There has been a noticeable difference in the quality of the calf leather before and after the summer restock. Any calf leather purchased before April, was a high quality smooth leather with a sheen to it. But calf leather bags purchased after April, mostly those made for the June restock is a seemingly lower quality leather that feels spongy/rubbery, is matte and smells a bit like chemicals/bleach {this was my major complaint with the navy lady bag from the first Mansur Gavriel Lady Bag Review}. The picture above are all my calf leather bags. The navy blue Lady Bag and sand Crossbody are from the recent restock while the royal blu bucket is from earlier in the year. You can't see the differences there, but the picture below shows the difference. The older, better calf leather is on the left while the newer and but lower quality calf leather is on the right. It's only a subtle difference, but in-person the differences are huge.
via from frankiextah
Another comparison shot with the older, better calf leather on top and the newer calf leather on bottom.
If you are new to the Mansur Gavriel market, stay away from the calf-leather and stick with the veg-tanned leather bags. The calf-leather is more expensive and at the current quality, it's not worth the money. Meanwhile the veg-tanned leather seems to be of the same quality and at a lower price point, it's just a smarter purchase. If you did end up already getting a calf-leather bag from the last restock, don't despair. The smell does go away after awhile. Also by using a leather conditioner, like Chamberlain's leather milk, Leather Honey, or Black Rock the smell fades much quicker {and it makes your bag look better}. If you're interested, I reviewed different leather conditioners and protectants for Mansur Gavriel bags.
MG calf-leather bag owners, is your leather like mine? Or I wonder if it was just a bad batch?
Feb 2018 update: I feel compelled to update my post even though this is several years old with this review I just found. It seems that MG leather quality isn't as good as I initially thought it was. Also I can attest to this because my calf-skin crossbody leather began disintegrating where the straps met the body of the bag.