Spotlight: Can our partners be as into Handbags as we are?

Most of us can agree that one of the the best feelings in the world is to buy a luxury handbag with one's own hard-earned money. Unfortunately though, some of us can have a partner who, for whatever reason, will disapprove of said purchase and “kill your vibe”. Now - despite the fact that such disagreement can be quite understandable, we don't accept its premise, and the main reason for that is because: buying a luxury handbag can be a smart way to use your hard earned money. The problem is a lot of people don’t understand how - until now.

Meet David: He is 30, works in finance and is newlywed to one of our most loyal clients, Zoey. David does not have feelings of disapproval for Zoey’s constant purchases of luxury handbags, and the reason is because Zoey filled him in on her little secret: how she approaches her purchases in smart way. David was kind enough to spend some time with us, where we interviewed him on the matter. When we heard David’s story, we started wondering - could men be into handbags as much as women? 

The-Collectory (TC): Hi David, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! Your wife is absolutely delightful.

David J. (DJ) : (Laughs) She sure is, especially when she is trying to convince you to buy an expensive handbag.

TC : (Laughs) To that point, when did you start showing interest in her luxury handbags?

DJ : She’s always great style, it’s one of the reasons why I was so attracted to her. It was only until later in our relationship that I found out one of the bags she owned actually cost her $5K (laughs). I couldn’t believe it!  And she always bought them with her own money too! I guess I started getting genuinely interested when I kept nagging her saying “wouldn’t you want to spend it on this versus that?” But her answer was always ‘no’ (laughs).

TC : Did you finally give up and stop nagging her?

DJ : Well, kind of - I actually became quite obsessed with them myself (laughs). You see, we were in Paris for a week, just for the holidays, and of course she wanted to go shopping. It was a foreign country so I didn’t really mind going with her, but I knew I had a long day ahead of me (laughs). The first store we went to was Chanel. And what surprised me the most about shopping with her was that instead of asking for bags she was interested in, she would ask really interesting questions, like, which handbags are limited-edition, which ones are selling out quickly, which are the hits of the season, and things like that. I didn’t think much of it at the time though - she bought herself 2 bags and we left the store.

But as we were  walking back to the hotel, it occurred to me to ask her about the  questions she asked, and what followed blew me away. She said “David, I was asking which are the hot-ticket items, so that when if and when I decide to resell them, I know they will have held their value, and I will be able to get a good return. Whether it’s a little bit more, a little less, or breakeven”. If you saw my face at that moment, I’m pretty sure I looked like one of those cartoon characters whose eyes pop out of their eye sockets (laughs).

TC : (Laughs) Pretty smart woman you’ve got there…

DJ : She definitely taught me a lot. I mean, I am more than happy to buy her handbags now because I know we will get money back, even if it’s not the full amount we paid for. In fact, I started treating these handbags as investments too (laughs). It’s fascinating to see what sells, what doesn’t, what you think will resell like hot cakes but doesn’t. I work in finance so you can imagine how interesting I find this. It’s definitely become a thing we do together now, and it’s nice too because my judgement towards her spending habits is pretty much gone. It’s actually really admirable to see what she is doing. She doesn’t understand crap about what I do - but it’s cool to see her involved in this sort of “handbags stock market”, as she calls it (laughs).

TC : What was your favorite bag that you’ve been able to resell?

DJ : It was a Chanel - I think it was a boy bag? We sold it within 3 days of putting it up for sale and for the full asking price too! But I don’t think that was beginners luck - it just reflected how insanely cheap I listed it for (laughs).

TC : (Laughs) If you could give any advice to women, or men/husbands for that matter (laughs), who are starting out, what would your best piece of advice be?

DJ : (He stays silent for a few seconds) I always think back to that day in the Chanel store in Avenue Montaigne where Zoey kept asking the sales associate a ton of questions. She loves Chanel and she can be irrational about the bags, but she was also clever on how she went about buying. She did her research and knew her stuff.

TC : (Laughs) So the advice is ‘be smart’?

DJ : (Laughs) Exactly! Be smart about what you buy. And, instead of complaining to your wife about her buying expensive bags, which is never a winning strategy, get involved and try to learn and steer her in the right direction. She is going to spend the money anyways, so might as well be in something that is worth it. That last piece of advice is for the partners, if it wasn’t clear.

TC : I think it was (laughs). Thank you so much for your great insights and for sharing your perspective with us , David! I’m sure that your experience will be very informative to many others.  

DJ :It was my pleasure!