Thrift shopping has always been popular but for the last five years there has been a growing appetite to become more sustainable and a new energy in buying secondhand and preloved bags. You can find lots of online stores which create a marketplace to introduce buyers and sellers of designer brands. And more recently, you can find websites where you can rent a designer bag for a selected time period. But amongst all these options there is a new type of thrift shopping, a company in mainland Europe is specialising in vintage and you can enjoy 15% off.
In The Netherlands, in Amsterdam specifically, a city more well known for new trends, the love of vintage is growing. A company called L’Étoile Luxury Vintage has not one but four shops in and around the city. But you no longer have to travel to this cultural capital (which helps in these covid times), you can access over 500 vintage items online. And to help spread the love of vintage bags around the world you can enjoy 15% off their collection online. All you need to do is enter a code at checkout (scroll down for the details).
What is interesting about this business is that designer bags were a sort of accident. Whilst travelling the globe in search of gemstones, the team came across some vintage bags and the journey began from there. Now the business has two dedicated in-house experts who travel to find vintage bags; knowing the vintage stores and auctions to hang out in. This small team authenticates the bags and brings them back to Amsterdam to photograph for the website or place in one of their stores, and they’ve been doing this for the last 7 years.
An important distinction for this company is that they are all about the true meaning of vintage. By this I mean the bags have had many previous owners; one of their bags was over 55 years old! Don’t expect to source a secondhand bag that has had one previous owner (for a short period of time) who is looking to off load a bag from last season. This business is about celebrating classic designer bags that have lived but deserve a second life’s worth of adventures.
Their best selling brand is Louis Vuitton. The Neverfull tote bag is always in demand. Chanel is equally as popular with their classic flap shoulder bags, however Chanel being a bit more expensive, means the bags don’t move as fast as other designer brands. In fact getting to know the designers’ classic bags is so easy with L’Étoile Luxury’s blog. It’s a useful resource, not just on the designers’ different bags but also how to interpret bag serial numbers and how to clean and care for them.
Here are the steps (there aren’t that many) to find your vintage designer bag at a 15% discount:
Head to L’Étoile Luxury Vintage online shop. Sort and filter the items and once you’ve found an item, add it to your cart and when ready, head to checkout.
The discount code (see below) is used during checkout. Look for where it asks for a gift card or discount code.
Insert BAGWHISPERS15 as your discount code and click apply. The website will automatically calculate the discount and the total amount you’ll have to pay.
Your item will then be wrapped up, put it in a box and shipped. Good news, L’Étoile Luxury Vintage delivers worldwide and shipping is FREE for orders over €500.
You’ll receive an email with your unique track and trace number. All items are sent secured and registered so you can access progress updates and count down the days until your vintage bag arrives.
Shopping for preloved designer handbags continues to expand and there are growing options to choose from. For those of you looking for classic designer bags (not the new releases from last season) and want to improve your sustainable credentials, L’Étoile Luxury Vintage with its international online shop is worth your perusal.
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