Well-priced luxury goods are hard to come by in this country.

Whether it’s locally made or a well-known brand, tens of thousands of rands can be spent on a bag all because of, well, the name.

But instead of just dropping cash dollar on, say, this Louis Vuitton creation priced at over R30 000, why not include a trip to India in that cost and get more than one luxury item.

Take a look at this bag from New Delhi-based leather goods brand Cord:

Sexy, right? If you would hazard a guess at how much it costs, you would probably say easily over R10 000.

Well, no actually.

Although it looks like a high-class luxury good, the everyday essential, semi-circular “hemicycle bag” (which comes in tan leather and various prints) remains Cord’s best-selling product and is priced at a cool 7 500 rupees.

That’s R1 500 for this:

Speaking to Quartz, Cord’s co-founder Pranav Guglani explained the brand and its low costs:

I felt there’s a need-gap in the affordable luxury market, and (it) needs good-quality products which are priced under Rs10,000.

We started out with prices which were very modest for a leather bag. If you’re paying about Rs5,000 to Rs7,000, I would say that’s a very good price.

We’re proud to be Indian but our designs are very global.

The company’s customers and sales records since its New Delhi store opened in May are a testament to the fact that Cord’s designs are “nostalgic yet progressive designs are resonating with well-travelled Indian shoppers, who may have seen similar styles in cities such as New York or Berlin”.

Or Cape Town.

If you want one oh so badly, there’s a return flight to the Indian capital on Flight Centre for around R9 100. Include one of those sexy Cord bags – or any others of their designs – and it would still be a whole lot cheaper than, say, buying that Louis Vuitton.

And you get to make a holiday of it and visit whatever New Delhi tourist attraction tickles your fancy.

#Winning.

[source:quartz]