Marni Alpaca Tote, Handbag of the Day

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Aug 23rd 2009 at 5:02PM

This fluffy, soft Alpaca Tote by Marni is the 'comfort food' of the handbag world. I only wish it weren't real fur (these days they can work wonders with the faux stuff) but if you're going to go there this is a least a gorgeous, classy way to do it. It's a lovely shade of white-gray called "frost" and has a silvertone frame and a sliding leather handle, internal pockets, and a twill lining. What a luxe, unique way to dress up your winter wardrobe. $2,440

Tags: alpaca, fur, handbag of the day, HandbagOfTheDay, marni, tote

Filed under: Handbags

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Valerie Aug 23rd 2009 6:03PM

Real or fake,either way it's horrible.

GPR Aug 23rd 2009 10:18PM

Is this skinned Alapaca, or trimmed alapaca hair?

If it's the first, then someone is going to hell. Go do a google image search for Alpaca and then come back and look at this bag. $2,500 to show that you have no soul.

verdegrrl Aug 23rd 2009 10:32PM

If the Alpaca was being "harvested" for other things, then it's nice to see the skin is not being wasted. If so, then the only crime would be to not use every bit of the animal.

Killing them just for fur on the other hand, and not using the entire animal is like trophy hunters of yore, and not at all in good taste.

Bryan Aug 24th 2009 5:48AM

GPR: It's skinned alpaca. Trimmed alpaca hair can only be spun into thread and made into sweaters, etc.

Alpaca breeders will tell you that alpacas are too valuable to be killed for their fur, and fur products are from "natural attrition of the herd." How truthful is that, I don't know.

Bryan Aug 24th 2009 5:49AM

Bryan Aug 24th 2009 5:51AM

verdegrrl Aug 24th 2009 12:44PM

Bryan, you may be on to something. A quick look via google at past results from an Alpaca auction, show animals selling in $12,000 to $30,000 range. A basic breeding Alpaca is at least $5,000. The nicer the fur, the more expensive. Seems highly unlikely they would just slaughter them for a single purpose since they aren't really that large from the standpoint of using the hide for bags.

Barbara Aug 24th 2009 4:24PM

As an alpaca breeder, I will tell you that they are NEVER (in the USA) killed for their hide. However, in South America, the farmers are very poor, and cannot provide good healthcare: hence, they lose 50% of their crias (babies), and do harvest them for food and hides. Sadly, even in the USA, animals do die, and I do hope that other owners are not wasting their valuable skin.