Probably one of the brands I've been most curious about, mainly because they seemingly are trying to position themselves as an "indie" or small brand, yet somehow are able to afford so much marketing (a gazillion ads, bloggers, including that dude who cuts bags up for entertainment even though his review metrics are suspect haha, etc)
The strange thing is that I've literally only seen this one person using it irl. I apologize for the stalkery photos but I tried to sneak some (without their face/ identity of course) because it was the only Polène bag I'd seen in use (that wasn't sponsored haha). A few people have already requested that this be reviewed, and I really thought that the brand's bags would be more accessible/ available in big department stores and whatnot due to their aggressive marketing, but it was so hard to find any shops or stands or kiosks or any sort of retail presence at all--at least the places I visited in the last few months (in Europe and Japan)
Still, I'd love to get my hands on them to really inspect them up close. From afar, they look trendy and clean and well-made enough, but I'm always suspicious of brands that try to pass themselves off as handmade or indie, when their marketing dollars say otherwise. And while the price-points are very attractive (accessible luxury pricing) and so isn't as much of a scam if they do end up being crap, I will reserve my definitive analysis until I am able to do a proper inspection.
But think of it this way--with so much spent on marketing & PR, they are able to offer the bags at such an affordable price (350€ for this bag)--they had to have cut costs somewhere to be able to do that, whether it's in terms of the labor, the materials, the working conditions, or something else. So while I like the design from afar, my primary impression of it is still seeped in suspicion :))
From the europe site:
"Handcrafted" or "handmade" is so vague now that a lot of brands are sort of using it as an angle. But "assembled by hand" or "a person operated a sewing machine to make this", while technically could qualify as "hand-crafted" since a person's hands were involved--these aren't the same as a bag being sewn or cut by hand. So be wary of these kinds of marketing words from brands with money, because I think it kind of takes advantage of the work of smaller business owners and artisans who in fact did the kind of work that customers looking for "handmade" actually mean, if that makes any sense. Forgive the preachiness but that's also because I'm one of those small business owner-artisans myself haha
Things to note in their product info:
- "handmade" doesn't necessarily mean hand-sewn
- hand-made in spain doesn't mean it was made by Spanish people
- doesn't say where the leather is from, but I am guessing the quality is not the best
- VELVET MICROFIBER lining. not leather.
Lol but when I clicked on "find out more about our craft":
That might sum it all up, eh.
Anyway, more details once I actually get my hands on these.
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