Let me first start off by educating our viewers about designer handbags. Today’s lesson is going to be about handbag materials. Handbag materials range from fabrics, canvas, leathers, animal skins, natural fibers, vinyl, etc. The two most popular types of material used in today’s handbag industry are the monogrammed canvas (also known as vinyl or PVC) and calf skin leathers. 

“Did you say vinyl, Jen?” And my response is: “Yes I did say vinyl.” I think this is an important topic to discuss; therefore, I’m going to dig a little bit deeper into the topic of vinyl bodied handbags.

First off, I just want to make this crucial point clear to our readers. The famous monogrammed Louis Vuitton, Rioni, and Dooney & Bourke handbags mostly consist of a canvas (vinyl) body. Many people think that their monogrammed handbag is leather. Why wouldn’t it be leather? I paid over a thousand dollars for the handbag itself and another two hundred for the shoulder strap. It is a very common misconception that monogrammed handbags consist entirely of leather. It’s a definite shock to many when they find out that their handbags are not leather. Their reactions are similar to watching “Magic Secrets Truly Revealed” on TV for the first time, but instead it’s “Handbag Secrets Truly Revealed.” Well don’t go throwing away your handbag now. The good news is that most of these handbags consist of leather trim and handles. So, your handbag is not completely made of vinyl. Moving on, now that our viewers know the painful truth, it’s time for me to explain why these designer handbag companies choose to use canvas instead of leather.

There are several reasons why many designer handbag companies use canvas bodies. Companies like Louis Vuitton have been in the handbag industry for over a hundred years, thus their experience and expertise led them to cultivate the use of vinyl into their handbags. The primary reason why vinyl was chosen instead of leather equates to the durability of its composition. Durability is a very important aspect for any handbag company’s reputation. Who wants a handbag that will break apart after only a few uses? Secondly, vinyl is capable of being practically stain repellant and water resistant. This is very practical and useful characteristic of vinyl because unexpected accidents are likely to occur during the lifetime of the handbag? The third reason is that vinyl has the ability to retain its shape quite efficiently. Leather handbags tend to sag and droop while vinyl handbags continue to stand nicely in all different types of cute shapes. And last but not least, the most important reason is that monogram prints can only be used on vinyl. So, if you stubbornly insist in only purchasing leather handbags from now on, you can say goodbye to all those beautiful flowers, cherries, blossoms, and logos. Leather is too soft and weak to hold and maintain any type of print. It has been done before; but within only a week’s time, the print wore off and resulted in an ugly faded handbag. And incase you guys were curious; Louis Vuitton gets their leathers and canvas from Paris, Rioni gets their canvas and leathers from Italy, and Dooney and Bourke gets their canvas and leathers from the US.

Well, that about sums up the vinyl versus leather controversy. I hope this post was educational for you viewers out there. Until next time; thank you for your support!