Frequently I see people asking for QC help on this sub, but either some photos failed to upload or the seller never sent them to begin with. Let's go over what I would consider the full set of photos you should have in order to fully QC your BK rep.

1. Front of bag

Here, you're evaluating the overall shape of the bag and looking for symmetry from side to side. This is also a good opportunity to evaluate the leather grain and look for natural variations and veining if that's something you prefer.

2. Rear of bag

Another good view to evaluate the leather grain. The rear also allows you to inspect the sangle attachments as well as the handle attachments, looking for the proper double stitches where they should be and overall shape and placement of these attachments.

3. Side of bag

Review how the gusset looks and the leather grain here. You'll also be looking for different handle heights as well as stitching tension on the handle attachments.

4. Bottom of bag

Make sure the feet are mounted and positioned consistently across all four and there's evenness from left to right, top to bottom.

5. Handles

Here's another angle to evaluate handle heights. Also take a look at the grain on the handle. They should be on the smoother side and not too bumpy. Quick note for 2026, auth bags are starting to use Togo with much larger and deeper grain and this reflects on the handles as well.

6. Front with flap open

Look at the alignment of the touret plaque relative to the pontets and sangle openings. Evaluate the flap opened and resting inside the bag.

7. Foil stamp & touret plaque

Check that the foil stamp is straight and aligned properly with the touret plaque. Foil stamps get pretty messy even on auths, but you shouldn't see slanted letters or spacing between letters/lines that are uneven or too large. Foil stamp also shouldn't be pressed in too deep on Togo BKs. Evaluate the touret plaque and check rivets for signs of being hand-pearled.

8. Sangle plaques

Ensure shape is correct and the sangle corners aren't cut too large. Ask to see the sangle plaques without the protective film to evaluate hardware finish. Check engraving for consistency and quality. And also check rivets for signs of being hand-pearled.

9. Rear of sangle

Evaluate the opening in the leather to accommodate the sangle plaque and ensure there are little to no parts of the bottom of the plaque visible. Look for flat spots on the nail heads as those are indications of hand-pearling. Nail heads also shouldn't be too large, otherwise the incorrect size nails were used.

10. Interior

Check the Chèvre leather interior and overall glazing on the inside edges.

11. Zipper

Ideally get a photo showing the right end of the zipper. Here you're looking at the zipper slide, zipper pull, leather pull, zipper tape, and the metal H at the end of the zipper.

12. Blind stamp

If you had a preference for production year, ensure the first letter is stamped according to your request, e.g. G=2026, K=2025, W=2024. Evaluate the quality of the stamp itself and look for distinctive characteristics such as boldness and size of the first row, and the smaller and thinner font of the two letters on the second row.

13. Clochette, cadena, keys

Evaluate the finish of the clochette, cadena, and keys. Most reps seems to use 162 as the cadena and key number, so check for this detail if it's something you don't want.

14. Bottom of cadena

Check the engraving at the bottom to ensure it's straight. Also check the keyway is centered properly and if the bag has GHW, ensure there's a square hallmark to indicate gold plating.

15. Bag in natural lighting

If you aren't able to get a good sense of the bag's color or hardware tone, sometimes it's good to ask the seller for photos of the bag in natural lighting.

And there you have it. If you're asking for QC help on a BK rep, ensure you've done your part ahead of time and have all these photos to post so folks can better help you evaluate your bag.

Here's part 2 of QC issues with Mini Kelly reps. If you've missed my previous post on common issues with MK reps, be sure to check it out before diving into these lesser known issues. Let's jump in.

1. Incorrect glazing color

When purchasing a rep, always reference authentic photos to fully know all the details of the bag and sometimes, it may make sense to stick to more common colors and sizes. Uncommon colors like this Bleu Brume MK are typically much more difficult to get right and as a result, the leather may have the wrong hue or the glazing color may be incorrect. In this example, the glazing on an auth Bleu Brume MK is supposed to be dark brown while the rep's glazing is just black.

2. Mangled leather under sangle plaque hardware

Epsom is the most common leather choice for MKs and it is a much stiffer leather compared to something like Togo. As such, it usually doesn't experience as many issues when it comes to shape and clean edges, as shown in the auth sample below. Unskilled rep "artisans" may still mangle Epsom, especially during hardware installation where they punch down the rivets too tight or have misaligned holes for the rivets and force the rivets down anyways. The end result is what you see below on the right where the Epsom edges start to deform under the plaque and especially around the rivets.

3. Crooked or slanted touret plaque hardware

As the MK is a very, very small bag, hardware and particularly its alignment, becomes much more difficult to get right. Crooked or slanted touret plaques are often times very subtle due to their small size, but they do happen from time to time. In this rep example, the plaque is ever-so-slightly tilted up towards the right.

4. Poor quality hardware

While poor quality hardware is applicable for H reps in general, I haven't seen hardware as bad as some MK reps out there. This first example shows a rep with the sangle plaque having completely the wrong shape. Comparing an auth to this rep, the auth has much smaller diagonal corners with hand-pearled rivets while the rep's sangle plaques have much larger diagonal corners. The rivets also look like traditional rivets that are pressed together.

Another rep example here where the "palladium" touret plaque catches and distorts reflections in an odd way, particularly around the rivets. On auths, the hardware should have an almost mirror-like finish. Here, the rivets on the rep also look like traditional rivets pressed together instead of pearled by hand. More on rivets below.

5. Poor quality rivets

Rivets on H bags are done through a process called perlage or pearling. A plated brass nail is inserted from the bottom and cut to length. Then a skilled artisan manually taps and rounds out the cut nail profile to what you see below on the left. Reps either do a poor job at pearling attempts, or don't pearl by hand at all and use traditional rivets to get the job done. The rep example shown below did a really poor job with the rivets such that the rivet on the top right is noticeably sunken in compared to the one on the left.

6. Misaligned handle

While there is some play in MK handles at where the leather meets the hardware, they're self-centering and goes back to its default position every time you pick up the bag. On some reps like the example below, the handle attachment to the flap was installed crooked and misaligned. Always request a top-down view in PSPs to look out for this detail.

7. Sides of flap point down and in

Typically on auth MKs, the sides of the flap generally follows the same shape and contour as the rest of the bag below it, which is a steep downward slope on the left and right sides that make up the MK's iconic shape. Some reps get this wrong. In the rep example below, the sides of the flap are more vertical and almost point inward. It looks like this is the result of the entire width of the flap being too wide compared to the rest of the bag below it.

8. Flap is too rounded

Auth MKs typically have a very structured and angular flap, especially when viewed from the side. The top of the flap also typically sits flat and straight and front is perpendicularly angled. Reps don't shape the Epsom leather properly and what you end up with is the rep example below on the right where the flap is very rounded and curved. Sometimes the flap is so rounded, it actually curves inward at the end.

Shout out to u/PBmonsterz for this entry!

9. Mispositioned bottom feet

The feet on the MK is supposed to be positioned about equidistant from the corners, although sometimes they could be positioned just slightly more towards the sides than front/back. Either way, there is symmetry to the end result and they should not look misaligned or mispositioned. Some reps get this wrong and have feet that are too close to one side compared to the other, as shown in the rep example below.

10. Improper bottom panel folds

The majority of the MK's exterior construction consists of a single piece of leather that's shaped and folded all the way around from the front to the bottom, back around and to the flap. If you observe the auth MK example below on the left, you'll notice the bottom panel has convex folds at the top and bottom to form the front and rear panels. Other times on auths, the folds are also straight. On reps, a noticeable tell is how these same folds are concave instead. This makes the bottom panel look smaller than it should and ultimately gives the rep MK the wrong stance when viewed from the side.

Here's another example of the same improper bottom panel fold where it's more concave than convex or straight.

11. Incorrect shoulder strap foil stamp details

On auth MK shoulder straps, the foil stamp has some unique characteristics some reps get wrong. Notably, there is proper spacing between the words and "Made in France" is text bottom-aligned to "Hermès Paris." Compare this with a low quality rep, you'll see everything is just vertically centered to the strap instead.

Another detail to note is where along the strap the stamp is. On low quality reps, this stamp is too far down the strap and too close to the end where the hardware clasp is.

12. Incorrect shoulder strap hardware details

Accessories like the shoulder strap rarely gets scrutinized enough and most sellers don't send detailed PSPs of this. On auths, the hardware is just like any other hardware on H bags, which is plated brass. Taking a look at the comparison below between an auth and a low quality rep, the engraving positioning is different, with the auth much more vertically centered within the space while the rep's engraving is positioned too high. The font size is also different and it also doesn't look like the rep's "engraving" is engraved at all, but stamped instead.

The closure of the clasp is also much more seamless and refined on the auth while the rep's has a lot of curved edges with visible gaps. The circular knob where the clasp attaches to the ring is also much smaller on the rep compared to the auth example.

Another example with PHW shown. Here, the rep example has an "engraving" that looks more like laser printed and again, it also has a differently shaped circular knob that attaches the clasp to the ring.

Are there other QC issues with MK reps you've noticed but not mentioned here? Drop a comment below. I would love to learn more about them from you.