Standard Coach Tabby costs $475. People can’t believe what the $4,995 ‘handcrafted’ one looks like: ‘If I’m paying 5K+ I’m getting Chanel’

A fashion influencer discusses the latest “handcrafted” Coach Tabby and whether the $4,995 price tag is representative of where the collection stands today.

TikTok creator Mystic Maven (@thehausofmaven) posted a video with her thoughts. “Let’s talk about this $5,000 Coach Tabby. Because I think that this may have potentially missed the mark,” she says to start the video. 

Mystic Maven explains that a base tabby is $475. “And you took this silhouette, swapped out the leather for some glovetanned leather, added some vintage quilts—because they are vintage fabrics and textiles—and then bumped it up to $5,000,” she says.

What $4,995 Coach Tabby Is She Referencing?

Maven is, of course, referencing the Tabby Shoulder Bag 26, which retails for $475, and the Tabby Shoulder Bag 26 with American Craft Quilting, which retails for $4,995.

The Tabby Shoulder Bag 26 with American Craft Quilting is part of a limited-edition collection that was made in collaboration with the textile artist Luke Haynes. There is also one that retails for $2,995.

“This is what hand craftsmanship looks like,” Maven says. “These are different leather pieces. All inlays. And it takes someone to do it by hand. So there is a profound amount of hand craftsmanship here. But here’s the issue.”

The issue is that all of it was done on a tabby, Maven says. “A bag that people know costs $475 and then you’re handing them another one and then asking for $3,000 for it. Which, by the way, is like over a 530% markup,” she adds.

Is the Coach American Craft Quilting Partnership Wasted on the Tabby?

Maven thinks it might be. “If you were to wear this bag and someone spotted you from a distance, no one would be able to tell this was a handcrafted bag,” she argues. “It would just look like a tabby … a base tabby. Nobody would be able to tell that this is a handcrafted bag. Nobody would be able to tell all the effort that actually went into this bag.”

That’s why, in her opinion, it wasn’t a huge hit with Coach disciples. “And I think this is why no one really looked at it,” she says. “Because if they took this concept or this concept and they put it on a rogue? People would’ve looked.”

That’s because, Maven says, Coach enthusiasts would know the rogue immediately. “But people who don’t shop Coach, they don’t know what rogues are,” she says. “A rogue would be more of a special bag to put it on. But the fact that we’re putting it on a tabby, which is the most commonplace Coach bag, it doesn’t look special. The bag doesn’t look unique.”

Does This Coach Collection Tell Us Anything About the Tabby?

According to Maven, this might tell us something about the Tabby Collection in general. “I fear that may tell us that the tabby is too common,” she says. “The tabby is everywhere. That when people were presented with handcrafted tabbys—no one had the ability to see it.”

At the end of the day, Maven says, “This bag is now too common. And I’m starting to think that what’s happening with this bag is that it may take on the same characteristics as the 2000s took on with all of them [Chanel bags], where all of them Cs got pushed and flooded into the market. This tabby is starting to be pushed and flooded into the market.”

In the comments section of the video, viewers debated the merits of the American Craft Quilting Collection, Maven’s theory about the tabby, and the best value in expensive handbags.

“If I’m paying $5K, I’m getting Chanel,” said one viewer. 

A second person agreed, “$500 was already too much for me for a Coach bag.”

A third person said, “They are testing the waters, guys, to see if anyone is actually willing to pay this much. Y’all better not fail.”

The Mary Sue contacted Mystic Maven via email for comment. We also contacted a PR rep for Coach via email for comment.

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