About Fashionette

A European online retailer specialising in designer handbags, founded in Germany and selling into the UK alongside other European markets. It carries recognised luxury and premium accessory labels rather than its own line.

Authorised retail is the important detail in this category. Counterfeit handbags are a large industry, and the protection against them is buying from a retailer with a supply chain rather than from a marketplace listing.

What they sell

Designer handbags, purses and small leather goods, luggage, sunglasses, watches and jewellery, and footwear from accessory-led labels.

Bags are the core, and the depth of the range is what makes a specialist worth using over a general fashion site.

Judging a bag from photographs

Read the dimensions and compare them against a bag you already own. Studio photography makes bags look larger or smaller than they are, and a model shot tells you less than three numbers.

Check the strap drop. A shoulder bag needs enough drop to sit under the arm with a coat on, and that measurement is what decides whether a bag is usable rather than merely attractive.

Read the material. Full-grain and calf leather age and soften; coated canvas is more durable and does not; saffiano is scratch-resistant and structured. Each behaves differently after a year of daily use.

Check the lining and the feet. A lined base with protective studs is the difference between a bag that survives being put on the floor and one that does not.

Buying from a European retailer

Since Brexit, an order shipped from the EU to the UK can attract duty and import VAT, and on a high-value item that is a significant sum. Check whether the price shown is delivered duty paid before ordering.

Returns across a border cost more and take longer, so read who pays for the return before you buy.

Using a Fashionette discount code

Enter the code at checkout and check the excluded brands, since the best-known houses control discounting tightly and are frequently outside any offer.