San Francisco-based company Quince, a purveyor of luxury-feeling goods at bargain-bin prices, has changed the descriptor of one of its best-selling bags after the New York Times’ Wirecutter and a TikTok-famous leather worker found some discrepancies.
As of Wednesday morning, the brand’s “Italian Leather Triple Compartment Shopper Tote” no longer says that it is made from “100% Top-grain Italian leather,” removing the top-grain descriptor from the item.
After Volkan Yilmaz, a leather connoisseur and expert who posts using the name Tanner Leatherstein, broke down the popular bag for a Wirecutter article on the brand’s best-selling items, something was amiss: He found that the bag was not made from the “100% Top-grain Italian leather” it proudly advertised on its website. Save for an interior pocket, he said the tote was made from split leather — a cheaper and less durable leather that is more affordable than most kinds of leather. In Tanner Leatherstein’s words, it’s “the lowest grade of leathers you can legally use and call leather.” (He was unable to immediately respond to a request for comment.)
The backlash was swift. Handbag enthusiasts on Reddit griped about the mis-labeling and the quality of past bags they’ve purchased. One Instagram user wrote Monday, after Leatherstein’s video was posted, that their interest in buying items from the brand “completely changed” after the Wirecutter article, to which the company assured that the bag is “made with 100% top-grain leather, finished for durability and texture” in a response. The brand added that they “stand by its quality.”
Quince is best known for its $50 cashmere sweaters and the barrage of podcast ads that tout its wares. But, as the San Francisco company has grown, it’s expanded its offerings into other consumer goods from linens to caviar — becoming a one-stop shop for luxurious items for the cheap. (Their data-driven, startup-y business model is the subject of an in-depth article in The Cut.) Its most aggressive push, arguably, has been in the handbag market. On its website, the shop sells purses and totes that bear striking similarities to those sold by high-end fashion houses like Saint Laurent, Loewe, and Bottega Veneta. Coach, earlier this month, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Oakland against the brand for trademark infringement.
In all fairness, Leatherstein told Wirecutter that the bag was a good deal — but perhaps just not as compelling a bargain for shoppers interested in high-end leather bags. Other bags on the site are still marketed as being constructed of top-grain leather.
Quince did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Gazetteer.
