A decade ago, almost all luxury houses offered an ‘affordable’ handbag. These styles, usually smaller bags priced around the $1,000 mark, provided the aspirational shopper with a slice of heritage and a taste of capital-F fashion. But as brands hiked prices in the name of elevation, those who once aspired to own a designer bag found themselves increasingly priced out of the category and skeptical of luxury’s value. Where did those consumers go?

Many turned to contemporary labels — DeMellier, Polène, Staud — or shifted their spending toward categories or experiences that felt easier to justify. “Aspirational buyers haven’t fallen out of love with luxury, but they are far more value-conscious,” says Federica Levato, senior partner at Bain & Co. “They are downtrading to accessible brands, shifting spend into ‘small luxuries’, like beauty and eyewear, and embracing pre-loved bags rather than paying for incremental price hikes that aren’t matched by product substance.” That substance translates to characteristics such as quality, craftsmanship, design, or creativity, all of which consumers are increasingly questioning.

Now, as the risk of relying on ultra-wealthy shoppers rises, luxury brands are expanding the entry levels of their pricing pyramids. “Modern luxury behemoths cannot just rely on the super rich, as important as they may be,” says Bernstein luxury goods analyst Luca Solca. “The middle class consumers — by the million — still drive much of their sales.”

For these brands to welcome back the aspirational class, however, there needs to be a handbag offering that caters to both their wallets and their tastes. But it’s not as simple as lowering prices. Reducing prices too visibly risks damaging perceptions of exclusivity, while alienating those who paid more for the same product. Instead, brands are introducing styles in alternative fabrications, mini iterations, or entirely new bag families to lower the barrier.

Meanwhile, the contemporary brands that gained market share during luxury’s elevation era are facing a challenge of their own: sustaining desirability as they scale. These labels gained traction by offering consumers a clear price-to-product equation, but as luxury brands retreat into the entry-level space, they must maintain momentum through icon styles that keep their cultural resonance.

“After years of elevation, the most interesting growth is now happening at the two extremes of the price pyramid: high-end luxury and accessible entry points,” says Levato. “A number of players have been recently injecting real newness into the category at price points below $1,700, building a more compelling price-value equation for aspirational customers.” Consumers still want to buy handbags, Levato says, they are just becoming more selective.

Now, as the race to create the next entry-level It-bag heats up at both ends of the market, how can brands win?

Balancing design and price

New creative direction at luxury’s biggest houses has opened up the opportunity for category newness. At the start of the year, products launched by Dior, Gucci, and Chanel were each priced below the brands’ respective medians, according to JP Morgan analyst Chiara Battistini. “We have also observed, at least with these launches so far, more products to enrich the lower end of the pricing pyramid, with more accessories and new ‘entry’ bag lines,” Battistini wrote in a note in January.

Gucci’s new Lunetta line consists of smaller, crescent-shaped shoulder bags priced below $1,150 for a canvas style, while its Giglio tote comes in embroidered canvas for around $1,850. Updated Jackie iterations like the Jackie Slim — a smaller, slouchier version, ranging from $2,000 to $3,200 — in soft grained leather, offers an additional entry point to the house’s leather icons. Even at Chanel, where pricing remains particularly high, its newer Mini Flap styles start from around $4,000, alongside vanity bags ($2,900) and clutches ($3,500) that help to broaden access. According to JP Morgan analysts, these launches lower Chanel’s median price from $6,500 to $5,300.

But creating an entry-level offering treads a fine line. Accessibility alone isn’t enough to reignite brand heat — pieces need to be part of a strong overall vision, Solca says. It’s also essential to not undermine the overall desirability of a brand by becoming too accessible. “Moving downward and nothing else is almost guaranteed to damage brand equity,” he says. “I expect brands will need to balance the upward [pricing] stretch with more entry price points, because they serve different audiences, who are likely to become even more polarized.”

Amid all the elevation and price increases, contemporary labels rose to fame through strong design, perceived quality, and clearer value propositions. “It’s not just the middle class consumer,” says Mireia Llusia-Lindh, founder of contemporary handbag brand DeMellier. “The needs of customers across the board have sharpened a bit. They’re tired of compromising and want prices with integrity, quality, and ethics from brands that understand the female customer.”

Expectations around ethics and transparency have become central to the positioning of many contemporary bag brands. DeMellier works with long-term partner factories in Italy and Spain — many family-run and producing for luxury houses — and uses European-sourced leather from Leather Working Group-certified tanners, offering repairs in an effort to emphasize sustainability and durability, per the brand’s website

A commitment to both values and design can dictate the economics of the handbag category. LA-based brand Staud invests specifically in the shape, materials, and hardware of its designs, alongside any details that make the bags feel “desirable and useful”, explains co-founder and creative director Sarah Staudinger. Llusia-Lindh says DeMellier operates with lower margins than many luxury houses in order to maintain materials and product quality at more accessible prices. “We make the bags we want to make — we don’t cut the quality or design or material, we cut the margin. You can still have a successful business without having such huge margins as the luxury brands.” The customer is smart, she flags, and notices when something entry-level feels stripped back purely to increase profits.

Create cultural and emotional resonance

Beyond price and product, the strongest entry-level bags also tap into emotion, identity, and cultural relevance. “The key challenge is to strike the right balance between creating products that tap into enduring, long-lasting luxury codes, while delivering a clear injection of newness, playfulness, and emotional resonance,” Lovato says. “That can come through design, functionality, materials, or storytelling.”

For Gen Z, in particular, an It-bag must increasingly function as a marker of identity and cultural relevance rather than status alone. “[Gen Zs] reward brands that feel plugged into their communities and subcultures,” says Levato. “And are willing to play with formats, collaborations, and ‘shoptainment’ content, while still delivering on craft and authenticity.”

Many brands have pursued accessibility by doubling down on the cultural pull of designs. Prada’s iconic Re-Nylon and Re-Edition lines reinforce the power of recognizable house codes — the triangle plaque; nylon or saffiano leather finishes — at more accessible prices, with smaller styles sitting under $1,150. By leaning into materials that are generally less expensive to produce, Prada has folded accessibility into its cult offering.

Labels like Jacquemus, meanwhile, have made distinct, trend-driven bags extensions of their brand worlds — posing as powerful recruitment tools for younger consumers through social media, celebrity endorsement, and strong visual branding. At Jacquemus, Le Chiquito (from $630) became an It-bag thanks to its Instagrammable proportions and distinct silhouette, which went viral via tastemakers from Rihanna and the Kar-Jenner clan to Emily Ratajkowski.

Likewise, Miu Miu’s strategy proves that an It-person can help make an It-bag. The Wander matelassé bag ($2,000 in silk; $2,100 in leather) and structural Arcadie style (from $2,300) have become central to the brand’s youth-driven resurgence, with campaigns starring Gigi Hadid photographed by Steven Meisel helping to tastefully establish the Wander bag as part of the brand’s wider aesthetic. And on social media, appearances on celebrities including Hailey Bieber and Alexa Chung help weave the bags into the “Miu Miu girl” narrative.

At Staud, however, the goal is less about engineering virality than creating an immediate emotional reaction. “You can never fully predict when something will become an ‘It-bag’. The pieces that resonate most often start with a strong emotional reaction,” she says. “Our goal is not to chase virality. It is to create bags with a clear point of view, strong design, and quality that makes someone want to carry it again and again.”

Think beyond a single It-bag

For brands operating at lower price points, maintaining the balance between value, desirability, and newness requires a different product strategy. DeMellier, for example, does not focus on building one singular It-bag, but rather a portfolio of core styles launched in various colorways, sizes, and iterations over time.

DeMellier’s New York collection (from $530) has remained a bestseller for over five years, while newer launches like the Stockholm family (also from $530) reflect more contemporary design codes with a minimalist silhouette, reduced hardware, and slightly sportier feel. The brand recently expanded the Stockholm line with a shoulder bag iteration. “Our core [styles] drive a big part of our sales, but newness is important, too. Otherwise, the customer gets fatigued, and I think that’s true at most price points,” says Llusia-Lindh.

Staudinger says a similar principle applies at Staud, where different offerings cater to various needs. “Aspiration does not always have to mean serious, overly precious, or unattainable,” she says. “Sometimes, [the customer] wants a bag she can carry every day, something beautifully made that fits naturally into her life. Other times, she is drawn to a piece because it feels emotional, unexpected, or almost like an object.” The Maude bag — a simple satchel retailing between $395 and $495 — serves the everyday, while more expressive styles like the beaded Tommy bag (from $350) and Moon Bag (around $450) function as collectible pieces.

The brand tests products internally among team members spanning different nationalities and generations. “Our team is pretty close to the voice of our consumer, and I think a lot of luxury brands have lost that,” says Llusia-Lindh.

As for the next It-bag, the opportunity for brands lies not just in accessibility, but in creating a piece that feels distinctive and emotionally resonant to the aspirational consumer. “When a customer buys the same bag in another color, material, or keeps carrying a silhouette year after year, that is when you know it has become part of her life,” says Staudinger. “That is the real opportunity.”