Handbags

[BritishGirl]

...How did the handles hold up in the end?  I just bought a gently used Roma 2 in the cream snake leather/suede and the handles look like they are starting to fray and the scales are somewhat loose.  Other than that, the rest of the bag is in mint condition.

I'm trying to decide whether to keep or return.  Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[Chi-town girl]

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@BritishGirl wrote:

...How did the handles hold up in the end?  I just bought a gently used Roma 2 in the cream snake leather/suede and the handles look like they are starting to fray and the scales are somewhat loose.  Other than that, the rest of the bag is in mint condition.

I'm trying to decide whether to keep or return.  Thanks in advance for your feedback.

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@BritishGirl - I bought the R2 cream snake, brand new when it was the TSV. I've used it frequently, one of my fav handbags! The handles on mine are showing wear. It doesn't look bad. The rest of the handbag is holding up well, no issues. 

[jaxs mom]

If you look on the Bay there are a lot of GILI Roma bags that show cracking on the handles. 

[Karnerblue]

I've never purchase one of the GILI bags but I remember reading about the issue with handles.  One would think if there are a number of the same issues with one product that there should be a recall. 

[sfins]

I think it's really hit or miss with the Roma 2's.  I bought about 5 different colors...the black, blush, and snake have held up incredibly well considering how much I carry them.

On the other hand, the orange and plum began cracking around the handles and where the straps connect to the large gold rings within a week or 2 of carrying them. I've had them a little over a year so by now they are looking pretty rough (and I'm not "rough" on my purses, that's just from normal wear) 

I've gotten a lot of use out of my Roma 2's but the cracking issue has made me leary of buying any new GILI bags, especially for the prices they charge.

[Chi-town girl]

@BritishGirl - I hope others that OWN the Roma2 cream snake will post a response.

The other 2 posters comments posted here are not referring to Roma2. Guess some people don't bother to read the specifics of a request/thread...Don't want you to be mislead by uninformed posters. 

[Chi-town girl]

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@sfins wrote:

I think it's really hit or miss with the Roma 2's.  I bought about 5 different colors...the black, blush, and snake have held up incredibly well considering how much I carry them.

On the other hand, the orange and plum began cracking around the handles and where the straps connect to the large gold rings within a week or 2 of carrying them. I've had them a little over a year so by now they are looking pretty rough (and I'm not "rough" on my purses, that's just from normal wear) 

I've gotten a lot of use out of my Roma 2's but the cracking issue has made me leary of buying any new GILI bags, especially for the prices they charge.

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@sfins - I did not purchase the early iterations of the GILI handbags. My 1st purchase was the Roma2 TSV. Don't recall it being offered in orange & plum as the TSV but I could be wrong. Were those 2 colors from the earlier production that had quality problems?

I own 3 R2 from the TSV production- cream snake, blush & black. They are gorgeous & I have had no issues with them

[sfins]

@Chi-town girl I'm not sure if the orange and plum were in the original TSV offering but they were brought back for a few months when Lisa Robertson was doing all her farewell stuff before she left.  It seems like I got them both on clearance prices so I figured they were left-overs that just didn't sell very well.

I did notice that those two particular colors didn't have the magnet closure inside the bag and it seems like GILI originally made a Roma 2 without a closure, got a ton of requests from customers for either a magnet or a zipper, then did a 2nd run of bags with the closure.  This may be why my colors weren't offered the 2nd time around.  Hope that helps. 

[BritishGirl]

@Chi-town girl  Thank-you for your kind consideration in making sure that I process the feedback from the community members correctly.

[Chi-town girl]

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@sfins wrote:

@Chi-town girl I'm not sure if the orange and plum were in the original TSV offering but they were brought back for a few months when Lisa Robertson was doing all her farewell stuff before she left.  It seems like I got them both on clearance prices so I figured they were left-overs that just didn't sell very well.

I did notice that those two particular colors didn't have the magnet closure inside the bag and it seems like GILI originally made a Roma 2 without a closure, got a ton of requests from customers for either a magnet or a zipper, then did a 2nd run of bags with the closure.  This may be why my colors weren't offered the 2nd time around.  Hope that helps. 

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@sfins - thank you for circling back. Yes, the orange & plum are from an earlier production that had quality issues.

The TSV Roma2 supposedly had fixed those issues & they added a magnetic snap. 

That's why I'm very reluctant to buy clearance when the items are sooo old & picked over