, lambskin, and calfskin. While caviar leather is the strongest and boasts a mottled layer that creates a grainy texture and protects the calfskin beneath, both lambskin and pure calfskin are much more supple and soft. Caviar leather is the go-to for hard-wearing and more versatile handbags, while lambskin is seen as the epitome of luxury, and calfskin sits somewhere in the middle as a smooth but durable leather.
Of course, Chanel doesn’t just use leather to produce its handbags. As you may have guessed from the title of this blog, tweed also makes an appearance – as do a few other materials.
Tweed is considered a quintessential material that is used by Chanel, presenting both a feminine and a colourful aesthetic – often integrating sparkling threads into the multicoloured tweed fabric. Soft and versatile, boasting a flexible structure and plenty of aesthetic flair, tweed presents a very different look to the classic leather but is just as popular across the Chanel brand as any leather.
Other fabrics and materials regularly used by Chanel include velvet, corduroy, jersey, and denim – as well as one-off catwalk and high-fashion items produced from plexiglass to bring weird and wonderful designs to life.
Are Some Materials More Valuable Than Others?
While rarer materials are certainly considered more valuable than those that are easier to get hold of, from a design and manufacturing perspective it’s not just scarcity that makes any one bag more coveted than another. The impact that material has on the texture and practicality of the bag is also important, for example recognising that caviar is more scratch resistant than calfskin and that goatskin (another favourite used by the brand) provides the same supple and soft texture but with more structural stability than both lambskin and calfskin.
In addition, the preloved and second-hand market is also where you will find those Chanel bags that are made using rare and exotic skins – for example, python leather and alligator skin. These can no longer be purchased new or on the retail market, which does give them an added dimension of extra value.
Investing in a Chanel Handbag – What to Look For
The quality of the material used is one of the biggest indicators of a genuine or counterfeit Chanel handbag, with all prospective buyers advised to secure the highest level of authentication from a reputable and trustworthy reseller.
For more advice on buying or selling a Chanel handbag, get in touch with your local second-hand seller.
