How to Authenticate a YSL College Bag

YSL is one of the luxury brands that have reimagined itself over the last few years. Nowadays, their handbags are trendy and also highly counterfeited. 

Let's see how to spot a fake YSL College bag.

First of all, look at the overall shape and leather. Even from the pics it usually looks soft and not plasticky. There are creases on the sides of the bag still it keeps the shape pretty good.

The leather looks and feels soft, puffy and a little oily. Once you touch it, you'll never have a problem spotting a fake YSL College handbag. Start from looking at this pic trying to feel the difference between authentic and replica YSL.

YSL Blind Stamps 

On the underside of a Saint Laurent bag’s flap, you’ll see the signature Saint Laurent / Paris embossed below the ‘male’ half of the snap. Saint Laurent Paris should be capitalized in a sans serif font.

Compare the shape of the S. The angle of the As and the spacing of the letters. The N and the T will touch. The slope of the R leg in Laurent is rounded, while the R leg in Paris is straight. Counterfeiters will frequently use the same font throughout.

The strap also has a heat stamp with the same font. Note the difference of the leather. 

Moreover, an unfoiled blind stamp will be at the base of the flap and on the internal pocket. YSL College handbags also have The blind stamp will say ‘Made in Italy,’ and below will be the style number and date code.

YSL Serial Numbers: How to Decipher YSL serials

Vintage YSL bags always have a serial number inside. It's 12 digits separated by a dot.

Newer styles, however, have three letters, 6 digits, then another 4 digits separated by a dot.

The style number is 6 digits, it should match on the accompanying tag if present. The style number is followed by a 4 digit date code. More recent iterations of Saint Laurent bags will feature a prefix and dot before the style and art number, while older bags will only include the style number and date code.

Regarding the last 4 digits, the first 2 digits are the production month while the last 2 digits look like production year.

More on YSL

Interested in learning more about YSL handbags? First, read our article on how to choose your first YSL bag and a thorough comparison of YSL Loulou vs College.

What to do Next?

If you fell in love with College, we have a YSL Сollege bag for sale at Bagaholic.

Want more real or fake comparisons? Check out these:

How to Tell If a Louis Vuitton Pallas MM Is Real or Fake (Comparison)

How to Tell if a Chanel Bag is Real or Fake: Authenticating a Chanel Mini Square

How To Tell if a Louis Vuitton Graffiti Speedy is Real or Fake?

Louis Vuitton Neverfull MM: This Fake vs Real Comparison Will Blow Your Mind

Want to Authenticate Your Luxury Handbag?

If you need to authenticate a Louis Vuitton item, please order one of the three types of authentication:

Verbal Authentication $10

• good when you need a certificate for any reason,

Certificate of Authenticity $25

• good when you need a certificate for any reason, either to sell the bag with the peace of mind or to return a fake bag to the seller if you purchased a fake
• includes a permanent certificate on lvbagaholic.com

Certificate of Authenticity with a thorough explanation $50

• good when you need a certificate and you need to know why the bag is authentic/not authentic for any reason, either to sell the bag with the peace of mind or return a fake bag to the seller if you purchased a fake.
• includes a permanent certificate on lvbagaholic.com
• includes an explanation of why the item is fake (detailed pictures and comparisons with an authentic bag, more than 10 pics included)

PLEASE CHOOSE ONE OF THE OPTIONS BELOW