Sven Design

I recently bought a purse from Sven that I’ve been using every day and love. The leather is high quality, soft, and supple. The design is really nice. When I was in the store trying purses, the straps were all too long for me. The salesperson said they wold make me one to order, at no extra charge, and carefully measured exactly what length I’d like the strap. Two days later it was done! The quality is amazing — esp. considering the cost was under $ 100. I’ve since bought two more small purses from Sven Design in different colors. And a wallet also.

I have had a Sven handbag for about 20 years that still looks good and gets compliments.
When I bought it (at a shop in North Beach), it was pretty expensive and I hesitated. The seller told me it came with a guarantee: if anything fails to hold up, I can take it to Sven and they’ll fix it for free. That sold me, and the bag has held up better than any other I have owned. Not a single stitch has come out, the lining is intact, the leather is in good shape.
I’m going back for another soon, and I hope bag #2 serves me as well as bag #1.

Five stars for terrific design. With my Swen bag over my shoulder, my cell phone vibrating in its dedicated pocket is positioned perfectly by my elbow. I can choose between looking wired, or fashionably off-​the-​grid.

I have had two Sven Designs bags and am ordering a third. I planned on buying a bag while traveling in Italy this summer, but realized that everything I loved was very expensive and upwards of 500 euros ($ 650) if it was made in Italy — many are made in China if inexpensive. I have had such amazing customer service from Sven and have certainly appreciated the quality of the products. I have had the large Sling Bag for 10 years and it still looks great. Even the interior is in one piece. A few years ago the magnetic closure came off and after sending the bag to Berkeley had it back IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK and repaired for free, and even replaced the shoulder strap buckle to a tongue buckle that wouldn’t slip. The leather is not the very fine and expensive Italian leather that I was looking at in Italy, but it is buttery and soft, and beautiful. I am a fan of Sven Designs that had to realize that I had a wonderful handbag maker an hour from me, so why pay twice as much for a similar product somewhere else.

Alan and I stopped by Sven Saturday in my hunt for a new wallet. It had to hold my checkbook, enough credit cards and a pen. The door was locked so I rang the doorbell and soon a personable woman let us in. Walking into the shop I was hit w/​the enticing smell of leather, a pleasure since my childhood when I would walk into shoe repair shops w/​my dad. They had some lovely wallets that were almost perfect except they didn’t have a place for a pen. The woman said they used to make that style but did no longer. She gently teased me that I might have to adjust my standards. They also had an array of purses in a variety of colors and one in particular caught my eye. It kept calling to me and today I went back and bought it. A nice man let me in the shop and then sat at his desk in the adjacent room while I made my decision. When I was ready I went to his desk and he helped me. They take Visa and MasterCard, but not AmEx. He thought they made wallets w/​places for pens and was chagrined to check and discover they did not. The variety of handbags they have in style and color is pretty vast and I love that they’re locally made. If I were someone who rotated purses I would have a field day here, but I’m not, so this will be it for a while. I’m pleased w/​my purchase. The leather is soft and supple and the color is like a warm roasted butternut squash.

Sven has the best men’s wallets! I think the leather is what makes the difference. This place dosent sell millions like other brand names so the quality is much higher.

I stumbled upon Sven while I was shopping for Asian furniture on 4^th Street. I know, I know. .. it makes no sense or no correlation shopping for one type of product and totally forgetting about the initial shopping premise. But, c’mon! You know that’s how shopping is-​you look at one thing and you do a 180 degree turnabout looking at something else, right?!
Well, this day shopping is exactly what happened! I drove into the Asian furniture antique store’s parking lot a few doors down from Sven. I didn’t find the antique chest I wanted, so I walked out of the Asian furniture store. Out of the right corner of my eye, I saw several women entering this building down the street.
I decided to follow them and see whassup. These women appeared in casual clothing, so it was safe to assume that they, too were shopping like me. I entered the building, proceed climbing a small flight of stairs and behold!
Leather purses made on site! Awesome! A woman approached me and asked what type of purse I was searching. I told her I needed a custom-​made backpack purse with no outside logo, dual luggage zippers on the backpack purse, ample storage pockets inside my backpack purse, storage pockets outside the purse with double luggage zipper closure sewn onto the outside pocket.
Yeah-​I thought I was very sly when I told her my wish list and she gleefully replied, «No problem! We can make you your purse!»
I looked at her shocked, dismayed while her dog was licking my hand! I replied, «Wow! You can custom make my purse that nobody else has anywhere?»
«Yes, we can make you that purse. By the way, we are having a fantastic sale on our purses, so you can have your purse handmade and delivered by next week!»
I just couldn’t say no to the woman who wanted to make my special traveling purse. But I must admit, I am very pleased, happy the purse Sven made for me because this same purse has been through a plethora of international airports, foreign & US customs check points, countless airport security check points, indescriminate security search check points at all the Hollywood film studios, Federal building search check points!
I am so proud to announce my backpack purse still looks pretty darn good after traveling around with me since 2006 everywhere around the planet
I highly recommend you have Sven make the purse of your dreams because here’s the sale card Sven sent me! Print the card and tell them I sent you.
Cheers and enjoy your cool, awesome purse made especially for you by Sven!

Outlet store for leather purses, bags and wallets made here in Berkeley. Simple classic designs in an array of styles and sizes. Store is located just south of the University Ave. freeway exit and the 4^th St. shopping district. You can choose from a selection of discounted items as well as their full line. The regular stock can be pricey (as leather is) but bargains can be found. The discounted items are their usual styles but tend to be weird colors like pink, teal or light green though not always. This is a family run business that’s been here forever and the folks are really nice and funny.