Bags!

[Babs]

I've noticed a certain amount of interest in the extremely important subject of bags! I have a personal favourite shop but just wondered where others like shopping and what styles are particularly good/prevalent in Kalkan this year. I've a few weeks yet before I start my personal hunt but know there are experts who are either currently in Kalkan or recently returned

Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=8289.0

[tortoise lady]

That's funny, I was just about to start a thread on bags.    I know this will shock a lot of you ladies but I have never managed to get interested in them.    I own two.   One a lovely tan bag bought in Italy about twelve years ago and used about twice.   The other a black shoulder bag which I have had for about seven years.    It is an exact replica of the other black bag which wore out.    Even I am getting ashamed of my present bag and think the time to get another is in Kalkan.   But which shop?    As such a novice I am nervous of going into shops which may give me a hard sell.

Any advice would be appreciated.    I think my main problem with not wanting lots of bags is that I keep so much in my bag and it would be too much trouble to have to take everything out .

Where would be the best choice of bags in Kalkan and with kind assistants who will not overwhelm me?

Perhaps I shouldn't even mention shoes - I almost never buy those either.    I realise I am probably an oddity on this forum when it comes to bags and shoes.   It does leave more money though for airfares to Kalkan and lovely food and wine whilst there.

[itstime]

Hey Tortoise Lady, when are you next in Kalkan? If it coincides with my next visit I'll take you on a whistlestop tour of the delights of the Kalkan handbag shopping experience
I feel it is my female duty to convert you into a handbag wielding lady of Kalkan
Hmmmmmm now shoes......... love them but sadly never really been able to find any as wonderful as the bags. Hasn't stopped me from buying them in bulk but never really fallen in love with any of them.
As far as shops go you will be spoiled for choice. I've bought 2 from BSG a lovely bright purple Jimmy Choo last year and my gorgeous Louis Vuitton this year. Did drool over another beautiful bag in the shop on the road down to the harbour earlier this month (can't remember the name ) but thought one per holiday was enough. Hope it's still there next month though

Babs you will also be spoiled for choice. Saw many different designs from Chloe, Fendi, Mulberry etc There is a bag to die for for every taste so worry not you will definitely find one you'll fall in love with

Maybe we should get together and have a mass "bag buy" sometime soon. It's so easy to convince yourself that you really deserve to own one

[Babs]

2 bags Turquoise Lady...I have to admit that I'm impressed....at your strength! I'm afraid I wouldn't even begin to count mine.....and my daughters are the same, my eldest famously took 15 bags with her to uni....at least two of them were from BSG.....and my younger daughter is probably swanning around Kalkan with her rather nice 'Chanel' as I write.....in fact if anyone sees a short dark girl with a very burnt boyfriend even looking in bag shops.....please restrain her! 

[kalkan4eva]

...taking a break from the intense heat...
Bags...hmmm...could be my chosen specialised subject if I was ever to go on Mastermind
There's great choice here and in Fethiye and some hard bartering to be done if you want the bag of your dreams. Always pay cash if you can - best bargaining tool. Most places will take Sterling or Turkish lira. I suggest before you come out here look on a good website like Net-a-Porter or visit a nearby Harvey Nics or Selfridges and have a good look. Many of the major Fashion Houses have their bag factories out here, so you will get a good quality copy at a fraction of the price. None of the bags are real - so don't be fooled into spending hundreds of £'s on one. I've bought some amazing copies - my "Hermes Birkin" in black croc leather has been probably my best buy here - from Nuri (next to Moonlight) but I have bought soooohhhh many bags over the years I've lost count - and I have to say I still use most of them.
Happy shopping 

[chrissy1]

Not being nosy or to pry too much but how much do you all roughly pay for these bags as whenever I have asked the prices in Kalkan bag shops invariably it is around 400 Lira which I think is quite expensive for a fake bag or am I not going about it in the right way. No probs if u don't want to say just in case the OH is reading  I would just like to know cos if they are cheaper then I will def be on the hunt for one in couple of weeks.
Chris

[itstime]

Hi Chrissy

Bags of all prices. I did pay around 400 Lira for one this year but simply had to have it. It retails around £1700 here so even though a copy it's excellent quality so thought it was worth it.
Plenty to be had well under that price though and as K4E says try and pay cash for theest price

[tortoise lady]

Good to have some idea of what the prices are like on bags in Kalkan.   I hadn't a clue, I assumed as copies (even very good ones) they must be cheaper than in UK but not by how much.

Come out on 19th September so must try to include price of a bag in my budget - notice the word "one".    Maybe they would have one exactly like my present bag and it would make the choice simpler!    Please don't laugh ladies at my terror of buying bags (even one).    How to choose?    Given my very small supply of shoes then I wouldn't need to spend much thought as to which colour of bag to match the shoes.

Please will one of you bag buying ladies explain to me what you do when you go out with a different handbag.   Do you change over all the contents?   My bag is so full of "stuff" I would have to start getting ready much earlier each time going out if I had to change over the contents.

[Enişte]

Without taking away from anyone's enjoyment at bag shopping here, what is it about Kalkan in particular and the seaside in general that makes people buy handbags and watches or other jewellery?  Are there silver or diamond mines in Bezirgan from which the jewellery is locally sourced?  Are the goats around Sarıbelen bred for their soft but resilient hide with silky lining?  Why not go for something that really says Kalkan - a fake footy shirt perhaps or spangled flippenfloppen?

[itstime]

LOL Eniste believe me I've also got lots of those things. Over the 15 years or so of visiting Kalkan, my house now looks like an alladins cave of Kalkan "tat" errrrr I mean genuine authentic keepsakes. I have "evil eyes" some the size of dinner plates in every room, glass clocks, numerous pictures/paintings of the area, pottery dishes of varying size and design, enough glassware from Baykush (sp) to hold millions of candles and tea lights, bed linen, table covers, fridge magnets, trivets, glasses, ornamental hangings not to mention the obligatory market t-shirts, football tops, pashminas oh and enough jewellery from various shops to open up a shop almost forgot the backgammon sets and the other glass ornaments, calendars and notebooks, shopping bags, key rings, bag charms and errrrr I could go on and on

Bags however are on a different level. I would never consider paying £1700 for a handbag at home but faced with a wonderful copy in excellent leather for a fraction of the price then I'm afraid that I'll fall for it every time

[Babs]

now don't get me started on silver Eniste......compared to some people on here I am a novice as far as bags are concerned.....well not completely.....but silver, now your talking, Mr Silver as he's known in our family rubs his hands with glee when we arrive as we usually travel with a pack of teenage girls. This year just me and the OH so it will all be about me me me! 

[Blue Lizard]

itstime...you mean you have'nt got a hubbly bubbly pipe???

[itstime]

itstime...you mean you have'nt got a hubbly bubbly pipe???

LOL BL, I'll need to clear a place for one and go hubbly bubbly shopping next month

If I don't get my now cancelled next year flights rebooked I could always just stay at home surrounded by my Kalkan keepsakes and sit for 2 weeks staring at the webcams. Sure I won't know the difference

[misty]

But they are still FAKE ?

Hi Chrissy

Bags of all prices. I did pay around 400 Lira for one this year but simply had to have it. It retails around £1700 here so even though a copy it's excellent quality so thought it was worth it.
Plenty to be had well under that price though and as K4E says try and pay cash for theest price

But they are still FAKE !!!!!!!

[pw]

But they are still FAKE ?

Hi Chrissy

Bags of all prices. I did pay around 400 Lira for one this year but simply had to have it. It retails around £1700 here so even though a copy it's excellent quality so thought it was worth it.
Plenty to be had well under that price though and as K4E says try and pay cash for theest price

But they are still FAKE !!!!!!!

and therefore ILLEGAL to import into the UK!!!

[itstime]

But they are still FAKE ?

Hi Chrissy

Bags of all prices. I did pay around 400 Lira for one this year but simply had to have it. It retails around £1700 here so even though a copy it's excellent quality so thought it was worth it.
Plenty to be had well under that price though and as K4E says try and pay cash for theest price

But they are still FAKE !!!!!!!

and therefore ILLEGAL to import into the UK!!!

Fake? maybe so but what isn't fake nowadays Air brushed pics of so called celebrities, Corporate tax returns, Bankers ethics, Camerons promises

The leather isn't fake the bag is a copy of a design which in it's original state has a hugely inflated or "fake" value attached to it.

Had no idea they were illegal! Have used mine at airports going through customs many times, actually had one stolen here in the UK and reported to the police who had full details including photograph and no mention to me about it being illegal by the police.
There are though many "original" designs (if such a thing still exists) available as well as the high quality copies.

[misty]

Its what is behind the industry that should concern people who buy fake goods...mainly child labour issues...to drug money...terrorism etc etc 

[itstime]

Take your point Misty but I'm assured that the bags I buy in Kalkan come from the owners factory in Istanbul so hopefully no worries about it. I am aware of the issues you describe but have to say that many of our own high street retailers and major manufacturers have infact been proven to use factories where child labour for shocking wages is often the norm

[Blue Lizard]

If someone offers you a Lizard skin bag ...don't buy it....it is an endangered species ...stick to cows.....they taste nicer and are bigger

[Chris_S]

I'm not sure how accurate this is - I'm not a lawyer, but the question of bringing a fake bag into the UK being illegal may be doubtful.

Owning a copied design cannot be construed as illegal, as you haven't done the copying.  Flaunting a good copy, once again can't be illegal, because, just what law have you broken?

Passing off a copy as a ggenuine article for the purposes of gain, is, however illegal; as is importing for the purposes of gaining a profit.  Personal importation of a good copy for personal appreciation probably isn't worth the authorities getting their pen out.  If it was legal where you bought it - fine.

Even if you bought it (mistakenly) believeing it to be genuine, if the laws of the country allow it, then you can't have broken any law.

Think of it as an art gallery buying a painting that turns out to be a fake, are they prosecuted?  The illegal bit is selling it as an original when you know it's a fake.

Anyway, that's my take on the question....