Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
Purse Strap Problems? Here’s Why We Love Our Portland Leather Tote
If you have not read my article about my Coach tote handles starting to shred and me using a leather type of paint to re-coat them, you can start with that article here.
If you are not wanting to fix your straps or are like me and trying to fix them on your own or are waiting for Coach or a leather repair shop to fix it, we think you’ll like the Portland Leather Goods tote as a stand-by bag. Who knows…it may even become your new main bag! Read on to learn more.
My Coach shredded handles
The Problem
My tote bag handles on my Coach started to shred their edging before the bag was 1-year old. I’ve tried to do the temporary fix on that beautiful bee printed Coach tote handles with scarves and leather coating and while it worked for a while, it did crack and still continued to shred over the course of a few months.
The Lola is similar in size to the Coach tote
The Solution
The Edge Kote on its own helped and is a great quick fix. However, I’m going to have to pull off all the handle edging, sand it and use Edge Kote to do it the right way. I’ll post a tutorial and results on that experiment here on my website when I finally get to it.
See my 1-minute Edge Kote quick fix tutorial below or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:
In the Meantime
I researched other totes and purses that had both handles and straps. I figured a cross-body strap may help take some of the weight off the handles, which could help the handles last longer. I found many totes with the strap and the handles, but the one I loved (oh, that Louis Vuitton!) was not in my current budget. So, I did more research and found the affordable and great quality Portland Leather brand.
The bag was beautifully packaged
Portland Leather Goods
After perusing their website, I found the Large Lola Zipper Crossbody tote in the color SURF and fell in love, used their discounts and placed my order. Portland Leather also sells via Amazon, and this is a similar version of my tote in a mini version.
The bag color is beautiful in Surf!
The Lola (I have the East/West which is not top-heavy like I thought the North/South may be) was similar size to the Coach tote, fully leather (they are a sustainable brand, using only hides from the beef industry, so nothing goes to waste…this is very important to me!). Read more about the brand story’s here.
The Portland Leather East/West Lola tote
The Handles + Bag Details
The bag came quickly and was wrapped in beautiful tissue paper. The handles are what I like best about my Portland Leather tote. They are not coated, so no more shredding! The stitching is well done, the leather is thick, and the color is beautiful. As they state in their product descriptions, they use natural leather, so the texture, the color or other details may vary according to each bag.
The bag can coordinate with casual or business attire
I can fit a lot in mine and love the little pocket inside to hold smaller things. I love the removable strap to wear it like a cross-body bag. I like that it has a zipper to close it completely. It is heavier than my Coach, but that’s okay as I needed to edit what I haul anyways!
How I organize by bag: with other bags!
The Future
While I do love my bee printed Coach and I love many other bags (oh, my Hulken is amazing!), I am really digging this Portland Leather tote! It is a quality bag and they have many styles. I even added the leather tassel in the bright pink color Margot and I may even use leather paints to add my own personal style to it like I did for my “Wirkin” (faux Birkin) that you can see here.
The tassel looks cute on many bags
I adore their circle crossbody bag and may need to add that to my smaller bag collection at some point. Their wallets and other accessories are beautiful too. If you are in the market for a new quality leather accessory in your life, check out Portland Leather.
For my cute graphic tee, it was a Target find and you can get my Target finds here. My Adidas shoes can be found here on Amazon. My super comfy jeans can be found here.
I love graphic tees and jeans with the bag!
If you loved this article then we know you’ll love this one too: What You Need to Know About Bogg Bags and Dupes
Carolyn J. Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.