There are a lot of thoughts and tips floating around eBay about Coach bags, and these are great. But some are wrong.

This tutorial may not help you spot more fakes, but it certainly will stop you from thinking authentic ones are fakes, on occasion.

The MYTHS about COACH Signature:

• "Coach Signature is always aligned symmetrically." It is fairly even from side to side, but it's never perfect. To the naked eye, it may seem so, so still trust yourselves when you think an off Signature bag is a fake.

Example: This Coach Signature Heart Key Fob: Seems perfect? I thought so, too, but look closer.


Okay, still looks perfect? Look at the main CC cluster in the middle, take the bottom two sideways Cs, compare them to the edges. The C on the right is closer to the leather edge. I'm nit-picking, but it's there.

This is also a very good example of two points below, it is on a slant, not perfectly horizontal!

• "COACH Signature is always perfectly centered." I wish this were true as well, it is more or less centered, but check this out:

Example: The Legacy Satchel I got delivered from a COACH boutique. The back Signature is off if you compare it to the middle piece of leather:

• "Coach Signature is always aligned." Well, this could mean different things. The Signature on Coach bags is always pretty good. And some bags are great with zipper areas matching, etc., but most have something that is off.

Take the Signature items since last Fall: They have corners done in Signature, not leather, and they don't even mirror image!


(Sometimes you can find a bag that aligns better than this, I actually did.)

• Coach.com lies. They put the most perfect bags they can find (are they even real? I've even seen a pre-final bag with much different details from the ones eventually sold!), but you can't yourself find bags with such perfect Signature, as bags like this:

• "Coach Signature is never slanted." Ha! That's changed. Aside from the imperfect Coach.com key fob above, they've now made things slanted on purpose.

This first example is a bag that has sides on which the Signature is slanted. This is the Hamptons Signature Satchel. This isn't the greatest view of it, but it's what I found on eBay, and it also shows WHY it's slanted on the sides, because the fabric on the top forces the sides to do this. (Still, I don't like it.)


Here is the biggest affront to its consumers Coach has ever done (imho): a shearling duffle with, well, just look.


No, the Signature being that slanted absolutely does not mean this bag is fake. I saw this bag in stores for myself. Alone, in a perfect world with no counterfeiters, it might be a nice look (I think I'd like it in Mini Signature), but not in the real world.

Some say Coach is competing with counterfeiters. Are they stooping to the level of counterfeit quality? No. Coach fakes are so obvious and Coach's materials and workmanship are high quality.

I'd argue for Coach to fight the fakers they'd need to pay attention to this aligning, etc. aesthetic, though. But it's very hard to make things perfect!

Don't take this and run with the thought that you now hate Coach. I love Coach and the actual physical quality of their bags is great. Hey, not even Gucci's GG is perfect! It's very true.

Hopefully at least you'll be closer to understanding authentic Coach. I hope you buy authentic Coach and enjoy the bags! Perhaps now you'll strive to learn more. Study, study, study! That means don't just read; visit the stores as much as you can!

Thank you and good luck.