I've been on RepLadies (RIP) for a few years and have a decent amount of experience with the higher end bag factories (though no personal experience with Chanel or Hermes yet). There is a new-ish replacement subreddit, but it's private and invite-only. I recently wrote my first bag review for that subreddit and thought it might be useful to cross-post here. RepLadies reviews have a very specific format, so this is pretty lengthy.
I did omit the seller contact info for the seller I used, but if it's not against the rules here, I can go ahead and re-add it (all sellers can get bags from all factories, so any former RepLadies TS will have no trouble getting bags from Black Frame). I hope this is helpful!
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DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
Amy did not provide any incentive for my review and has not seen the review prior to my posting. She did subtly solicit a review by concluding our chat with “dear I’m looking forward to your sharing a wonderful review on Luxelife” but this didn't really have an impact on my decision to write up a review.
ORDER INFORMATION
- Seller: Amy [her contact info is omitted until I confirm it's not against the rules to link to a seller]
- Item: Prada Re-Edition in Mango Saffiano from Black Frame (“BF”) factory
- Price: $177 USD for bag only (shipping was an additional $85 for both this bag and a second larger bag in the same parcel)
- Payment method: Paypal F&F
- Shipping carrier / method: Last mile delivery via FedEx
- Order Timeline:
29-Mar: Initial inquiry/conversation
30-Mar: Payment sent via PayPal F&F
31-Mar: Pre-sale photos received; GL for shipment
2-Apr: Shipment receipt number received
5-Apr: Package received (USA)
PHOTOS
REVIEW
- Quality numeric rating and assessment
9.9/10
The good stuff: Stitches are neat and thread is not too thin. Glazing is clean and consistently applied. Hardware is clean with no evidence of tarnishing or discoloration. No fufu smell or other odors. Zipper action is smooth with no sticking.
It's a small bag, so it won't be packed with tons of heavy stuff. The weight of the leather is appropriate given the size of the bag (I would expect thicker/heavier leather for a larger bag). Overall, it feels like a quality product.
There is a very minor flaw on the fabric underneath the zipper, but I imagine that this can probably be snipped off if it really bothered me. It's visible on my last photo, just "below" the left rivet of the exterior logo plaque. I deducted 0.1 points for this, but as a practical matter it does not bother me at all.
- Accuracy numeric rating and assessment
9.5/10
The good stuff: Saffiano leather looks great; hardware (aside from the logo plaque issue described below) looks good and is branded correctly (e.g., where the shoulder strap attaches to the sides of the bag). Stitch quality/straightness is substantially similar to authentic (there are a few crooked stitches here, just as there are on the auth bag on the Prada website--not conspicuous in either case). Color appears accurate, though the shade of green varies considerably based on ambient lighting.
The exterior logo plaque is, unfortunately, the biggest weakness of this bag in my opinion. Most noticeably, it is secured by "unfinished" rivets rather than the smooth, finished buttons that appear in the auth images from Prada. This matches the factory photos, though, so even though the product is not accurate to authentic, it is accurate to factory photos so I will not deduct points.
The exterior logo plaque also has a couple of minor details that don't appear to be replicated correctly on the example from Black Frame. Ultimately, the text on the plaque is just not applied as neatly as authentic. If someone is very familiar with Prada branding, this is probably "calloutable." The factory photos don't show the plaque with enough clarity to really determine this before seeing PSP's, so it's debatable whether or not it's "fair" to deduct points for accuracy on this bag. Ultimately, I am going to deduct 0.5 points for logo plaque "accuracy" issues because I don't think it's appropriate to call this bag 10/10 accurate despite the fact that a reasonable argument could be made that the bag is fully accurate to factory photos.
Ultimately, the logo plaque issues would not deter me from carrying this bag in my day-to-day life but I would probably not carry it to an actual Prada boutique.
- Satisfaction numeric rating and assessment
10/10
I am someone who values quality significantly more than I value accuracy--particularly for brands in this price range. The two minor annoyances are a) the exterior logo plaque and b) the tiny flaw at the zipper, but neither is a big deal for me and is not worth removing any points on my overall satisfaction score. Ultimately, I put this at 10/10 because I'm very pleased with the quality of Black Frame's Saffiano leather and I don't have any problems with the construction or hardware.
This bag (and a Celine Cabas Phantom in this same order with Amy) are my first bags from Black Frame. I've done a few Celine bags from JXG in the past but the leather quality from Black Frame (on both of the bags in this order) has impressed me enough that I probably will not be using JXG again.
- Service and/or Communication numeric rating and assessment
10/10 for Amy from me.
I'm about four years into the rep game and have worked with a Lindashian and couple sellers from the Mr. Gary extended universe. As of now, Amy is my favorite seller so far--she is attentive, responsive, and very helpful. Shipping times on this order were the fastest I've ever experienced. There are some sellers that I'd still like to try out (Reykey, specifically, seems solid) but unless I have any issues with a future Amy order, I don't see myself moving to another seller.
@MHX