For those of you who may not know what Telfar is or what a Telfar Bag is Telfar is a designer brand that was established in 2005 in New York City by Telfar Clemmens. The Telfar bag has become one of, if not the most popular item that the brand sells. Selling out in literal minutes right after having a drop. It is an affordable designer brand that does not limit itself to genders, as all of its closed is Unisex. Their modo being “It’s not for you, It’s for everyone.” If you are into street style or fashion you would know that the Telfar bags have been a hit with influencers and celebrities around the world, being carried by stars like Dua Lipa, Bella Hadid, and Beyoncé to name a few. (From the pic below we can also see how a white top, can make a Telfar shopper pop; now you choose the bottoms. Lol)
Whenever I would look up Telfar bag reviews I would always see people take their bags out of their dust bags and would be amazed at how good the bag would look after having them for a while. But after having mine. I’m assuming those people did not use it as a daily bag and would just keep them in their dust bags most of the time. I can never relate to those people because I don’t store my bag in its dust bag, I don’t even know where its dust bag is, if I’m being honest. Since I have had my bag for almost half a year, I think now would be a great time to write about my experience with a Telfar bag. This review will discuss how i ordered it and how long it took for me to get to me. Also I will show how you can expect your bag too look after using it as an everyday bag for about six months (pictures included), as well as other things I noticed while having the bag and comparing it to the brand new one I just received.
Ordering Process
About six months ago I received the first Telfar bag I have ever purchased. I bought the brown one in the medium size. I bought my bag during the second annual Telfar Bag Security Program (Don’t know if it will continue to be annual, but he has only done this once a year for the past three years.) Now I have received a second bag I ordered from their third bag security program. If you don’t know what the bag security program is I suggest to check out my post where I explain it more in detail and how it works: Telfars Bag Security Program
When I ordered my bags, I have two medium shoppers in brown and navy, I ordered both using the security program. I did not buy them together, I first ordered the Brown one on March 30, 2021 and received it on August 5, 2021 with the Security Program II. The Navy one I ordered on September 5, 2021 and recieved it on Febuary 14, 2022 with the Secuirty Program III. Both shoppers took around five months to get to me. I highly suggest purchasing a bag during the secuirty programs because you are ensured a bag of your color choice. While it does take time to get to you, it is totally worth the wait. Plus time flies and next thing you know it; your bag is at your doorstep. I have tried to get a bag on the day of drops, but it is so hard and it gets frustrating. Also I am not about to give double or even triple the original amount to some reseller just so I can get a bag, NEVER. I rather wait a couple of months and pay the original price to the actual company and not some dude who is profiting off of hoarding.
But, if you do get a bag on drop dates, shippping is pretty quick. My friend was lucky enough to get a small sage one on the day of the drop and she said it took her 3 days to receive the bag. While it is significantly faster shipping, you aren’t guaranteed a bag, also they don’t drop every color on drop dates, its certain colors only. Furthermore, it takes sometimes months for them to redrop colors, especially if they are introducing newer colors. Also their is seasonal bags, like the Telfar x UGG shearling bag; which has been dropped usually during the winter/holiday season only for the last two years.
Daily Use
On the Telfar website it describes its shoppers as an “everyday bag”. I took that statement to heart and literally used my bag like everyday. Not literally everyday but majority of the time if i need to carry a bag or wanted to carry a bag I’d choose my telfar. Like previously stated I have the brown shopper in size medium. I think the medium is a perfect size. It can fit a lot of things for it’s size. It is made out of vegan leather so it can withstand rain, snow, and have little to no damage. I know this personally because I did use my bag to cover my head while I was running home when it started raining.
I wore this bag as much as I could because it was very practical. When I would go to the library to pick up/return books. When I would go buy oat milk and small snacks at the grocery store. When I would go to work and stuff it with my work shoes and water bottle. To carry things for a picnic. I used my bag probably more than it is intended, but I like to use the things I buy and the bag is great for an everyday use.
It is a great size a lot of things can fit in there. However, if it gets too full it might not want to close. It just has a small magnetic clasp and even if you do get it to close, if it’s super full; it will come undone. Something that I find annoying about the clasp is that, if your bag happens to fall off whatever surfaces it’s on, to the floor; there is a big probability your stuff will come flying out as the clasps comes undone. The small chance that this doesn’t happen is if you don’t have a lot of things in your bag, so the weight of the things doesn’t make the clasp open. Again, amount of stuff really makes or break the bag.
Wear & Tear
On my bag I do have a couple of areas where the vegan leather has discolored as well as a bit of the stitching coming undone as well. On the edges of the bottom of the bag is the area where there is the most significant discoloration. The brown came off and it is now a weird dark color. The texture on those specific area is weird too, it is no longer soft and glossy, it is very rigid and hard.
I’m assuming the bottom damage might be because of how and where i put it down, combined with me wearing it cross body and bumping into things, people, etc. But I did notice that the discoloration was on the front corners of the bag, and not on the back part. I think that this happens because there is a pocket that is stitched to the front of the bag on the inside.
I have noticed that when there is items in the pouch on the front, it tends to make the bag slouch forward more, probably making it scrape against surfaces when being put down like above. Like yes, I am a detective. In the pocket I keep my wallet and just my travel size cologne (highly recommend Jazz Club by Maison Margiela.)
The damage on the corners is similar to the damage on the bottom of the bag. The corners are discolored, but they still are not rigid and hard feeling. This again, might be do to bumping into tables or chairs, if worn cross body or on your shoulder. The stitching on these corners have also come undone a bit, why im not sure, but its not really noticeable.
Like I previously stated, It is made of vegan leather; so if anything spills on it you can just wipe it off. This is great because there has been so many times I have spilled coffee on the outside of the bag and I can just wipe it off with a wet towel. You don’t have to worry about having the color come off if you happen to use any type of disinfecting wipe. Also the inside is lined with fabric that matches the color of the bag. I have also spilled water inside the bag and to dry, I just put it near the vent and left it open so the hot air could get in there. There is really nothing to say about the straps or handles, nothing significant happened to them like the bottom and corners of the bag.
Moreover, I recently received a new navy shopper. I put both on to compare the bags and I noticed that the brown bag, which I have used for around six months, was softer and the material was more supple, compared to the new bag which was more structured and not as soft. I think the bag just gets better over time and use overall. Personally, I am not a person who is very finicky about taking care of my bags. So that may be a reason as to why my bag looks how it currently is. However, I don’t mind. I feel like scuff marks, discoloration, and all those things that people see as “ruining” a bag; gives the bag character, a story to tell.
In all honesty, I bought my first Telfar in brown because I looked up resell prices for the brown vs the navy and saw I could get more for the brown. Now, I wasn’t thinking of becoming a reseller. I bought the brown bag because I did love the color and I didn’t have a brown bag. Also like I mentioned before it did have a higher resell value than the navy. I was only thinking of reselling the bag, in the case I didn’t like how it looked or fit when I wore it crossbody or on my shoulders. However, I didn’t end up reselling it because I loved it. So maybe if you are interested in the bag and don’t know if you’ll love it do this. Telfars have a great resell value for any size, but like I mentioned some have a higher value then others it just depends size and color.
Hopefully this was useful to those thinking of getting a bag or for people who just got a bag and want to use it on the daily. I’m not saying that this is what everyone’s will look like after six months, only maybe if you use it a lot and don’t really try to protect it. Overall, the bag is great. Great enough I bought another one in my favorite color navy blue. If any questions about anything , let me know in the comments or reach out to me. 🙂 Let me know if you’ve had any problems or issues similar to mine with your Telfars. If you’re planning to buy one which color ? Let me know in The comments. 🙂
P.S. I am working on a YouTube video I was gonna do regarding this, but with videos and not just pictures; so stay tuned. I just did this written post first because writing is my forte. Lol
J’s Journal 