First off I want to apologize for the longtime readers here for dropping the ball on some half-baked reviews. This time it was definitely my fault: I scheduled these reviews thinking I would finish them in time and then I totally forgot to finish them. No suspicious spam here lol. Anyway you got a sneak peak at my process (or lack of one rather) so let me know if those reviews were worth finishing.
Second of all, I wanted to hop on here to do a quick review of the Songmont Small Gather Bag. Since moving most of my content-making to video I don’t know if I mentioned here that I bought and then returned the Loewe Flamenco bag in brown lambskin. Don’t get me wrong, it was beaaaauuuutiful. So very lovely and smooshy. However because it was so pliable, whenever I put my daily essentials in there, the bag looked sort of wonky. It didn’t hold it’s shape unless I scrunched the bag into a little ball. And there was nothing wrong with that, except I prefer a more rectangular shape. Plus is was $4k+ which was a bit 🤯. So I returned it.
And I was at peace with that, knowing the medium Flamenco is not for me. But then I saw the Songmont Gather bag and I was pretty hopeful. It looked very similar but of course the price was about 10x less. Sure it could be called a dupe, but at the same time this style of scrunched-tie bag is pretty common.
And I have to say the Songmont Gather bag is hands-down better than the Flamenco. First off the leather is less malleable so it can hold it’s rectangular shape. Plus there’s some stitching and reinforcement on the bottom so it doesn’t sag like the Flamenco. On top of that the crossbody strap is super thick and sturdy (the Flamenco’s is basically a leather string and really digs in if you load it up with stuff). There’s also a top handle that attaches to the backside of the bag if you’re not useing it, so that it stays out of the way.
And lastly there’s a magnetic front pocket which the website shows as holding a scarf (a sweater?), but I use it to hold my phone. The magnets are strong enough that the phone wouldn’t fall out. And it’s great so that I don’t have to root around the main compartment searching for the phone.
via Songmont
One comment I got on my video post (which I linked below) is that the leather seems spotty. And on the Songmont website it does mention that there’s color variations with wear. So far I used my bag quite a bit (it made it into my top 10 most used bags for the last half of 2025— a video post that’s coming soon), and I don’t see any variations unless I’m looking closely at it in direct sunlight. I don’t mind it because it’s like a patina. But honestly it’s quite subtle (so far, if that changes I’ll of course update it here).
Also if you want to fit a laptop, you can get the medium Gather Bag. But I did get a comment that said the medium was quite large for a petite gal (especially when crossbodied), so a word of warning there. As for me (I’m 5’4”), the small is a perfect everyday, carry everything kind of bag. I should mention the small bag is also super lightweight!
Anyway check out my video below for a review of this bag as well as two more from Songmont: