There are a few things I am not great at (ok, far more than a few), and one of them is finding deals. Ask anyone that knows me, especially Vlad, and he will tell you that I am the opposite of a deal-finder. It’s not something I am necessarily proud of, it is merely something I haven’t spent more time trying to work on, and because of that, you’ll find me paying full price for nearly everything. That being said, the team from Italist reached out to us recently, and their business model is highly exciting for a designer bag lover.
This past summer, I felt inundated with stories of people who traveled to Europe and boasted about the good price of designer goods they received. Because of the favorable exchange rate, buying a designer bag in Europe has never been more of a deal as an American, and it sometimes felt like a bit of a pang on my side to buy the exact same bag in the US boutique for hundreds more.
Enter Italist. The model of this site is alluring and straightforward. The site offers brand-new, in-season fashion and luxury products from Italian boutiques at up to 40% in savings. The site works with Italian partner boutiques and offers European pricing to orders which are then delivered by global express mail in 2-4 business days. My two major selling points were current, in-season items and savings.
My New Bag
The Italist team wanted us to see how the process worked and generously shared a gift card to purchase something myself. My love for my Bottega Veneta Mini Jodie quickly made it one of the most used bags in my closet, and I was really drawn to the larger Teen size that was recently introduced. When I saw Italist had this lavender option that I had already been obsessing over (Kaitlin and I both love the color purple), I knew this was the bag I’d buy.
The bag arrived in 3 days and was in an Italist box. Inside the box was the Bottega Veneta dust bag with my beautiful new bag. This bag is a stunner, quite a bit larger than its mini counterpart, but if you like the shape of this bag, you’ll love the larger size for its usability.
Final Thoughts
The Teen Jodie retails in the US for $3,200, but I was able to nab this bag for $2,235.74. With savings of just under $1,000, this is hard to beat. The thing to note is that, unlike retailers with deep inventory, Italist often only has one or a few of each design/color and won’t have every colorway. You’ll want to check back often to see if you can find the color or style you have been looking for.
I feel like one of the cool kids for introducing this site to you all and sharing the savings. While this site isn’t typically focused on deals, finding a deal on a current season bag is a rarity, and Italist is onto something here.
Shop the Bottega Veneta Teen Jodie at Italist now!
Other Deals You Don’t Want to Miss
Is authenticity guaranteed of the product? Also read horrible reviews on their return policy. Needing to pay duties two ways plus shipping internationally- can you comment on this?
I bought a Max Mara coat from Italist and everything went smoothly. Agree that their return policy isn’t the best out there, but also as a non-American, most stores outside of the US don’t have very good return policies. It seems to be just our US friends who get very liberal return policies. I’ve heard of people buy handbags from LV or Chanel, using them for a few weeks, and then returning. That’s totally unheard of in Canada or Europe. Italist is definitely not a place to shop if you’re looking to buy/return just to try stuff on, but only if you know 100% you want to keep something and that the size fits.
I purchased a pair of Versace boots from Italist. They were authentic, and I received them pretty quickly, shipped from Italy. Fortunately, I tried on the boots at a Versace store, so I was certain they’d fit (they were $400 less on Italist). Needless to say, I didn’t have to return them, but did read their return policy, and it seemed like a hassle. I also read reviews about the return policy, where people posted their dialogue with customer service, and Italist didn’t appear to acknowledge ANY mistakes on their part (even when it was clear some items they shipped were defective). I’d categorize it as “buyer beware.”
I was gonna say this as well. Their return policy is one of the worst out there. If the item is defective or you are not sure you like it, you might as well keep it because you will have a hard time returning it.
I can tell you I’ve gotten a majorly defective and apparently fake Fendi bag. It was a PIA to return, and I lost money on the deal. Not worth the risk IMHO.
Yeah… out of all the sites out there where you can save hundreds of dollars for luxury bags, Italist is not one I’d trust, just sayin. As someone who typically buys bags straight from the boutique, I have also often purchased handbags from Matchesfashion, Mytheresa, and FWRD. These are the absolute best sites period. They have reliable and fast service and you save A TON of money. In fact, just recently I purchased a Balenciaga Neo Cagole City bag in silver from FWRD and saved over 1000$ (for a brand new season bag!). Got 10% off for being a first time customer, THEN got another 10% off when the package was delayed a day just for the simple inconvenience. Now if that’s not great customer service I don’t know what is.
Never heard of Matchesfashion, so I’ll check them out. However, whenever I looked on Mytheresa, the prices were the same as in the U.S.
I actually snagged the same teen Jodie bag from Harrods for a similar price! Paid $2400, which is a bit more than you paid from Italist but I’m willing to pay a little more to buy from a trusted store. I was worried that there might be extra duties charges but there weren’t! Not sure why BV is so much cheaper at Harrods (other brands’ bags are priced similarly to US stores) but I was so
excited when I discovered this!
Agree. I’m getting ready to purchase another pair of Valentino Rockstud pumps, which retail for $1,100 here in the states. They’re on Harrod’s site for around $650.
Congrats! Beautiful bag! Love the color! 💜
Congrats on your beautiful BV bag Megs!!! I’ve heard of Italist and even looked on their website before but have never purchased.
Beautiful!! Love bottega veneta’s colors!!
Is this store based in Europe US?