Buying leather goods in BA

newhampshire
Level Contributor
21 posts
2 reviews
1 helpful vote
Buying leather goods in BA
Save

Where are the best deals for leather goods? I've read that you can even have things custom made. Does anyone know where?

San Francisco...
Level Contributor
141 posts
29 reviews
26 helpful votes
1. Re: Buying leather goods in BA
Save

I just saw a place featured on Samantha Brown's Latin America series, called Uru Recoleta... basically you choose the style and color / type of leather and they take your measures and have it ready within the day.

More info:

http://travel.discovery.com/tv/samantha-brown/latin-america/travel-guides/buenos-aires.html

Argentina
Level Contributor
26 posts
2. Re: Buying leather goods in BA
Save

Murillo 666 is an area with about 20 leather goods shops. It is about 15 mins by taxi from the city centre. It is cheaper than downtown and you can even haggle a bit. I am not sure if you can have things custom made, but it is very likely.

The area around Florida and Plaza has a lot of high-quality leather goods shops, but they are tourist-oriented so the prices are very high.

Dallas, TX
Level Contributor
71 posts
6 reviews
43 helpful votes
3. Re: Buying leather goods in BA
Save

My partner and I just got back from BA and we, too, had seen Samantha Brown get a leather jacket made to order in a matter of hours at Uru Leather in Recoleta. As we've been very pleased with her suggestions in the past we decided to at least go by to compare, but I will say that we were skeptical and were totally prepared to find that "inflation" or whatever would have caused their prices to soar through the roof.

For what it's worth, we mentioned to the sales person that we'd found out about them through that show she said, "it seems she's very popular there, yes?" Yes, indeed. Another couple in the store asked if we'd also found out about it through Passport to Latin America, too. And later in the week we ran into two other Americans who'd also gone to there to get coats made based on the show.

To get a pricing benchmark we window shopped and tried on various coats and jackets all around town before going to Uru. Admittedly, we did NOT make it over to Murillo to price shop so maybe we missed a terrific deal.

Anyway, the store is lovely, the style selection very nice (but not overwhelming), and the prices quite reasonable. The ordering process was simple. We picked a style and tried on various sizes to get the closest rough fit, then we picked a leather, were measured, paid a deposit, and left. Two days later we returned for a final fitting to make sure everything was perfect (it was) and we left with two terrific coats.

They took 48 hours to make our coats (Sam Brown's took four hours on the show), but I got the impression they could have made them even more quickly if asked. So what did we pay?

My partner got a very nice, made-to-measure, classic men's zip up leather jacket in extremely soft calfskin for U$S 142. We noticed the zipper on his was done in European style (opposite from men's garments in the U.S.) and they instantly offered to have it changed while we waited.

I got what is, essentially, a leather barn coat in gorgeous suede-like black carpincho leather (think big Argentine beaver) for U$S 448. As an example of how much they'll customize I had them do the collar and pocket tops in a different type of black leather for a bit of contrast. I know this is a very simple variation but the point is that every customization possibility that I inquired about was met with an "absolutely, happy to do it" attitude that epitomizes their top notch service.

It's also important to note that they give a 10% discount for cash so be aware of that when you go since you'll have to put down a deposit and will, therefore, need to have that amount in cash to get the discount on that portion. You can, however, charge the deposit (with no discount) and pay the balance in cash (with the discount applied to that portion). For whatever reason they cannot do a credit back to your card and then let you pay the deposit in cash later to get a discount on the full amount.

What they do NOT do is participate in the Tax Free Shopping program. So when you are comparison shopping you may want to calculate that. You'll get roughly 16% back via the Tax Free program (assuming a store participates) and 10% off using cash at Uru.

I did notice one place that had a similar carpincho coat at a price only slightly higher than mine and several with them priced higher. But none of these were made-to-measure and if you were to factor in the usual cost of alterations, well, I think we both got quite a bargain.

Abilene, Texas
Destination Expert
for Buenos Aires
Level Contributor
7,712 posts
72 reviews
147 helpful votes
4. Re: Buying leather goods in BA
Save

cubzter....a carpincho coat! Impressive. I bought a pair of loafers made from carpincho on my last trip to Argentina and i get lots of compliments and questions about the distinctive leather. I like the "large beaver" description...I have been telling people it is a large rat since it is the largest rodent in the world.

Thanks for the detailed information, including prices.

Buenos Aires...
Level Contributor
3,998 posts
1 review
1 helpful vote
5. Re: Buying leather goods in BA
Save

if you are looking for good prices, then Murillo is a good idea.

New York City, New...
Level Contributor
2 posts
32 reviews
34 helpful votes
6. Re: Buying leather goods in BA
Save

If you're a leather fashionista, then I suppose going to a totally custom shop makes sense but I went to the Murillo Leather District and found a myriad of choices at very reasonable prices. I visited nearly every store before choosing a black leather coat with buttons (essentially a single-breasted driving coat) for less than USD $200 at a shop called Triptico (Murillo 684). The shortened the sleeves and altered the shoulders in 3 hours at no extra cost. They were very helpful, accommodating and fun!

7. Re: Buying leather goods in BA

-:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:-

This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.

To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.

Removed on: 14 September 2009, 17:48
Get answers to your questions about Buenos Aires
Recent Conversations
CA$CAD
India
© 2021 TripAdvisor LLC All rights reserved.

This is the version of our website addressed to speakers of English in India. If you are a resident of another country or region, please select the appropriate version of Tripadvisor for your country or region in the drop-down menu.