In my recent trip to Paris, I’ve had the opportunity to chat with the founder of the French leather handbag brand R.S.V.P. Paris, and I’m glad I didn’t miss this hidden gem of a brand with a cozy and unassuming store front in Le Marais. If I have to quickly summarize my top reasons for loving the brand, it would be:

1) top leather quality akin to those you can find in big name brands - their Epsom leather is as textured and scratch-proof as the Hermès Epsom, and

2) the beautiful color range - from the eternally classy Étoupe color to the elegant Burgundy that is so timeless but yet on trend!

Let’s start from the beginning as I love a great brand history story. R.S.V.P. Paris was founded by Tom and his wife Aurore who are from a family of leather craftsmen. The lineage goes back to Tom’s great-grandfather who was a cobbler, and his father who was a tailor. Crafting quality products by hand was a family tradition.

The genesis of R.S.V.P. Paris was to fill a gap in the market between high end, big-name brands and the mass market. When I discussed with Tom, he brought up a very good point about the current state of the luxury market - there is a distinction between brands like Hermès which has real expertise in craftsmanship with specialization in leather, and the fashion houses which happen to sell handbags. This is a very good observation because when we pay a huge premium on brand-name handbags, apart from the few brands that really specialize in leather and craftsmanship, where is our money going to? More often than not, it is simply to buy the privilege of carrying the logo of the fashion houses that happen to sell handbags. Their expertise is not necessarily in leather or craftsmanship of handbags, but very often in design and marketing.

We, as consumers, are smarter than that, aren’t we? This is the reason brands like R.S.V.P. Paris has risen in popularity in recent years. R.S.V.P. Paris is not just another premium French leather handbag brand, they’ve been doing very well in the market because of their craftsmanship, leather quality and the gorgeous color ranges their products are offered in.

It is worth mentioning that the founding partner of R.S.V.P. Paris used to work for sub-contractors of big name houses such as LVMH, and has experience sourcing some of the finest leather hides for the big brands in France. Many of the top tanneries in France belong to big name brands, and very few of them take new clients. R.S.V.P. Paris is able to obtain some of the finest leather hides for their handbags thanks to the long-standing relationship the founding partner maintained with these top tanneries. This is the reason we find many of R.S.V.P. Paris’ products in the popular Epsom leather that looks and feels so similar to the Hermes Epsom leather.

The other half of the story ties to the design of the brand’s products. This is so important because a brand cannot have an authentic identity without a design vision. For R.S.V.P. Paris, that vision is brought together by Tom’s wife who is a designer by profession, and has worked for big French luxury brands such as Bonpoint. R.S.V.P. Paris’ distinctive and minimalist design is evident in their popular models such as the Munchkin or the Skinny B. A side note - Hermès recently came out with a new bag that looks exactly like Skinny B - the Hermès Snap?

Having tried on some of their handbag models, I can say that I’ve really enjoyed the leather quality of their handbags, not only is the Epsom leather a very good alternative to the Hermès version which costs about 20x more, their other leather types are not to be overlooked as well. The finely grained leather of the Skinny B purse I took home was divine to the touch, and some of the smooth leather that Tom showed me samples of were top quality. Their leather is sourced from Rémy-Carriat. It is one of the last independent tanneries in France that hasn’t been acquired by the large brands, despite having worked with Hermès for a long time.

R.S.V.P. Paris’ handbags are made in Italy by workshops that work for some of the other contemporary brands such as Khaite and the Row. They produce 1 to 2 new styles per year at a maximum, so you can expect a highly selective design process with certain products being their perennial “classic” styles such as the Munchkin bag and the Golden Eye. They produce a limited number of the same batch / style which is tracked through a serial number gracefully printed at the back of the bag, so each handbag is uniquely yours. My Étoupe Skinny B was the lucky “000” original!

R.S.V.P. Paris also stands by the quality of their products, and offers a warranty for abnormal wear and tear within 1 year of purchase. Simply ship the bag to the store (or drop it off at their Paris boutique if you’re in the neighborhood), and the cost of the repair would be taken care of (shipping born by the customer). After one year, they’d happily repair your handbags at cost-based pricing.