As a writer for a blog dedicated to fashion and handbags, it’s literally my job to pay attention to what people are carrying. I’m hyper aware of what stylish woman are wearing around NYC and beyond—even when I’m not ‘working’ my eyes are always peeled. Beyond that I also follow a slew of fashion publications (both digital and print) in order to keep up with what’s happening both around the country and around the globe.
One shift that I’ve noticed over the last year or so, particularity amongst the younger generations, is the absence of a handbag on their arms. I often spot someone with their phone in hand and assume their bag is elsewhere, only to realize that their bag is either minuscule, or more often than you might think, completely nonexistent. This isn’t something that I’ve only seen around NYC either, in fact when pulling images for our celebritiy posts, I’ve noticed that more and more celebs are running errands and hanging around sans a purse. What’s up with that?
With bags getting teenier and tinier, it’s really unsurprising that some people are adapting to not carrying a bag at all. How ironic would it be if this move towards mini and micro bags eventually makes the use of a handbag obsolete? While the extinction of the handbag is highly unlikely (in fact more and more designers are trying to make big bags a thing again), the trend towards minimalism and a more streamlined life is a real thing.
Not only are people making a move towards carrying less, but they’re shifting towards a mindset of owning less as well. You know, the Marie Kondo effect. NPD reported that the women’s handbag business was down 20% in the first eight months of 2019, which indicates a major shift in spending habits. This data is incredibly important for retailers and designers as the future of the market itself is now unknown. Additionally, according to Forbes, a 2014 study revealed that 3 out of 4 Millennials would rather spend money on experiences over physical items, but how does this translate to the handbag market?
According to Morgan Stanley, Millennials and the generation that follows, Gen Z, have spending power that will eventually pass the Baby Boomer generation, meaning that brands are going to have to adapt to what younger consumers want in order to stay afloat. Lastly, with the current economic climate leaning towards a possible recession, more and more consumers are shifting away from making unnecessary purchases. In short, regardless of the reasons why, it’s incredibly apparent that the market is shifting, and all of this means that brands are going to start having to get creative if they want to see a profit in a downtrending market.
I don’t think it’s surprising that people are spending less on bags that keep getting more and more expensive.
Also, the global economy is looking a bit shaky again. Wages are stagnating, the cost of living is rising, jobs are becoming less reliable – no surprises that people aren’t spending as much.
So true indeed. We are spending less on bags and more realistic( knowing what’s more important rather buying bags! ). Lately most of bags are so expensive( yep we understand all the materials cost and labour cost etc.) and surely it must stop somewhere. Plus there are so people live in a small apartment where you can’t keep so many STUFF anymore right?
I used to buy a new bag every 4-7 months but now I only buy it every 2-3 years( won’t make quick decision and ask myself several times “ Do I need this? “
Anyway it’s nice to see some beautiful bags but price point and quality for me is important.
Yeah, storage is limited!
I have a closet full of very high end bags collected over the last 10 + years. Finally slowing down because it just does not feel that fun anymore and realizing the waste. Tired of chasing “what’s next.” Feel foolish. Enough. For now, anyway.
I so agree with you. I’m over the thousands of dollars spent on bags. Will use my collection more and more and spend less and less!
Agreed, I just sold off a lot of my collection and only own a few bags. I wasn’t using the bags, but only admiring their beauty so what was the point? It’s better to have a few that I’ll use then a lot. I was afraid to use them since they were expensive and I didn’t want to mar them which would devalue them. At this point, I am done spending thousands of dollars for a bag and trying to stay up with the current, but quickly fleeting market trends.
I had the same feeling going around here in Milan (The Fashion City)- Italy, even if you go in the very “centre of it” that means to be in Via Montenapoleone, Via della Spiga golden places in town. I think Handbags are not a status symbol anymore (Designer handbag replaced by an Iphone) young people want to show techology not “dead products”, a little computer going around with you, keeping you in touch with the rest of the world. Ok their income is low but even if they have no problems they tend to be minimalist, simple outfit right sneackers and your smartphone. That’s all you need here now. These getting tinier of the lately bags show that Designers are looking for reason to pick up young people a hard trial to influence them but it’s not working at all. “Fashion” got old fashion for this Generation.
I think it’s obvious that, like @Sparky mentioned above, this generation doesn’t have kids and other responsibilities. Eventually, they’ll need a bag.
They’ll need a bag once they have kids or they’ll throw their belongings in a diaper bag, like my daughter-in-law.
I have a large collections of designer bags. They’re a couple classics like Chanel. The rest are Prada, YSL, Valentino, Jimmy Choo and Fendi. Collection is worth about $35,000. I’m done with buying expensive “things”. Moving forward will spend on bigger vacations! I’m over it!
I only buy second hand now. I’ve gotten 3 Balenciaga bags in the last year that were 1/3 of their retail price, so I basically got 3 bags for the price of 1. I realize Balenciaga bags don’t hold their value as much as LV, Chanel and Hermes but all other brands lose value and you’re better off buying second hand. They were all in pristine condition too!
Another second hand buyer here!
If I had bought all the bags and SLG in my closet for full price I would have spent 2-3 times as much money than I have, and I buy things that are in pristine or good condition. I feel like I haven’t lost anything compared to buying new bags and SLG.
I rotate my bag 1-10 times a week and use nearly everything I own. What I don’t use I have listings on a few flea markets.
With everything else being much more expensive than it was a decade ago and me not making millions a year I really have to think what to spend on. Also, I’m tired of the price hikes I see – the hikes don’t really encourage buying new.
I think bag makers have shot themselves in the ankle with all the hiking up of prices that haven’t been low or even reasonable in the first place.
It is a great trend that people’s interests are veering away from material goods! Appreciating a great handbag is one thing, but staying mindful by simplifying your physical environment is good for the entire human race (butterfly effect).
Agreed! It’s liberating to sell handbags, shoes, etc. that I’ve barely or never worn. I’m relieved that I have dramatically downsized my collection. I don’t need as much, but maybe this also comes with age, but IDK. It’s more apparent that we all need to work together to reduce the carbon footprint, as well.
Younger generations are carrying less because they don’t have kids yet.
Lololololol. #TRUTH
it means that a cashmere coat from loro/piana or chanel will be more of an investment item.
I am in my late 30s and am a parent of toddlers. My favorite everyday bag is my Chanel 2.55 in one of its smaller sizes but I find that these days I rarely reach for any bag. With modern technology, dresses / skirts with pockets, and the conveniences of living in a major city… most of my needs while out are met by my iPhone / Apple Watch and my LV 6 key ring holder which has a pocket for my driver’s license. Maybe a lip balm. With the kids, I have a small pouch with their essentials and usually only take it if we are out for long and are taking a pram. It’s a shame because I love my bag, but it is so freeing!
I guess you don’t have the need to wear eyeglasses . I do and there is nowhere in my 2.55 to put them… 🙁
No, I do not need glasses. But I do wear huge sunglasses and when I take the purse, I just put them in a pouch and place them on top before I close the bag. My wallet is compact though. Otherwise I just keep my sunglasses on – I live in a very sunny climate. I feel guilty actually – a year ago I bought the Gucci SoHo Disco and a LV compact wallet… this was my first new bag purchase in 8 years. I don’t often use either now that I have an Apple Watch and key holder.
I find that I use a purse less and less. I leave the expensive bigger purse in the car more often than not. I have a phone wallet so when doing quick errands it’s all I need. For work I use a Tumi tote so don’t want to drag my purse around too. The only time I seem to use one is when I go out for dinner, or drinks Or someone’s house so I have place to stow keys and have lipstick etc. or Dr appts so I have access to full wallet and med cards. If I lived in a more urban area would likely be using a purse more. As a result don’t really shop for purses or even if I love something can’t justify the spend. Used makes more sense if I really want to own it.
I am sincerely curious, if that’s so…why you read purseblog then?
Maybe she has an interest and love for bags and purses. Just because she doesn’t buy and use them doesn’t mean she can’t have an interest in them, read about them, keep up to date with all things bags and purses?
That’s probably true. I have a love for elegant jewelry, huge diamonds, rare sports cars and exotic and rare Birkin’s with diamonds, but I certainly cannot afford any of these things. Therefore, I browse and live vicariously through the catalogs, blogs or owners of these items. Sometimes, it’s just fun to look. ?
Darietta, I was thinking the very same thing! Surely we’re all handbag lovers and can’t conceive of life without our bags! (Or purses; I’m from the UK!)
I love a good handbag. I’m in my 40s and my youngest is 9. I’m not carrying his stuff anymore. So I can do the mini handbags. I use a small wallet, phone, lipstick, keys and I’m all set. I try to coordinate my bags with outfits. But I agree that with prices of bags thats not attainable for everyone. But I love my bags.
SAME HERE!! This is exactly what I would say. I just bought a new/used bag as a reward to myself, and it is small. All the large bags in my closet are going unused for years because even if I wanted to use them, what the heck do I even put in them?? My daily user was a LV pochette accessoires and its been discontinued. Sad for LV because I would have bought another. I would love this in other prints like the mens colors.
Thanks for the incite, time to go through my closet ASAP and get rid of what is probably going to go for less and less. I use one small bag and that’s it. I can’t even use a larger bag because I have nothing to put in it. A crossbody for travelling too but even that got annoying and unnecessary.
omg, I just bought a Chanel 255 and nothing fits in it. I wear prescription glasses and prescription sunglasses. Where are they supposed to go. In addition, cell, lipstick, compact, wallet,???? Won’t fit in tiny bag… I don’t get how people who wear glasses can do a small bag… Oh and keys????
Did you not try the bag on and make any considerations towards the fact that it wouldn’t fit anything you need to use and carry before you purchased it?
If I’m interested in a bag I put my wallet, keys, glasses, etc. in and if they don’t fit, I don’t buy. It’s essential that a bag must carry my things, regardless of other factors. Angienmaddie mentions, more than once, that her glasses don’t fit her bag and I’m curious re: why she purchased it? I’m not critical, just curious.
of Course. But I loved it anyway. Just saying good small for me… nothing fits! This is a conversation about this generation and not about my decisions. I was merely giving my opinion of my lifestyle and needs and how they differ from younger generations..
Something people haven’t brought up yet is that technology is advancing so that we don’t have to carry as much stuff around. Example: iphones now have “apple pay,” so people don’t have to carry a wallet even. Why spend thousands of dollars on a designer purse when a) your iphone already cost that much so you don’t have more spending money and b) you don’t even have things to put in said purse?
People in the comment section scare me? I have kids and I work from home but do need to go to meetings once in a while. I’m in my late 20s. I need my bag. Sunglasses, floss, keys, lip balm, tissue…nah, I hate being without those things. Ah, and candy for my daughter.
I believe that expensive bags have lost their excitement because the fake ones look so much like the real. Very wealthy woman have seen the copies and feel stupid paying thousands of dollars on real ones, when the copies are $200 and look the same. Now nobody is sure which is real and which is fake. I have a closet full expensive bags, and some fakes and never wear either. The excitement is totally gone.
“Bags are getting smaller and younger generations are carrying less and less, but what does it mean for the handbag Industry?”
Answer: Adapt or die.
If I buy a bag now it’s second hand consignment.
Second hand is great. If I like a bag I’ll wait to purchase since the 2nd hand store I shop eventually gets in the bag I like. Also, it’s in pristine or in excellent condition and the price is lower than retail. I take advantage of the fickleness of the market and I’m rarely disappointed.
I think that there are now so many designers who each have so many bag releases each year. The seasonal bags, the cruise bags etc etc. Theres just so many bags hitting the market, and the prices are getting insanely high for a fair few and its overwhelming. Theres a complete saturation of the market. Attitudes have also changed over the decades. Back when my mum would buy a bag when i was little, she wouldn’t and didn’t have the means to purchase several designer bags each year. So anything purchased was loved and used and adored and there was no need or desire to purchase so many bags and then get bored of them and there wasn’t the money to buy so many bags either. Times have changed.
Rising prices, cheaper construction, lower quality ‘leathers’, consumers do not play ‘beg the sales rep for attention’ game in this day (nor should they), and there are a lack of accessible physical outlets to evaluate the goods. Plenty of reasons designer bags are failing.
Couple of other trends – younger people are, adjusted for inflation, have less disposable income than Gen X-ers (yes, the post kind of forgot about a whole swath of women in our 40s and 50s) because rents have skyrocketed in most major cities, college debt is so much higher for most recent grads than 20-30 years ago, and wages are flat. If you’re 27 and trying to save for a wedding and a house and pay off school debt and make rent every month, your priority is not going to be a $2,000 bag. And those of us in the older cohort who can swing it are buying fewer bags because we’ve sort of seen it come full circle, so the excitement has worn off. Remember how logos were going to be the next big thing last year?
I do think there will always be a market for bags, but it will be smaller and designers will have to adjust. Bags and accessories have been carrying the luxury market for a couple of decades; they’ll have to find ways to offset the loss and some brands may go away entirely.
I did not except that direction towards the minibag. I am a working woman, love my work as Professor and scientist, and love beautiful and high quality handbags too. I have a collection, and the pieces that I use more or spend more hours close to me are the bigger sized handbags. Those that have space for a small laptop, and more. I have seen Birkins in scientific meetings, maybe in discrete colours, not mean to be seen, just for your own enjoy. I though that next generation of consumer would be mainly working women asking for big, light, and well designed luxury handbags, but it seems that I was completely wrong. Interesting to read it.
It’s all so cyclical that yes, bags may be shoved to the “not needed” category for a bit, but they will be back. Eventually people will get sick of cell phones in their jeans, keys in their jackets and just want a good bag again. I do think the cross body is here to stay as well as the bum bag as being hands free seems like the perfect compromise.
I love my bags & have always been picky about the ones I purchase so not seeing this trend of going smaller affecting me but I also don’t fall in the demographic that is referenced in this article. Never been one for trendy but lean towards the classic. But I do agree that some of these bags are overpriced & not worth it.