Bottega Veneta Intrecciato Bags Honest Review

The lighting in the room was a bit off so the color isn’t quite right, but this is a Bottega Veneta leather intrecciato tote in a deep wine (purply-burgundy-brown) color, open style with carabiner clasp closure, with a zippered interior pocket and an open interior pocket, and semi adjustable handles. At the time that this photo was taken, the bag is about 4 years old or so.

We were actually pretty lucky to have scored this at The Mall (a high-end outlet mall in Florence), because usually they only have the off colors at the outlet. We were able to get this wine-colored one as well as a black zippered hobo intrecciato bag which my mom now uses. This open tote was less than 2000€, while the black hobo was less than 1000€. Not bad deals considering this is still one of the brands that does this intrecciato weave by hand.

I wholly appreciated the intrecciato weave look and technique only a few years ago, when I made one such bag for school, and discovered for myself just how painstakingly time-consuming and technical it is.

As I have come to learn via inspection/ studying Bottega Veneta’s bags, they do 2 types of intrecciato weave. Intrecciato, I think, basically means that the bag has been fully woven all around and as one piece, and not stamped with a woven pattern or woven as separate panels then stitched together (which are common practices and the easier way to do woven bags).

The first kind of intrecciato I’ve seen, is the typical one you think of, which is that the whole bag is woven from several strips of leather very much in the way that a basket would be woven. I’ve seen photos from the brand which show that they do this weave around a wooden form, such as for the big totes. This is the technique that I myself tried. I didn’t have wooden models, so I actually used 2 Swiffer refill boxes taped together to form the shape of the base of my bag :)) And my leather strips were not nearly long enough, so only the bottom half of my bag is intrecciato, and I attached another piece of leather for the top. But I digress..

Now the second type of intrecciato is what we see here, and is what I’ve seen with most of Bottega Veneta’s products in-store. It’s made with sheets of leather that have been cut with tiny slats where the leather strips would pass through to create the woven look. If you look closely, you will see that there are parts of the leather that aren’t fully separated, which shows us that these aren’t the traditional woven leather strips, but sheets through which leather strips have been woven through. I guess it’s still technically woven. Not sure which weave construction yields a sturdier bag, but so far this one has performed well enough. My sister has used it for her big camera (a Canon 5D Mark 4 with a gigantic 24-700mm lens, the whole setup weighing like a small baby) plus her stuff when we travel, and that’s usually a good test of a bag’s sturdiness :)) It’s not the most lightweight because it’s lined and has hardware, but lighter than a lot of other bags, and it folds flat so you can pack it as an extra bag when you travel.

Below, you can see photos of the bottom corners of the bag. No stitch seam, so it is fully intrecciato or woven all around as one piece

The edge is a bit wonky where several strips meet but I think this is to be expected, and it doesn’t affect the strength or build of the bag anyhow

Below you can see more clearly what I mean about the 2nd type of intrecciato:

It’s a nice combination with the wine color to have the gunmetal semi-matte hardware

Interior label

Unique carabiner-type closure also in semi-matte gunmetal hardware

The bag was woven by hand, but I think these other details were probably already machine-stitched. But I won’t judge them too harshly for that, since the weaving was a lot of work already :)) But you can see how the machine stitches now look somewhat sub-par and blah compared to all the handiwork of the weaving

Interior zippered pocket. Maialino (pig skin leather) lining in a greige/taupe color

Hidden zipper detail

Machine stitched, with edge paint. Standard finishing.

Another interior pocket that’s open and made with the same lining material (maialino pig skin leather). Not quite big enough for a phone but I usually put a small bottle of hand sanitizer here

I have become quite partial (although my wallet has not. haha) to brands that still try to focus on handmade leather bags. To me, it has more value (if done well, that is) and therefore justifies a higher price tag. How high you’re willing to spend for such a piece is up to you, but I would have more faith in how it’s made, and it would likely have better service and warranty as well.

Bottega Veneta joins the elite club of high end handmade leather goods that includes Hermès, Moynat, Delvaux, Moreau, etc. (a small club), but the unique thing about Bottega is that you can score some great pieces at the outlet (you have to be selective about it though, especially with the colors), without any dilution or degradation of the brand esteem or prestige.

While those other brands don’t really do sales or outlets, Bottega is at the more accessible midway point because it’s still seen as being very premium due to its logo-less aesthetic and focus on hand weaving, but it having an outlet means that you can really chance upon some gems without breaking the bank as much as you would with the other brands I mentioned.