Where to get a good bag without paying out of your ass

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Since I just got my third purse from ASOS, I figured I'd blog about them while the new one is still marked down as part of their "Best of Season Sale". ASOS is my favorite place to get inexpensive but cool-looking and durable bags. There's a good selection in all sorts of ways: you can get wacky, cutesy, classic, leather, fabric, big, small, etc., and a good number of them are under $40.

Here are my three (the first and third are faux leather/"leather-look fabric" and the middle, green purse is leather. The first two are no longer available, but I thought they were worth showing to give you an idea of their quality and durability. There are a lot of other options, and new things come up all the time, and they have a great outlet section.

Left to right, oldest to newest.

I've had the first one (ASOS brand, paid $27) for 2 years now and it's still in really good shape. No holes, fraying, cracking, or anything. The only thing that went wrong was that one of the brass caps on the rod that goes through the top fell off on an airplane once, and I didn't notice. So I ended up taking the other one off too and coloring the wood with a dark brown marker. No one has ever noticed. If it had fallen off any other time, I could have just glued it back on, but that was an unfortunate fluke. Here's the purse with the caps still on (bonus: it matches my cat).

This is how you create a cohesive wardrobe.

The second one (also ASOS brand, paid $60) was really great when I was traveling in sketchy places in southern Italy (someone tore a cheap necklace off my neck on the street in Naples - you have to be fucking careful). It has a cross-body strap and also a little padlock on the zipper so that pickpockets can't get it open easily on a train or whatever. I got it on sale for $60, which is a little pricier than what I'd usually go for, but it's really good quality. I've had it for a year now, including that trip to Italy last summer where it got a LOT of use, and there's not a single sign of wear and tear on it.

The third one (New Look brand) is brand new. Who know what adventures await. It's on sale right now for $26. amy first impression is that the materials used to make this one aren't as good quality as the ASOS brand bags. The stitching is fuzzy and the lining is thin and rough. I think the ASOS ones are a better bet, but this is a good bag at the sale price.

I did once buy a black faux leather bag from ASOS that I didn't like (I forget the brand, but it wasn't ASOS). It just ended up looking kind of blah and cheap. The nice thing is that they have both free shipping AND free returns, so I wasn't out anything.

ETA: Forgot to add that ASOS has a strict ethical code for sourcing their merchandise, which is another great reason to buy from them.

Where do you shop for bags?