Shopgoodwill.com has them and they are way undervalued. I bought one new with tags for about $20 plus shipping.
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I have several Portland Leather bags that I love. I started with a big cross body tote for work to hold my laptop and a million other things and now have one for every occasion. Most of mine are their āalmost perfectā quality and you canāt find a true flaw in any of them. The quality is great for the price.
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I wish Portland offered a slightly more polished purse option. The leather looks gorgeous and much more like the beautiful old school leather thatās nearly impossible to find now.
Funny, I like their stuff precisely because it is so plain and simple. Itās so hard to find things like this
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I was so close to purchasing their Poppy purse but the unfinished/unlined leather interior made me change my mind. As much as I love leatherāthe look and feel and smell of it, the raw side eventually makes a mess on everything it touches.
Now Iām looking into SZone bags. Not as expensive and luxurious but pretty decent according to reviews.
I snagged a lovely H&B at the local auction last week. Brand new bag, never used. $25. Retail about $300. Or $150 if the stores are having a half price sale.
Since it was Labor Day weekend, it was time for me to empty out my summer Vira Bradley quilted purse and transfer everything into the ānewā leather H&B which goes great with the autumn attire.
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Madewell is another quality brand. The tanner/leather guy on TikTok that rips leather goods apart to check the quality and workmanship was really impressed with Madewell. Today I saw one of their bags in Nordstrom Rack and it was really nice, but bigger than what I was looking for.
In 2009, I stumbled on a little pop-up store in an Airstream in my rural Virginia town. Because I love Airstreams, I wandered in and started talking to the lady working the shop. She told me about how the company had been providing leather for furniture for years and was just starting to get into doing leather totes and luggage. They had a beautiful, one of a kind, leather tote bag in this gorgeous magenta color. I was not making a ton of money at the time, so the $300+ price tag made me leave it there.
Mr. eponacelt and I went to dinner, and the lady was closing up for the week when we walked back home. The bag was still on my mind, and she offered to take somethin off the price. I canāt remember what I paid, but it still felt like a staggering amount at the time.
Well, I still have that tote bag and it STILL looks brand new. I am not kind to it, and the leather finish has this kind of textured look to it that I was sure would wear off with time. I carry my computer in it. I throw it on the floor at work and conferences. Iāve used it as a gym bag. Its been stuffed under airplane seats and crammed into overhead bins. Its 15 years old and I still get compliments on it.
Soā¦if you want something quality that will last, go to https://mooreandgiles.com/
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I am loving this thread for all the small businesses people have mentioned that Iāve never heard of. Definitely putting this place on my radar- their duffels are lovely. I travel for work at least a few days a month, usually 2 days, one overnight, and I highly prefer to use a duffel rather than a roller bag. The one Iāve been toting around from Everlane for years now is sadly starting to decline- I am totally you in how I use and abuse my bags:
Keeping Moore & Giles on the radar for when I need to buy the next one.
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This was supposed to be a general response, not particularly responding to a single person.
This company had a tent at Upperville last year, https://lauracea.com/ and I was really drooling over one bag, https://lauracea.com/collections/all-products/products/mini-convertible-backpack-tote-corn-flower-blue the waterproof leather is amazing.
Then she told me the priceā¦$1950 (and now itās $2500) and I walked away. If it had been under $800 I might have been tempted to splurge, even though my top price is usually under $300, but that leather and quality are really nice. As they should be at that price point.
I didnāt have any leather dust in my backpack, but I had a much older Coach bag that I quit carrying for that exact reason. It was awful! So I expected some but saw none. You might want to give it a try!
Iāve been carrying their Crossbody tote to work, plus on many vacations, for three years and havenāt had any issue with the raw inside being messy. No leather fluff stuck to other things, no rubbing dye off on anything. Mine is brown so I canāt speak for the heavier dyed colors but this one hasnāt been a problem at all. Itās a workhorse of a bag, and Iām not gentle on my stuff.
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The full sized backpack is $3k. It has 24k gold plated hardware but is advertised as having pockets for your gloves and riding bat. What a different world.
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I thought about it, for about 20 minutes, thought about what $2000+ buys and decided my old purse is just fine. Maybe I can find a used one in a few years!
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I ended up buying a vintage Dooney & Bourke purse from ebay. Several years ago I found another one in a thrift store for $15; now I see them selling anywhere from $25-$125. I really like the equestrian-style of these bags, with the contrasting stitching and leather trims.
In keeping with my one-in/one-out minimalism rule, now I have to find another purse to get rid of. Perhaps I should get rid of two, since I found a cute navy and white striped one that would be great for the summer.
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You have great self restraint. I have way too many purses, but since I rarely pay more than $50 for one, I decided it was a better way to indulge in buying nice leather than buying more saddles 
.
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All good leather smells great, whether itās a purse or a saddle. Your way of thinking makes sense to me.
Shopgoodwill.com has a lot of nice ones that arenāt expensive but the shipping is ridiculous, sometimes almost as much as the purse itself. A few have $.01 shipping, but none that Iām interested in.
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Yeah, the shipping is sometimes nuts. You have to watch out for that. Still, Iāve gotten some good deals ā and my daughter is now set for life (than goodness she likes the old Coach pocketbooks as much as I do).
