It’s been awhile since a Polene bag excited me enough to click “Buy,” but when I saw the Mokki Mini I liked it right away. My last Polene bag was the Beri (Polene Beri review here), which I bought almost four years ago. So I thought it was time to try another Polene bag. So what did I think? Is it a keeper?
wearing at the shorter strap length—can be extended
Sadly that’s a no for me. Now I’m a really picky bag lover these days so I might be overly fussy here. But there’s a couple reasons why I decided to send it back. First off it was the leather. The leather felt really hard and plastick-y. I did a comparison of the leather between the Mokki and Beri, between the Mokki and an Hermes belt, and the Mokki with a cheap leather key chain (short video of that here because honestly pictures can’t really capture that). Guess which one the Mokki’s leather was the most similar to? Yep, the cheap leather key chain.
Secondly, I decided to return the Mokki because even though the bag feels quite wide and bulky when worn crossbody, it doesn’t fit as much as you’d think. The stiff structured outer leather is quite thick but the inner pouch is not only divided but quite small. I can fit just my essentials (granted I also added my sunglasses case). I made another short video of what can fit in the Polene Mokki Mini here.
And lastly I returned it because some parts of the construction felt weird to me. For example where the top handle attaches to the body is just strips of leather that can kind of bend. If worn in the long term, I can see that part really softening and disintegrating. It just felt really flimsy. Also the front flap has some kind of mechanism in the leather that causes a “snapping” action, like it snaps closed and snaps open. Lastly I wasn’t a fan of the finicky clasp in the front (sort of like what they used on the Old Celine belt bags).
I will say the construction is super clean and nice. For a mid-range brand, they do their leather edging pretty good. Also their packaging is spot-on. Most mid-range brands will have an excess of plastic foam covering the bag and handles, that gives a decidedly un-luxurious unboxing experience. But not so for Polene. However these things alone can’t convince me to keep a $660 bag.
Anyway I returned it. Returns go back to Spain and cost $20 via DHL (plus it’s $20 to ship fyi). This was definitely easier than the return of the Polene numero un nano I did back in 2020 that cost me $60 (for a $250 bag) on my own dime, took 3 months, and only got refunded after I repeatedly checked and emailed them. But I wonder why they don’t just send it to their store in New York for this return.
Anyway has anyone else tried some of Polene’s newer bags, particularly this Mokki Mini, and what did you think of their leather? Am I being too picky here?
P.S. You can find my other Polene Reviews here.
P.P.S Since writing this review and putting up the short videos on youtube, I learned a couple things. First off, this YouTuber bought a Mokki mini in person at a Paris Polene store and she commented on the edging of the first bag they brought out to her not being so great. So she asked for another one and it was better. So it goes to show that quality control isn’t the best and you have to be careful with Polene (which she also said). I guess I got lucky because the edging on mine was quite nice. And two, a commenter pointed out that a structured bag like this does need to have stiff leather (even if it may border on the plasticky—this last part is my addition). And that made me realize that I have very few structured bags to begin with and most of the ones I do have are in smooth leather. I might not just be a fan of structured pebble leather bags. I think I have bias towards smooshy leathers and smooshy bags so please take this review with a grain of salt.