Their Quality has gone downhill and the "Lifetime Warranty"is meaningless!
In our household, we look for quality goods we can take care of and expect a lifetime of service from; Jack Georges can no longer pass even the most cursory evaluations. I sent a Chelsea tote in a closeout color to them for repair. The bag was in SUPERB condition, except that the edging along the straps had cracked, which I wanted to have fixed before it effected the leather. Seems like that would be a relatively minor repair for "dedicated craftsman", right? When I received my "repaired" bag back from them, the edging had been coarsely scraped away, leaving unsightly uneven edges, and replaced with edging in another material and color. WORSE, the area where the straps were attached to the bag had been twisted and stretched, forcibly, leaving the leather as slack as an overcooked noodle, AND the metal keys on both sides of the zipper, though they had been shiny & perfect, were scraped in multiple places AND stained. That bespeaks a real level of abuse. More so: the textured leather on the front of the bag had multiple areas where something white and something else dark had been spilled on it, wiped away but not removed from the fine indentations in the leather. Finally: there was a scuff on the leather itself that had not been on the bag before.
These disappointments were made worse by JG's terrible response times; we would have to contact them on average 3 times before they'd reply, and sometimes call repeatedly. When they did reply, they claimed to NOT SEE any problems. We had to explain we had before/after pics if they'd like their memory refreshed. Please keep in mind this company claims "three generations of leather craftsmen influence every phase of product design, development, and manufacturing".
It did not take an expert to see the POOR workmanship performed on what had been an excellent bag with a minor issue, and it should not have taken before/after pics for them to recognize shoddy work.
When you spend $300, $400, $500 on an item, you are expecting durability. When you see a "lifetime warranty" you expect better service than we've experienced--esp. from a company that explicitly appeals to quality conscious consumers. We were, only after haggling, offered a $400 replacement tote for this bag they damaged in their attempt to perform minor repair work. What we received was further evidence of a company that had traded its core values for cut corners: their $400 Croco embossed tote looked like what you might find at JC Penney for $40. The stitching was not nearly as neat, with loose threads, and it was uneven, thicker than along our previous bags. The inside of each strap had an unsightly matte backing, like the inside of a bonded leather belt. The glossy top-coat had streaking--less glossy places that are a result of wet goods being hastily packed in plastic after manufacture for shipping overseas. (My father has been involved in international manufacture for 40 years, so I know a bit more than most consumers about what I'm seeing.) For the cherry on top: there was already a 2 inch scuff on the bag.
Though we tried, politely, to express our disappointment and concern for such evident change in direction of a once beloved company, their values lie elsewhere. Sadly it has become clear there is a reason the images on their own website are so low res. The pictures of stock on amazon will have a zoom--look there for the sloppy stitching along their $500 briefcases. And also notice they have replaced interior leather flaps with flimsy elasticized velcro straps while you're at it. They kept disparaging my tote as a "closeout" without caring about my observation that the quality of that "closeout"(which still bore their name and supposed warranty) was so much better than their current stock. So CAVEAT EMPTOR, folks.
In sum, Jack Georges doesn't want you to know their $300 and $500 bags are made in China, hastily and to very poor standards. They don't want you to know that their in-house repair team doesn't seem to be well paid or work under the best conditions, and thus aren't likely to be the "dedicated craftsman" they advertise. Nor do they want you to know they cannot source basic replacement materials for minor things, like straps, even when they offer the same stuff in the same color just a different style. So for Heaven's sake, look elsewhere. Jack Georges hopes you can't tell the difference between different types of leather, or even between leather and bonded leather. We were sent 3 swatches of their Saffian (sic) leathers, but each varied in thickness, manufacturing process, and quality--although all were very poor quality. So if you must shop with them, don't expect much, and spend even less. read more