Canal street “designer” bags, about 25 bucks. You’ll have to come to NYC though.
I don’t know about the all weather leather, but I have this one, and it’s held up great. The all weather ones look like they’re sturdier, so they probably hold up even better.
I’d avoid the one with the giant duck though. 
That is not considered high end. $2,000 and up is considered high end. $200-$300 is a “nice” handbag.
I think we’ve already established that. ZPG isn’t going to be spending thousands of dollars on a purse. He wants to get something attractive and well made for the giftee, and quibbling about whether a bag in that price range is “high end” or merely “nice” is a bit snotty.
I have several of the older all weather ones and they wear like all get out. And last I checked, D&B will refurbish for nothing (or almost nothing). My fave is my doctor’s bag with little brass feet and a lock. It’s probably 20 years old and still looks like new.
We have our own Canal street “designers” in my city. That is actually what most of my handbags are.
If I had to take a shot in the dark in terms of buying someone a $200-300 handbag, I’d go for one of the Coach classic leather bags. I like the Court and the Station bags a lot. They’re both listed at $258.
As far as the D&Bs–I agree that they make some of the most heinous looking bags out there, but I have a plain suede shoulder slouch from them that I absolutely love. It does have a brass nameplate, which I don’t love, but it’s tolerable. This is my second year with it and it’s worn admirably, especially since suede is usually less durable than regular leather. I’d definitely buy a D&B again.
A friend got me a Coach bag for a present when he worked at a dept. store where he got a discount AND they were having a sale. I selected a nice navy one. I was VERY disappointed that it wore on the corners and showed white underneath. I really should find it and have Coach replace it. I was soooooo disgusted that that would happen to something so expensive and with such a reputation for quality…
I would also look into Michael Kors bags. I have a big brown leather one that was around $300, and I adore it. Sturdy and durable, doesn’t say Michael Kors or MK anywhere on it, and I get tons of compliments on it. I don’t like Coach bags, but only because everyone and there dog has one, I have a few and the quality is good.
If I could have anything I would get the Givenchy Nightingale. Not in the mood to spend two months rent on a bag right now, though.
Tell you what, looking at their most recent stuff in the department stores around xmas, it looked to me like Coach and D&B were trading market positions. Seriously–D&B actually had some decent looking offerings, and Coach’s stuff seemed to be getting gaudier and gaudier.
I don’t set the market price range for women’s purses. The OP continues to refer to the desire to provide something of “high end” fashion, even in post #10 above. $300 is not it. If he wants high fashion closer to that price, he should go to www.fashionphile.com.
And BTW, trying to moderate a thread when your not a moderator is snotty. 
I have three bags that have worn really well. A Michael Kors (leather with canvas details), a Fossil (all leather, and the oldest of them all), and Brahmin, which is a Chanel-look with a cute little section inside to put credit cards, driver’s license, & coins, so you don’t need to have a separate billfold.
The one I wish I had bought, but didn’t, was a B. Markovsky satchel. What I liked about it was: Big compartments, and several places to hold pens.
Go to a vintage store and buy yourself a Coach or Longchamp bag. The leather kind that cost triple the price new, has already stood the test of time, has a classic look and was probably was made before they shipped all operations to China.
I think you need to look up what moderate means.
I know nothing about handbags, but I know that bluefly.com has designer stuff on steep markdown. It might be “last season’s” handbag, but people buy the nice bags to keep them for years and years, so it shouldn’t really matter.
For example, this Cole Haan is nice and will never go out of style.
Really?
Moderate - v. to preside over or at (a public forum, meeting, discussion, etc.).
Synonyms - preside, judge, umpire
Walks like a duck, talks like a duck…must think its a duck.
I’m not a purse user but I do occasionally buy some of the better brand purses in thrifts and flip them on eBay. I sometimes give my daughter and ex-wife first crack at them since she is fashion hound with a limited budget. In doing this I usually only buy “near new” purses and I have to give these items a through once over to assure authenticity and condition. Through this I’ve developed some opinions as to construction quality between brands.
The best built purses I’ve seen are the classic (usually a few years old) Coach and Dooney & Bourke made int he USA. The Kate Spade leather purses are also surprisingly well built. Fashion house brands like Fendi and Prada are usually meticulously constructed, but the materials are usually lighter weight leathers and complex fabrics, and would not (IMO) stand up well to wear although they look great.
Coach. despite it’s construction quality, has developed a bit of a rep as a somewhat dowdy fashion also ran, and has been striving mightily to upgrade their line’s design profile although he results are somewhat scattershot.
D&B is still something of a a love or hate it purse and those like like D&B will often have nothing else. D&B is very well made, but it is not a very “sensuous” purse. Even the more fashionable D&B offerings some off as somewhat utilitarian and business-like.
Here’s a FedniI put up and pulled because my daughter wanted it.
Here’s a nice Kate Spade I sold
Here’s a slim and elegant Coachthat went unsold (black purses photograph very poorly)
:rolleyes: How exactly is what I said “presiding over” or “judging” anything? If you’ve read the thread, you must have noticed that no one is disputing the fact that some designer bags are prohibitively expensive. You coming into the thread for the sole purpose of pointing that out came off, at least to me, as sneering and looking down your nose at what the OP was intending to do.
Case in point
VVVV
You accused me of being snotty. I explained my post in return and attempted to be tounge in cheek and point out that moderating a thread and not being a moderator was actually being snotty. You apparently don’t know how to take a joke. Appears you might be a perfect candidate for a moderator.
Agreed. That is a very nice bag. I have a Coach outlet near me and have gotten several very nice leather bags from previous seasons at a discount, not the crappy CCCCC canvas stuff. Some of them are 10+ years old and look like new.