The Case for Angry Shopping, or How to Buy a Telfar Bag
By: Sabina Șancu
Tags: Telfar Bag, Online Shopping, Telfar, Luxury, Fashion

First of all, disclaimer: I’m against “shopping”. I’m very for making your own stuff. I’m in favour of shopping as sustainably as possible, shopping local, shopping vintage or second hand, and shopping from artisans and small businesses. I’m also a big fan of looting my mum’s old clothes from when she was my age. That being said, these last 3ish years I’ve been on quite a strict no shopping diet. I’ve reluctantly shopped basics on the high street, and mostly delved into the world of vintage stores.

I’ve never been keen on online shopping, something about its unpredictability irks me. I also had to come back to Romania during the pandemic, where I trust online shopping even less than back in the Netherlands. So unlike the people who manically online shopped come lockdown, I’ve just been spending these last few months indoors, in house clothes, shopping for nothing but second-hand fabrics to make some clothes.

Back in October, I got through a painstaking selection process and managed to get an internship at a place that sounded really cool. It even held the promise of 500 eur a month which, while it’s not much, is significantly more than all the unpaid internships I’ve done before. Needless to say, not all that glitters is gold and I realised, only a few days in, that the workplace environment was seriously fucked up. The power dynamics were odd, and the boss managed to blend not guiding us with being the fiercest micromanager I’ve ever even heard of (yes, it’s possible).

I had at least a handful of breakdowns. I spent at least 3 afternoons and evenings crying my eyes out. I met some very nice co-workers online, but my spirit was being challenged and almost broken. I came into conflict with the boss, something that I’m not proud of. It was really not worth it, so two weeks in, the boss and I agreed that it just wasn’t the time and place for me. I’m not sure whether I got fired or if I resigned, but it doesn’t really matter. All that matters was the sheer relief I got afterwards and the fact that right after that happened, I got offered an internship at one of my dream workplaces, where I’m currently doing great, according to my supervisors. (In the meantime, a bunch of my former co-workers got fired en masse about a month after my departure).

So, when I got my 250 eur for the time spent there, despite the fact that I could do with saving it, I had to be rid of it. I didn’t want the money. I hate the connection formed in my brain that says that the torment I went through is worth 250 eur. I had to be rid of it.

In parallel to this, I’ve been a long time fashion enthusiast. I research, I follow bloggers and vloggers and magazines and companies, and importantly, I make my own clothes at times (for practice, sustainability, and due to being an unemployed uni graduate who lives at home). So there’s been a purchase that’s been on my mind for quite a while now.

The Telfar shopping bags have been on my mind a lot in 2020. They’re so sexy. And this is coming from someone who’s strictly anti-nice-bag — whatever I need to carry, I can put it either in a tote bag or, if it’s too much, in a backpack. Strictly no proper bags. And yet Telfar’s message and craftsmanship intrigued me (despite my disappointment when I found out the bags were faux leather — I prefer leather, and as a lifetime vegetarian, this is a luxury I will afford myself, sue me). Importantly, the Telfar shopping bags are a relatively attainable luxury IT-item that I cannot make myself (unlike the designer clothes I try to copy for myself — please don’t sue me). After long debates with myself about whether I should be getting an expensive bag, I gave in.

I decided that my anger money from that cursed paycheck would go toward purchasing a Telfar bag. So how do you buy a Telfar bag, especially from outside the US?

First, I scanned the website in order to fully decide on the item I wanted. I wanted a nicely sized daily bag, that could hold a laptop and hefty water bottle, basically a glorified tote bag. So, size Medium it is.

Then, the issue was what colour to choose! Telfar shopping bags come in a wide range of colours, from flashy to fantastical to classics. I overcame my desire to accumulate statement pieces (you can’t make a real wardrobe solely out of statement pieces, as I sadly discovered) and focused on the classics. Now, the age-old question appeared: should I be matching my shoes with my bag? I’m a big fan of leather shoes, which aren’t even all in one colour. Hopeless to pursue that lead. So I just watched review videos and decided on the rich, dark Chocolate shade.

The essential next step is to sign up for email notifications when they restock and make sure you are getting those e-mails in your inbox as a top priority. The drops are usually at 9AM NYC time, which for me was a convenient 4 in the afternoon. Make sure to check what time the drops are in your time zone! I had received the e-mail notifying me about the drop about 12 hours beforehand.

It’s also very useful to make sure everything logistical is in order, so set up your Telfar account and make sure your PayPal or ApplePay are linked, as those are faster than filling in your card details. I don’t know whether they eject you if you take too long to fill in your info, but I didn’t wanna risk it. Also, for those who move around a lot, it’s good to have your complete address on hand so you don’t spend too long looking up your ZIP code.

I opened the website about 5 minutes before the drop, and refreshed the tab with the Medium Chocolate Shopping Bag anxiously until the clock hit sharp and the re-stock became available. Then I moved lightning-fast through the check out and managed to get a hold of one on my very first try! According to what I’ve seen on the internet, this is miraculous.

One piece of information that I couldn’t find anywhere online, in any language I searched, was how much international shipping costs for the Telfar Shopping Bag. Why was this such a well-kept secret? I decided to go into the purchase without the knowledge of how much their announced “flat rate shipping” was. Since they cover customs and shipping from the US to halfway around the world, I decided 50 eur would be my limit. Well, lucky me because the sum, while uncomfortably large, wasn’t far from that — international shipping for a Telfar Shopping Bag is 65 USD, or around 53 EUR.

That still fit into my anger money budget. I said “fuck it” and purchased it. Will I get buyer’s remorse soon, thinking of how much money I spent? Probably. Am I also incredibly relieved to be rid of that money? Absolutely. Did PayPal also offer me a horrible exchange rate, in which I lost about 10 eur? You betcha. I probably should have just taken the extra minute to fill in my card details. Fuck you, PayPal.

In any case, now all that’s left to do is wait for my bag to get here. I can’t tell you what compelled me to write an essay-length piece about buying a bag. I hope it’s as nice in real life as it is on the internet.