The Longchamp Le Pliage is one of the most popular handbags right now, and one of the most functional! I love how the Le Pliage totes fold up, which is perfect for travelling. I'll be using my red Longchamp Le Pliage Medium Shopping Tote in this photographic guide to authenticating your Longchamp.
How to Tell if Your Longchamp Le Pliage is Authentic
The leather on Longchamp totes have a diamond pattern. The diamond pattern is on all the leather used on the handbag. The leather is a rich cognac color.
Here's a picture of the front flap. There is a jockey logo imprinted in the leather above the snap, pointing to the left. Older models of the Le Pliage tote have a line imprinted below the horse, but new style do not. The gold snap should read "Longchamp 1948". It has an engraved jockey logo in the center of the button.
The jockey logo in the leather is visible from the inside. It is imprinted in the leather, and you should be able to feel the indentation when you run your finger over it.
The back of the flap is a light tan suede. The back of the snap should read "Original PRYM 6/4B".
The material of the tote is a nylon. It is matte, and is not shiny.
The handle is sewn onto the bag, it's in the same diamond printed leather as the flap. The stitching on the handle and the bag should be precise and straight, not sloppy. The color of the stitching on the bag should match the color of the bag.
The handles also have the diamond pattern, and are relatively flat. A new tote might have stiffer handles, but an older tote's handles are soft after use. They are stitched together with the first three stitches extra thick, as pictured. The edge of the handles are painted black or dark brown.
The Longchamp totes do not have interior tags with the Longchamp logo on it, just one sheer tag in the side of the bag reading where it was made. Longchamps are manufactured in France most commonly, but some are made in Tunisia or China. The lining of the bag should be white if it it light or colorful, and it will be black if it is a dark color.
At the end of the zipper, the leather flap should bear the same diamond pattern and have white stitching. The bottom of the flap has brown stitching. There is extra thick stitching at the end (count 6 thick stitches going across).
On the zipper itself, you can just make out the letters "YKK" and "T" engraved into the gold metal. The zipper pull reads "Longchamp" on the top and "1948" on the bottom, with a jockey. Older versions might read "Paris" or "France" beneath the jockey. These old models will not have the YKK and T engravings in the zipper.
There is also a kink on the G, which distinguishes it from a C. Fakes might read Loncchamp, not Longchamp.
On the zipper, you can see the engraving of "45". This might not be present on older models.
Snap buttons inside the bag have a transparent disc around them.
Hope these tips helped out! Check out my past Authentication Class posts
here!
