A Consumer Test on a Floto Venezia Mini Bag
Another holiday weekend has just passed and
I expect many of you took the opportunity to visit relatives or friends for a
short holiday jaunt for a couple of nights. Are you like me?
Do you find you
have to pack a specific amount of 'essential' personal items apart from clothes
whether you go away for one over night or seven nights stay?
There are those that like to travel light and those that function more happily
if they can take all those little items that they feel make them more confident. As Susan a main character in the TV programme Desperate Housewives recently said
'I like to have my (girly) things around me'. I knew exactly what she
meant.
Ahhhh the perfect little holdall bag - just where can you find one?
Reader
I know exactly where! The perfect bag for today that says quality, chic style
and is at a price you can afford is the
the Floto bag. More importantly it is
perfect for either gender. Recently Joe Floto wrote to me to tell me
about his Floto Bags Later by arrangement he sent me a sample of his
Venezia Mini that you can see above. When my
Floto Bag arrived from New
York within a week
after it was shipped to UK, I opened it with great anticipation.
I wasn't disappointed. It smelt of the leather I recall of my youth when old
fashioned saddlers and shoemakers had shops in main towns. The smell was just so
good and so natural. It was that leather smell of hand crafted quality goods
that pervaded my senses. In fact my husband a man of few spoken words commented
twice. First he said ' It just oozes quality.' Later when I asked if he could
smell that heady leathery smell he said ' It's great, I love it.' So I had better
watch he doesn't try to acquire my
Venezia Mini Floto for himself!
Italian Leather Bags, Luggage, Briefcases, and Handbags - Authentic travel bags and totes made in Italy for Floto Imports
 
It struck me at that moment what a great unisex bag the
Floto bag can be. I
don't think I've ever felt that way before about a bag. The
Floto bag truly does
seem unisex.
~
This past weekend I consumer tested it and when my father in law
first saw it, he said how much he
liked it. Then when I mentioned how unisex it seemed, he agreed that the
Floto bag was a bag he would happily carry for himself or for his wife, so I know now what
to buy 2 senior citizens who have seen everything!
Next my niece in
her mid thirties and a keen fashionista saw it - she looked longingly at my
Venezia Floto with what amounted to plain old envy and a throwaway
remark along the lines of if ever
you are getting rid of it you know where to send it! That's unlikely - Joe
assures me that these bags just get to look better with age and I can believe
that.
So when this past Bank holiday May Day weekend came I decided to
photograph just what I was able to put in my
Floto Venezia Mini Bag as a consumer test for site visitors
to read more about.
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Everything I put in my Floto Venezia mini
bag for consumer test 1. |
The
Floto Venezia Mini Bag is quite capacious and whilst I think it is a
unisex bag, I'm commenting only on female clothing.
In my opinion should hold a
change of clothing or two changes for a woman up to size 16.
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 |
|
The contents included 4 garments - a pair of heavy
thick lined linen trousers with belt, an adaptable T-shirt, a light
georgette chiffon lined dress, a cotton lawn nightdress, some strappy
evening sandals, plus a bra change, 3 waisted panties and tights, plus
toilet bags filled as discussed below.
Italian Leather Bags, Luggage, Briefcases, and Handbags - Authentic travel bags and totes made in Italy for Floto Imports |
I'm just like Susan of Desperate Housewives - 'I like to have my things around
me'. I want to have all my hair stuff and make up in particular, plus some
perfumes to make me feel good. I do take the smaller than usual
designed for travel sizes of products like hair spray and shampoo. I also like to have my blow drying roller brush, tongs (for
emergencies) and a mirror. I need a basic, but good selection of my favourite
makeup/creams/scents, my essential daily medicines/pain killers,
oral care and a small, but again good varied selection of jewellery all just in
case................
.............You know just in case that once in a lifetime unplanned for invitation
accidentally emerges. I always like to have these essentials in one spot
and all in one small, but
capacious holdall bag that can be securely zipped. If you omitted the few
clothes I've added here, you could easily add a bag of jumbo hair rollers,
plus a small hair dryer and probably still manage to include a dress or footwear
change.
To show you just what a
small Venezia mini Floto bag can hold I laid everything out on the bed and then photographed
it. If you carefully select a few clothing items and mix and match with a jacket
you wear to travel or hang in the car you can manage with a very small wardrobe
for a night or two.
Just imagine how
much more then a full size Venezia might hold.
Travel in a linen jacket
jeans and top. Or wear an alternative dress or a skirt or pants with
short or long sleeve top, dependant on situation at journey end and weather.
Refresh minimal wardrobe you wear for travel with items
held in your Floto Venezia Mini bag
as shown below. |
   |
Top jacket for journey in linen or denim
Stay looking good Lycra mix jeans plus knit or top and easy lower shoes of your choice. |
|
To one of these choices you will wear to travel add similar
basic mix and match items in your own style to your
Floto mini bag.
Either use the emptied Floto bag as large fashion handbag
during the day or use a small leather bag of your choice.
Italian Leather Handbags - New Ciabattas and Mini Duffles from Floto Imports.
|
   |
 |
So let's look at how I filled the bag. I pared down my
make up to must have pieces including moisturisers and perfumes in mini sizes
the sort given in presentation trial packs when you purchase say 2 items from
Lancôme, or Estee Lauder for example. I put oral care and longer items in
the long brown toilet case. I put mini containers of mousse, hairspray and
shampoo, deodorant wipes and face wipes, plus a small dental repair kit in another bag. In
another I put some odds and ends such as tablets, mini size creams and small
sachets of body lotion, plasters etc.
Finally I used a small mini leather handbag to keep my credit
cards, cash, and some jewellery and a mobile phone in one accessible container. By
using several smaller
purses for essential toiletries you make it easier to layer and move items around the
Venezia
|
A
good selection of make up and toiletries |
The
filled bags bags ready to put in the
Floto Venezia. |
The Venezia Floto bag measures 7.5" high x 6" wide x 15"
long |
 |
 |
Layer the toiletry bags at the base of the Floto
Venezia bag and then add the clothes.
A passport and travel ticket could go in the side
pocket. |
 |
|
In general I was able to add a pair of
trousers, a top and a light dress above the toiletry layer. Or 2
dresses and one pair of trousers and a light top. Smalls etc., fitted in
little spaces. What you can add depends on
your sizing too - the main factor is that it will hold lots more than the
average handbag! |
|
Italian Leather Handbags - New Ciabattas and Mini Duffles from Floto Imports. |
So my
filled bag is pretty full, yet because it's maximum length is 15 inches, not
looking so obviously like luggage as one might think. For personal safety
this might be a plus point. Do you want everyone to know you are a
stranger in town?
Italian Leather Handbags - New Ciabattas and Mini Duffles from Floto Imports.
I also like the bag to pass as a handbag when I go for a coffee and snack en
route. I don't wish to leave it in the car and being a practical and portable
size I can put my finger on it in an instant for any essential item wherever I
am as soon as I arrive at my destination. I don't want to have to hunt through a
a variety of cases for specific small items.
In the past such a bag might have been called vanity bag. I call mine my
sanity bag. If it's not in my sanity bag then just exactly where did I put the 'essential' item? Mine might also have a pair of extra tights, extra undies,
refreshing wipes, a small quick dry towel, an ipod, spectacles with a hard case,
a mobile phone, a digital camera and spare batteries, maybe a small bottle of
water or a magazine or a notebook, or instead perhaps a pashmina or simple
cashmere cardigan layer plus a non bulky dress or fresh top that folds up
easily. We all have our own quirks and we all fill our bags differently.
Italian Leather Handbags - New Ciabattas and Mini Duffles from Floto Imports.
I might also have an instant small gift in my sanity bag to hand over on arrival
at my destination. Similarly I like such a bag for air travel once I've passed
through passport control. In that situation in case of plane delays I want to know I have control over my
'things' and personal grooming. My
perfectly packed Floto bag is the answer.
Finding a bag to put all your personal essentials is always a nightmare. You not
only want it to be functional, but also to look good with a wide range of
outfits.
My floto bag is a lovely warm golden vecchio brown and this colour never looks
out of place - although I confess I have my eye on a red one or a blue one as both
colours will be very popular next winter.
For 20 years I had a version of similar bag. It was a Liberty Gladstone bag
covered in a wonderful traditional Liberty pattern in heavy duty linen fabric. I
loved that bag so much that when they no longer sold them I was hugely
disappointed. So what a relief it was to receive my
Venezia Floto bag. I thought I'd
never find a replacement, but readers I have found a great version of my perfect
sanity bag.
All the
Floto bags are stylish, expensive looking, but affordable. They are handmade in Italy by fine craftsmen in
Tuscany. Using old craft methods the Italians tool the polished calf-skin
leather into durable, rugged yet supple leather bags that make a style
statement.
Floto bags make a great gift to yourself
or for others and rival many of high fashion larger bags of the moment.
Larger handbags like the Venezia
Mini are also a fashion statement against a smaller
neater top silhouette.
These Italian bags are wonderfully expensive looking and ideal for
short trips. A quality travel or everyday bag such as these Floto Italian
made leather bags say a great deal about you to others.
Use the links on this page to visit the
Floto site and see Joe's wonderful range of authentic calf leather bags, briefcases, minis, totes and duffles and
all in a wonderful colour range at affordable prices for items that per use will
work out very inexpensively. I think they make a perfect gift for
any time of year and cannot fail to please.
Page added 5 May 2005
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