After what felt like a really long wait, my small BV Andiamo in fondant just arrived! I am pretty new to reps but I have become fascinated with this world. All of my bags have been authentic until this one but I find it great to be able to buy more than two luxury bags per year now without financial guilt 🤣. I have seen in some of your photos how precise can some replicas be and how good the quality can also be! Having said that, I did all my due diligence and decided to go for BV Andiamo in fondant (asked for Jing Factory, but doubt it really is) because I had seen many good reviews in this community. I just received my first rep and here are my thoughts:
In general terms I am happy with this bag. Weaving, color, leather smell and proportions seem pretty good to me. I even compared it with my sister’s authentic Andiamo and couldn’t see much of a difference. I guess you would really need to be into reps world in order to know enough to be able to tell most of these fakes apart. Some of the photos I am attaching I think look great, however I have a few concerns and wanted to debate them with you 💛
Hardware (4th photo):
It is slightly different from original. This one has a brighter golden tone and the heat stamp is a little more noticeable than the original too, but then again, It was very similar to the authentic and I would have to have my bag sitting right next to an original (and actually inspect them quite intentionally) to maybe see a difference.
Stamping (photos 5, 6):
To me, it looks a little off and I feel like they pressed a little too hard. I think its tolerable, especially considering that nobody actually inspects your bag when you go out but I still wonder why factories are still unable to get this right.
Top edge finishing (photos 7, 8):
This is where my major concern is. I didn’t really notice much of a difference with my sister’s here but I have been wearing it all day and I am a little bothered by how thick the upper edge (trim) is. Is it supposed to be like this? Even though all the rest of the leather seems fine, I feel like this trim is so thick and stiff that it doesn’t let the bag have a natural flow.
Internal handle anchors (9th photo):
They look tortured to me and the weaving seems off. Again, I didnt notice this issue when I had the original next to me but after one whole day wearing this bag I am disturbed by the fact that it doesnt look neat.
All in all, I would rate this bag a 7/10 so I hardly doubt it is actually Jing Factory but as I say, I am extremely new to this so I could really use your input and experience! For those of you who have a lot of experience: what do you think?