A few weeks ago I made a request for volunteers to independently review our best selling purse design. I was wondering if the design could be improved upon. One of the ladies chosen to review is Carol Hilditch. Carol is based in the UK and is reviewing the purse in a soft olive green leather.

Olive Green Purse/Notecase

This purse was sent to Carol, packaged as if it was an online purchase. Here are my questions with Carol’s answers and some further points that were made in an exchange of emails between us after I received the initial review.

Q 1. You chose to review a purse from seeing photos on my blog (or website if you clicked through), what was your 1st impression of the purse when you received it?

Carol: I thought it was a lovely shape and colour, and that it felt very comfortable to hold.

Q 2. Can you comment on the packaging it came in. What did you think of it?

Carol: When the postman handed it to me, I thought how well it had been packaged externally.  Upon opening it I was delighted by the really pretty presentation.  I almost didn’t want to spoil it by opening the paper!

Q 3. Was the colour and size as expected?

Carol: Yes, both the colour and the size were as I had anticipated them to be.  The purse is an ideal size to hold, and it is great that the zip opening and the wallet part of the purse are the “same way up”.  With so many purses you seem to have to turn it around to use the different sections, which is not ideal.

Interesting!

I have noticed this too, on some designs from quite well known brands. Depending on which way ‘up’ the wallet section is, when you open the purse – it either works for you, or it doesn’t.

After this response from Carol, I asked her if she was right or left handed because I am left handed and the purse works for me. I wondered if I’d got the design wrong for right-handers.

Carol replied: I am right handed. I hold the purse in my left hand and then “operate” the zip, openings etc with my right.

And that is what I do also (Shona here).

Back to the Review

Q 4. The price of your purse is £30 how do you think it measures up to value for money?

Carol: I think that the price of the purse certainly does measure up to value for money.

Q 5. Are there any improvements you would make to the design?

Carol: I feel it’s being a little “picky”, but I would have preferred the notes section to be just slightly longer.  Putting notes in and taking them out is a bit fiddly.  The flip side is that those various little inserts in the coin section are so useful to have.   Somehow the purse never seems “bulky”.

Q 6. How many times have you used it so far?

Carol: I have used it every day since I started the review.

Q 7. Would you keep this as your everyday purse or do you swap to a larger or smaller one sometimes?

Carol: Yes, I would keep this as an everyday purse.  I might swap to something else just to have a change!

Q 8. The actual purse you were sent is made in a very soft leather with a ‘naked’ finish. That is to say that it doesn’t have a coating on the leather of any kind. This means that over time, the leather will change and darken slightly/get shiney as you handle it. Does this worry you? or do you think that’s fine – leather is a natural product and it changes over time?

Carol: I am happy with the finish – as you say, leather changes colour with use, and that is part of its beauty.

Q 9. Has anyone commented on your new purse? What did they say?

Carol: My Mum spotted it and said “… ooh a new purse and what a lovely colour!”.

Thank you, Carol!

Shona 🙂