In the summer of 2015, I bought a Coach Nolita 19 in pebbled red leather with silver hardware off Coach.com. This happened after some contemplation on whether I am the sort of person who wears daring colours and eventually deciding that red is a daring color which I enjoy.
By January of next year, the piping started coming out.
I bought another pebbled Nolita 19 later on and the same problem occurred: The piping just keeps escaping from the confines of the bag and using the bag allows the piping to come out more. This piping issue has only happened with the Nolita 19 and no other Coach bags I have owned. Certainly, I could file it down, but the piping always comes out further and further… so I would be stuck in a cycle of constantly filing smooth the piping that was just cut to a sharp edge and then trimming off piping as it gets too long. This is a quality issue I could expect from Coach Outlets, which is why I have never bought from a Coach outlet. I pay for higher quality when I go to the main Coach store.
A Coach employee at the Short Hills mall location in New Jersey, United States, told me that the plastic piping coming out is a known issue with the larger bags but that it was unusual to see it in the smaller bags. Her solution was to trim off the escaped piping, which is what I had already done several times. In fact, that side of the bag has lost half its piping at this point.
This bag does have its upsides: It is an excellent size for a wristlet at 7 1/2″ (L) x 4 1/2″ (H) x 2″ (W) and has a nice tapered silhouette from the side. The leather feels and looks pretty. I like small but present hardware, so the relatively small metal logo looks good to me. The zipper feels secure and there are two credit card slots that are easy to access and pull cards in and out of. The wider bottom allows me to carry small jars of antibiotic ointment or tiger balm and multiple writing utensils. I like the elegance of the chain and that it has a clip which allows me to temporarily and easily clip a key chain to my bag.
There is just one enormous downside: The piping coming out of the bag has literally made me bleed!
I cannot get over the part where the piping has scratched my hand, especially given the price point of $125. If you really like the style, I suggest that you only buy the Coach Nolita 19 when it is on sale twice over (as in the 50% off then 20% off sales, which is 60% off). It is not worth the full price to buy something that hurts you.
Edit: When I checked on October 1, 2019, I discovered that this product is no longer carried on the Coach.com website. I hope Coach returns to their former quality standards from now on.