Authenticating Your Straw or Wicker Bag
Each spring and summer, Kate Spade makes some of the most gorgeous bags from natural materials, including straw, wicker and bamboo. Because these materials are so popular, they do tend to spawn fakes. This page should assist you with the authentication of your summer Kate Spade bags.
STRAW
First, here are some images of Kate Spade's most recognizable and popular straw bags.
The 2000 woven straw bag has the most beautiful pink lining with a calendar on it!
Pictured here are the raffia bags from the Summer 2000 collection. These are very closely identified with the Kate Spade brand in general.
This line also included thick straw bags with the multicolor raffia flowers woven in:
The Straw Polly from 1999 has a very similar design:
I guess I would just point out that these bags are very intricately detailed. You just won't see this kind of detail on a counterfeit bag. Real leather handles are also a rarity.
The Cabo Straw collection from Summer 2002 is very similar. These bags were white with brown, green or black woven flowers and tangerine linen lining.
A different straw collection from 2002 is the Straw Annabel and Eley (shown here in the Annabel) which consisted of sturdier, more tightly woven straw, bamboo handles and leather trim.
The Dragonfly Collection from Summer 2004 is absolutely beautiful, but not AT ALL durable, so be warned. It has embroidered flowers and dragonflies, and beading, done in raffia straw. These bags have gorgeous cobalt blue lining:
Here's an earlier woven straw bag with a neat detail - a green ribbon logo label.
More early woven straw and floral designs:
PALM
The Summer 2000 collection also includes the Palm Totes. These bags have real bamboo handles and are woven from palm strands. The lining is orange, brown and cream multistripe. Again, you just won't see this kind of detail on a counterfeit. The exterior logo was actually pressed into a wooden label.
The Roman Holiday tote from Summer 2002 is woven palm with "HOLIDAY" woven in colored raffia straw. This bag has a bright yellow linen lining.
The Carnival Basket from 2003 channels the raffia collection from 2000:
Also from Summer 2003, the Wicker Francie bags (which are actually, I think, made out of Palm) have leather trim and Kate Spade logo rivets (another detail missing from fakes).
The Sardinia Champagne collection from Summer 2004 actually holds a bottle of champagne!
WICKER
An example of a great Kate Spade wicker bag is the Jamie, again from the Summer 2000 collection. These bags were made of thick woven wicker with either a blue or green velvet ribbon, vachetta leather trim and signature rose print lining. Will you see a good fake of this? I think not!
Some other beautiful wicker specimens include the Pansy wicker totes from Summer 1999 and 2000 and the Cipriani basket from Summer 2002. You can get more information on these bags on the 1999, Spring 2000 and 2002 collection pages.
The Paisley Wicker baskets from Summer 2001 are among Kate Spade's most coveted items. Check out this gorgeous paisley lining (which was available in pink and green) and the tortoiseshell handles.
Here's a needlepoint Barbara wicker basket, also from Summer 2001. Fakes won't include this intricate needlepoint, obviously!
In a different direction of design, here is the very limited Lucilla wicker box tote from Summer 2002:
Note the tortoiseshell handles. A counterfeit would never have tortoiseshell handles!
The "Venice Basket" from 2002 and the "Henley Basket" from 2003 are virtually identical. The Venice Basket, shown on the left, has cotton Monaco Stripe lining and a boarskin top. The Henley Basket, shown on the right, has chocolate polka dotted suede lining and a calfskin "Spring Street" top. Both of these were available in several colors.
The Isabella Basket from Summer 2003 is a lot like the ones from a few years back, except that it has a blue and white ticking stripe lining:
The Cyprus Basket from Summer 2004 has Chelsea Fleur lining that closes in a drawstring. It has a round shape and leather trim.
The Cherbourg Wicker collection from Summer 2004 reminds me so much of bags that my grandmother used to carry. They have a great vintage feel. Note all of the signature details (rivets, turnlock closure) and leather trim.
Here's an early wicker basket (from 1998 I think) with no floral details and cornflower blue lining:
ODDBALLS
It's not made of natural material, but it's a woven summer bag so I'm including it here. This is the woven plastic beach tote from 1998 (I think). It came in two color combos:
Wrapping up the authentic bags, it's just important to keep in mind that authentic straw, wicker, and palm totes are very intricately woven and detailed. There's nothing about these totes that wasn't carefully planned and designed. You'll also note that MANY of them lack the traditional fabric Kate Spade label. In fact, I can't think of a single wicker, straw or palm tote that has a fabric label on the exterior. They either have the fabric label on the interior (i.e. the floral raffia, palm tote, and wicker baskets) or they have a specialty label on the outside (i.e. the palm tote, the paisley wicker basket, and the plastic woven). This will be a very important detail when looking at the FAKES! Please note that this page is BY NO MEANS comprehensive. I'm sure there are lots of authentic Kate Spade straw, wicker and palm totes that I don't have pictured. This page is just to give you a good idea of what you can expect in an authentic bag, versus the fakes.
Now let's look at fakes.
The colored woven Sam is a common fake. Kate Spade has never made anything that looks like this, and it's prevalent on eBay. Notice that in all of the previous bags, pretty much only one looks remotely like a Sam, and it's the palm tote.
Also note that this thing has fabric handles. Notice that a common theme running through the previous authentic bags is that they all pretty much have leather or bamboo handles. Not a one has plain black fabric handles. And of course, this has the regular fabric label on the outside, possibly glued on.
Here is another example of this same phenomenon:
Here's a kind of weird woven pattern. Note that none of the authentic bags have these kind of "placemat" woven patterns. This seriously reminds me of a straw placemat.
Also note that horrid font on the label!
I'm not sure what's going on with this one. It appears to take after the Wicker Francie, but it has a sort of odd tassel trim, strange handle attachments and bad stitching. Doesn't it seem like there's just too much going on here for it to be a real Kate Spade bag?
As you can see, straw fakes look NOTHING like their authentic counterparts. Please do not be fooled into thinking that those weirdo straw Sams are real. Look for attention to detail, special features, gorgeous linings, leather or bamboo handles, signature hardware and innovative design in your natural material handbags. Kate's natural bags epitomize her design talent.