Along with the Margaux bag and the Slouchy Banana bag, I also happened to inspect The Row's N/S Park Tote Bag back in July 2022 in Paris (I think this was in La Samaritaine). Even more basic than the Margaux, with some details that just make it not worth the price tag, imho. (I think this is the large size, which is $2390 based on The Row's website)
First of all, the tote is just open except for these tiny little ties, and unlined. I don't mind a tote being open and unlined, but I just find it interesting that customers often look for features like closures and linings and all the bells and whistles when it comes to small-production bespoke bags or lesser known but well-made bag brands, but would not question dropping $$$ for bags that don't have those features just because of the brand "desirability".
Above: standard edge finishing, clean and looks ok. Below: you can see how the interior "filler" of the strap is not aligned in the center, and you can see based on the padded portion how off-center it is.
I drew arrows to make it clearer haha. Usually for thinner leathers like this (where the leather has been skived or shaved down to just the top grain portion, aka the top layer of the leather where the grain or design is visible), areas that need shoring up are usually fitted with different materials such as "salpa" (a sort of cork-like material that is made from reconstructed leather dust and scrap), foam, cardboard, etc. For higher end bags, they will use actual leather. But usually for commercial leather bags, it would be salpa or something similar, but who knows where else brands will cut costs haha. In this case, it feels like something foamy but could still be a strip of salpa. I don't think it's leather because it's too light. Most likely, the added layer is for reinforcement for the strap.
What I will say is a positive is that the strap is attached to the bag body with a U/V shaped line of stitches, instead of horizontal stitches. This is a stronger construction detail than if it had been attached with horizontal stitches. Horizontal stitches (and I know I've mentioned this, probably annoyingly by this point, countless times) for load-bearing areas such as this are a bad idea because the downward force will cause the stitches to act like a perforation line eventually. (I learned that little detail and many others from leather craft manuals by pioneer leather crafter Al Stohlman.)
Bag base looks basic but solid.
One of the brands I've loved aesthetically from afar, but was very underwhelming in person. Definitely not as luxe and special as they made me expect them to be. Would consider getting them on sale, but probably not at full price.
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