The Elephant in the Room - Man Purse

[Mojave Jack]

You're studying under Anne Bader? Excellent. She focuses in Woodland cultures, doesn't she? I did my MA at Ball State, just up the road, and worked on Adena/Hopewell sites at Mound State Park at New Castle. I studied under Ben Swartz. My thesis was focused on historical archaeology in New England, so naturally I moved to the desert. lol

 

[Edward]

The average clutch is designed to only carry, for a woman, what a man would carry in his pockets for an evening out. Key, money, ID, maybe a comb or phone (and a compact and lippy for Edward ). That kind of stuff is pocket litter, even if you do have an attache along for the binos and flare gun.

lol lol lol

I think you have a fair point there about carrying unnecessary clutter.... it's worth considering when gonig anywhere "do I need this?" Sometimes a bag isn't strictly necessary, other times I find it extremely handy - especially so in the Summer when inevitably one ends up wearing less clothing equipped with pockets. Sometimes a manbag is a thing of extreme utility, other times, I think they get carried as a stylistic choice pure and simple - which is cool if that's what folks want to do, of course, just not the best practical choice.

My bags are mostly quite modern looking - nylon, great for rain, just not very vintage looking. I'd love to have a couple of good leather ones. I'd also love to have a leather doctor's bag style bag - one of those that could also take a shoulder strap on occasion would be fantastic as a hand luggage carrier for travel use. Ditto a leather briefcase that could take a laptop. I've got a modern Samsonite hard briefcase which again is a wonderful, utilitarian item, but when one wants that vintage stylistic edge, it misses the mark a little.

 

[poetman]

Help me out, guys. I'm not trying to defend this. This language is this dialogue sounds too insecure and defensive, and what's funny it most of the participants in the thread wear one of these bags. So, let's drop the manifestos and stick to some recommendations.

For those who have used hard leather bags as opposed to soft leather, do you find any notable differences besides the obvious?

 

[Retro Rob]

Billingham bag

Cant beat a Billingham for class. Holds a Leica nicely or the dividers come out to make a great adventurer bag. Nice enough for the Ritz, but tough enough for the Outback.:fedora:

http://www.adorama.com/images/large/BIPHBT.JPG

 

[Edward]

Help me out, guys. I'm not trying to defend this. This language is this dialogue sounds too insecure and defensive, and what's funny it most of the participants in the thread wear one of these bags. So, let's drop the manifestos and stick to some recommendations.

For those who have used hard leather bags as opposed to soft leather, do you find any notable differences besides the obvious?

My experience is with jackets rather than bags..... I find that tougher leather there is always harder wearing. When it comes to a bag, though, I think the rigidity factor would be of great importance: the same thickness leather stretched out over a rigid frame would me much more likely to scuff or tear than where it has a bit of give in it. (I'm thinknig here too of the difference between regular leather shoes and the leather shoes I have with a steel toe cap - the lack of give with the steel underneath leads to an infinitely higher degree of scuffing).

 

[poetman]

My experience is with jackets rather than bags..... I find that tougher leather there is always harder wearing. When it comes to a bag, though, I think the rigidity factor would be of great importance: the same thickness leather stretched out over a rigid frame would me much more likely to scuff or tear than where it has a bit of give in it. (I'm thinknig here too of the difference between regular leather shoes and the leather shoes I have with a steel toe cap - the lack of give with the steel underneath leads to an infinitely higher degree of scuffing).

So you think a hard leather bag with scuff easier? I don't really mind that, as once the bag is really beaten up, it looks good, especially brown leather. But it can look bad while it's wearing in, and once it's worn in you can want something that looks fresh, which is why I'm in search for a new bag. It strokes me that a scuffed up soft leather lag would look better than a scuffed up hard leather bag. (Perhaps because the soft leather looks a bit more casual?)

 

[nobodyspecial]

I happened to be in Duluth over the weekend and visited the Duluth Pack store to buy a money clip. The collection of bags Duluth Pack sells just keeps getting better. The website and catalog does not do them justice. I wish I had a need for yet another bag to justify buying one, but I do not need one.

For shoulder bags, this is particularly nice.
http://www.duluthpack.com/product_detail.aspx?product=Pebbled Leather Mini-Haversack

For a backpack, this is wonderful.
http://www.duluthpack.com/product_detail.aspx?Product=sparky+bag

 

[adamgottschalk]

JACK SPADE

Recently I was given a small Jack Spade man purse. It is very well made and a hip modern style.

 

[NonEntity]

When it comes to leather bags and accessories, Ghurka stands at the top of the heap. Here's the incredible story of how I came to acquire my first piece, and, subsequently, a Ghurka collector. I apologize in advance for its length, but I think you’ll find it fascinating:

I first started carrying a bag in college--for books--and it was a "daypack" made of a then-new material called ballistic nylon cordura, with a leather bottom. I lived several miles off campus and either walked or biked to class, so this was a perfect and affordable, about $30.00, bag for my purposes.

By the time I was working towards my MBA, that backpack was just too "undergrad," but I still needed a book bag, so I found at LL Bean for around $50.00 a masculine shoulder bag of water-resistant khaki cotton twill trimmed with leather and with a leather bottom. Wider than it is tall with two leather belt straps to securely cinch down the leather-piped flap-over top to the brass buckles below, it has a zip-close pocket on the back, another inside in the double-layer flap, and a divider in the main, nylon-lined interior. It’s basically a field bag that no one could ever call a purse.

I carried it all through grad school, then used it for odds and ends. Later, when I was diagnosed an insulin-dependent diabetic, I used it to tote diabetic supplies and emergency food to treat hypoglycemia, so it became a permanent part of my going-out-the-door gear. All together, I carried that bag daily for 15 years, and it proved to be tough and durable. The cotton twill gradually became dirty, and I never did find a cleaner who would take it on due to the leather bottom and trim, which I had treated with Snow-Seal that accidentally got on the twill and attracted yet more grime.

Even so, I continued to carry it at work and at play as it was essential stowage for my diabetes stuff. I got my first executive management position in Dallas, and only a couple weeks after I arrived, went in the Galleria Mall for the first time. Roberto's, a sister store of the better-known Bag ‘N Baggage, was running a sale on Tumi ballistic nylon, and they had the very pieces to fill out my family's set, so I bought them. You cannot beat Tumi for the abuse of air travel.

I'm headed for the door as this distinguished-looking, silver-haired and mustachioed older gentleman with a miltary bearing walks in and strikes up an engaging conversation. Turns out he was a Roberto's sales associate, coming back from lunch. He looked liked the last person in the world who'd be employed at such a place, sporting a fine Ben Silver suit, Allen Edmunds brogues, and a gold Rolex with a diamond bezel, no less.

Turns out the guy had spent his early years as a mercenary in conflicts all over the world, later worked his way into the diamond business in South Africa, and was now retired. It appeared he really didn't have to work; he was just a people-person and liked the social interaction of working in a retail store. With a name that matched his intriguing personality, Armand de Grenadier, he went by "Army" and remains one of the most interesting people I've ever known.

It was a cold Saturday in January, and I had on my leather Banana Republic bomber jacket, Akubra Banjo Patterson hat, and heavy Vasque hiking boots. Since I wore a suit and tie to work every weekday, it felt great to don these duds on the weekend. Little did I know then what wheels in Army’s head were turning.

Of course, as I'm sizing him up, he's doing the same to me. We had a lot in common, and with a razor-sharp eye, he had somehow noticed that I was packing a Browing Hi-Power and a spare mag in Bianchi leather kidney-carry beneath the heavy jacket. Of course, I had a concealed carry permit, but so much for "concealed carry." That was his favorite handgun, and we talked at length about the 13 + 1-shot, P-35 9mm.

"Are you familar with Ghurka?" he asked.

Of course, I was, telling him I knew about the famous British regiment in Nepal and India whose soldiers wore the unique shorts and carried the wicked-looking Khukri knife.

Then he relayed a most interesting story about fighting alongside them back in his youth, sometime in the late 1930s.

"They had the best-wearing, best-looking leather. Those were in the days before fabric web belts and such and long before ballistic nylon, so everything except clothing was constructed of leather. But the problem with most leather is that it quickly breaks down in the damp tropics and bone-dry desert conditions. As a mercenary, I had to get my own gear. Hearing from my Ghurka friends that their leather withstood extreme abuse and would never rot, I got some for myself: sling for my rifle, cartridge belt, Sam Brown belt, medical bag for other stuff, holster for the Hi-Power—then a relatively new pistol from John M. Browning.”

Army continued.

“I used that leather through hell and high water, and, indeed, it was indestructible and actually looked better with age and wear. I was captured and lost it all but remembered it fondly and hoped to find some more in surplus somewhere someday, but it all my travels about the globe, never did. Then, a few years ago, I was walking through the mall and spotted a few pieces of leather in the display window here that looked just like it. Checking it out up close, it was, in fact, identical to my old pre-war stuff and was even branded “Ghurka! I bought five pieces on the spot. One was the Gearpack, similar to my old confiscated medical bag. Here’s one. Check it out.”

Army handed me the 9”W X 4”D X 12”H shoulder bag. It not only looked wonderful, but also felt and smelled divine. With a slim, open-top pocket on the back suitable for a magazine or newspaper and a flap-over pouch pocket on the front, the Vintage Chestnut all-leather Gearpack featured antique brass, equestrian hardware, four brass studs on the bottom for protection, a sturdy brass zipper at the top to secure the main compartment, and a wide twill shoulder strap with a leather pad. I admired the masculine, “expedition” look as I listened to Army go on.

“Well, I learned that a gentleman named Marley Hodgson saw some of the original leather sometime in the ‘70s at the estate sale of a former British officer, fell in love with the look and feel of it, and was amazed at how well it had withstood the test of time. It took Hodgson several years, but he eventually tracked down the original process for making it. The leather is tanned in a vegetable extract ‘tea’ of mimosa and Quebracho tree barks. The hides are immersed and gently rocked for several days in natural aniline dies to penetrate them deeply. Then they’re tumbled in wooden barrels to give the leather a soft, mellow hand and a subtle ‘milled’ texture. He made a one-off book-bag for his son, now in the Smithsonian. People liked that bag so much that he decided to form his own company and manufacture similar bags, satchels, and leather accessories himself up in Connecticut. Naming the company, appropriately, Ghurka, at first Hodgson had to hire European leather craftsmen because no one here in the States had the skills, then set up an apprentice program to teach Americans how to do it. And the rest, as they say, is history.”

Army could spin a yarn with the best of them. He reminded me of Mark Twain.

James, the manager who had sold me the Tumi, had been listening to all this, said, “Army was in here all the time buying Ghurka and so genuinely enthusiastic about it, that customers thought he worked here, so I finally offered him a job.”

“That’s right. I figured since I was going to be in here so often anyway, I might as well get paid for it! See that garment bag hanging there? I’m getting that for myself for my 80th birthday. It will be my 25th piece of Ghurka.”

OK, so now I got it. He not only liked people, but as a Roberto’s employee he could also buy Ghurka at or near cost and build up his collection. Twenty-five pieces of this high-dollar stuff. Wow!

Seeing the dingy LL Bean bag slung over my shoulder, Army said, “Looks like you could use a new shoulder bag.”

He was right. That old bag had served its time and was overdue for replacement. I took the diabetes kit and soft-side lunchbox out of it and slipped them into the Ghurka Gearpack. Perfect fit. Then I flipped over the price tag. $430.00. Gulp.

“I just dropped six bills on this Tumi. I’d love to have the Ghurka bag, but, frankly, I cannot afford it right now,” I explained, removing my things from it and handing it back.

“You need that bag. It’s so “you,” and I really want you to have it,” Army said, arms at his side, not taking it from me.

“Well, I really want to have it, too, but $430 in not currently in my budget,” I explained, standing firm.

“Forgive me, but I have failed to make myself clear. I dearly want you to have it. The bag is yours,” he proffered.

“You mean you are GIVING me this bag? No charge? Free? Can he do that?” I inquired, looking over at the manager.

Smiling, James said, “Army knows exactly what he’s doing.”

“All right, so when I walk out of here with this $430.00 bag not including tax, you’re telling me the alarm is not going to sound, and the men in blue will not appear and hall me downtown?” I asked, stunned that I was getting an absolutely free bag that was the best of the best.

“Oh, not a problem,” Army reassured, chuckling. Here’s a bottle of Ghurka Leathercare Formula, too. You can rub minor scratches out with a your thumb, but this lotion will take care of deeper scuffs. I know you’ll enjoy that Ghurka Gearpack No. 4. Here’s the Ghurka catalogue and my card. I trust you’ll keep this deal ‘just among us girls,’ and I’ll look forward to seeing you back soon.”

“Soon” ended up being about six weeks, when I returned to buy the $895.00 Satchel No. 17, a gorgeous business bag. Now considered a regular customer, Army gave me a 22% discount, but it was still $699.00 plus tax. I justified the expenditure because I was now in upper management, reporting directly to the CEO. I couldn’t carry a mere ballistic nylon Tumi! I was addicted.

Seeing my stuff, my boss took a liking to it, as well, so I and his other direct reports pitched in to get him the Vintage Chestnut Passport Wallet No. 187 for his birthday. He already had a fine Italian leather breast pocket wallet, but set it aside in favor of the Ghurka, then paid Army a visit to purchase the Business Case No. 506, a hard-sided briefcase, at a heart-stopping $2200, and, not long thereafter, the carry-on Packet Garment Bag No. 83, $1250. His nice, relatively new industrial belting leather Hartmann would just no longer suffice. More Ghurka followed. He was addicted.

His wife loved those items so much that she got herself a handbag and clutch, and over time, several other Ghurka items from Army. She was addicted.

And so, the Ghurka addiction spread like an epidemic from one person to another.

Army had read me like a book. Like him, a gregarious sort pumped up about Ghurka, he knew that not only would I be back for more, but that I would also proselytize its products with the many people I encountered and refer them all to him. Those people would, in turn, make further referrals, and so on. I’m sure he paid out of his own pocket for my Gearpack; nothing worthwhile in life is free. Estimating the retail markup on such luxury items like Ghurka at about double store cost, I’d say he invested just over two hundred bucks for a sales commission return that would easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Multiply that by his most likely doing the same thing with some other customers with my extroverted, pro-Ghurka profile, and the numbers become staggering.

Army was far from retired, and he most definitely, in his boss’ words, “knew exactly what he was doing!”

Every time I went in the Galleria, I’d stop in Roberto’s to see if Army was working. If so, we’d chat, sometimes for an hour or more. There were times when I was driving on that part of the LBJ freeway that I’d stop and go in the Galleria JUST to shoot the breeze with him. He was that interesting, simply delightful, a great guy who enjoyed hearing my stories as much as he did telling his own. Over that several-year period, I bought six more pieces of Ghurka, all, of course, from Army.

James, the store manager, whom I also got to know quite well, wanted to move out to the West Coast. Largely due to Army’s torrid sales, his store was doing terrific, and so would have first dibs on landing a manager position within the Bag ‘N Baggage chain as soon as an opening became available out West.

I went through a tough period and had not been in the Galleria in several months, but the next time I was there, as usual, I made a beeline to Roberto’s. As I approached, I could see there was a new gal there. Nearing her, I noticed she was wearing the “manager” badge. Aha, James must have gotten the transfer.

I introduced myself, and she confirmed that James had gone to California and that she had just taken the manager reins there. Conspicuous by his absence, I asked her when Army was scheduled to work next, that I was a regular Ghurka customer and friend who’d been out of pocket for a while and anxious to see him.

I could tell immediately by the look on her face that the news was going to be bad.

“Army had a part-time job with one of those companies that comes to your rescue to open your car when you’ve locked your keys inside. In the middle of the night, a woman had gotten into a heated argument with her boyfriend that boiled over inside her car right in the middle of a major intersection. It was her car, but he was driving, and when they came to a stop at the red light, she demanded that he get out. So he did and took off. She was upset and went after him on foot. In the confusion, both doors were shut and locked with the keys inside while the car was still running. Army was called to the scene, made sure the woman remained safely on the sidewalk, and was working a Slim Jim down beside the window when a speeding truck struck and killed him.”

Tears welled up in my eyes. I could not speak or even swallow. I remembered seeing a report on TV news, but I really didn’t pay attention and no idea the victim was Army. It had been a couple months, and the only reason I remembered hearing about it at all was because it happened at an intersection that State Farm Insurance had just declared “DFW’s most dangerous.”

Army had been squarely in harm’s way most of his life--a hired gun fighting in armed conflicts the world over, and among nefarious diamond traders in the midst of racial wars in South Africa, and survived through it all. And then, in his 80s, right there in Dallas, he was smacked dead by a pick-up!

“Army was killed right before James left, so that happened before I got here,” the new manager explained. “I never even met the man, but, like you, many of his customers have come in asking for him, were crushed to learn that he was dead, and told me what a neat guy he was. In fact, he apparently died without a will, and his five children, having no clue about its value, dragged in loads of his Ghurka to have me appraise it so they could divvy it up fairly. They were astonished at how much it was worth. I was astonished at how much he had. How could someone working HERE afford to by that stuff?”

I did not go into that. When she said that Roberto’s would no longer carry Ghurka and it’s stock had been moved upstairs to Bag ‘N Baggage, not to mention Army gone, I knew I would never have a reason to set foot in there again.

Head down and hands in my pockets, I wandered aimlessly around the mall pondering Army. He had a part-time job opening people’s car doors? Never said a thing about it to me. Why would he work TWO part-time jobs? And KIDS? I figured he’d been a bachelor all his life. In all our conversations, he never once mentioned children, and he had no less than five.

I really didn’t know Armand de Grenadier very well at all. But I’ll have the Ghurka Gearpack No. 4 (http://www.ghurka.com/browse/store_product.jsp?p=P1014&c=2&s=3&ss=-1&cat_viewed=Original currently $795 for all leather, $495 for Twill with Leather Trim) that he gave me for the rest of my life, and it will pass on to my son when I’m gone.

 

[Alan Eardley]

An interesting 'yarn' and a prodigious piece of typing - but I'd be interested to know what leather items the Ghurkas in the story were supposed to be using.

From the reference to the Browning HP we can date this to 1963 or later. The Ghurka regiments in the British army (based in HK) were issued with the 1944 pattern equipment in canvas and continued to use it until the PLCE was issued in the early 1990s. (They missed out on the 1958 pattern equipment). The Ghurkas in the Indian army used similar locally-produced canvas load bearing gear. If the informant is talking about Ghurka mercenaries in some unspecified army, that may be a different story, of course.

Just a comment.

Alan

 

[Corto]

I carry a "man purse" on occasion. There're just those times when you don't want to have to hump around a backpack (or need to), especially if you're doing a lot of commuting on public transportation.

I've been carrying a Manhattan Portage bag for years. Not exactly "vintage" or "classy", but highly functional and sturdier than a soft briefcase.

...and if you're feeling insecure about it just remember that ladies love a man with a stylish piece of kit...

 

[Edward]

So you think a hard leather bag with scuff easier? I don't really mind that, as once the bag is really beaten up, it looks good, especially brown leather. But it can look bad while it's wearing in, and once it's worn in you can want something that looks fresh, which is why I'm in search for a new bag. It strokes me that a scuffed up soft leather lag would look better than a scuffed up hard leather bag. (Perhaps because the soft leather looks a bit more casual?)

The last time I carried a leather bag daily I was five, and it was one of the old school satchel types we all had before kids suddenyl around 1981 all started carrying nylon sports bags instead... so take it with a pinch of salt, but..... by my reckoning if it's rigidly hard leather - think like a leather suitcase - it'll damage easier than something less solid. That said, I'd still be wanting something with a bit of body - a very thin, soft leather will tear easy too. Looking at the leather handbags I remember my mother carrying all these years, the one that lasted best had a fair bit of body. not from the leather being rigid as such, more that it was thick enough (Maybe 3/16- 1/4") to give it body.

I'd like eventually to have a couple of leather bags myself. A traditional leather briefcase would be nice, in both black and brown - with the addition of a shoulder strap. Like this:

This site - http://www.theleatherbriefcase.co.uk - was the first return I found on a search for "leather briefcase" in google. They have a beautiful ange of bags here:

http://www.theleatherbriefcase.co.uk/catalogue.asp?session_ID=&range_ID=1

I may well be looking at these again when I have some spare cash... At present I have a bunch of great day bags, but they're mostly nylon, not at all vintage / classic looking. The Ghurka stuff look beautiful, but to be honest I'd be scared to use a daybag that cost the same as a quality A2 repro.

Edited to add..... Edward has just remmbered the Christmas money he has sitting from an aunt, and is looking very seiously at a brown, antqiued leather messenger bag from these folks. Not to mention the large Gladstone travel holdall..... oh dear.....

 

[NonEntity]

An interesting 'yarn' and a prodigious piece of typing - but I'd be interested to know what leather items the Ghurkas in the story were supposed to be using.

From the reference to the Browning HP we can date this to 1963 or later. The Ghurka regiments in the British army (based in HK) were issued with the 1944 pattern equipment in canvas and continued to use it until the PLCE was issued in the early 1990s. (They missed out on the 1958 pattern equipment). The Ghurkas in the Indian army used similar locally-produced canvas load bearing gear. If the informant is talking about Ghurka mercenaries in some unspecified army, that may be a different story, of course.

Just a comment.

Alan

Army said he was a mercenary, but did not always specify exactly who he was fighting for. I suspect that was an intentional omission, as he very well may not have always been fighting for the "good guys."

But he was pretty clear about his relationship with the Ghurkas, saying he fought "alongside" them and referred to them as "friends." Though it's not in my story above, he told other tales of fighting in the Pacific theater sometime during WW II. So his Ghurka-era was sometime before, at latest, War's end in 1945. Since he was turning 80 in 1999, when I first met him, he was born in 1919. Situating his involvement with the Ghurkas in the late 1930s was therefore partly conjecture on my part--he would have to have been no younger than his late teens or at most 20 to be a mercenary (1919 + 18 = 1937), but it might have been on into the early '40s.

You ask what leather items the Ghurkas in the story were supposed to be using, and according to Army, and quoted in the story above, they were "sling for my rifle, cartridge belt, Sam Brown belt, medical bag for other stuff, holster for the Hi-Power—then a relatively new pistol from John M. Browning." It's not in the story, but the thing he wanted most were the Ghurka's leather boots, yet he never could get a pair of those.

When you say, "From the reference to the Browning HP we can date this to 1963 or later," I am not sure what you are talking about, but I think you are referring to when the British officially issued the HP as its sidearm. While a revolver was standard-issue before the Browning, soldiers who could get their hands on one were carrying them long, long before, including the War years.

Of course, Army was a mercenary, not a regular Ghurka, and could carry any handgun he wanted. I seriously doubt that the leather holster he got from the Ghurkas was made to fit his Browning--it was probably for a revolver--but whatever it was, it worked.

When he got that holster, Army referred to the HP as a "relatively new pistol," another reason I think his involvement with the Ghurkas was in the late '30s, as the Browning was introduced in 1935 (that's what the "35" in "P-35" stands for) despite that designer John Moses Browning actually passed away 9 years before.

Finally, the late 30's makes sense because Marley Hodgson, the founder of Ghurka who re-discovered the unique tanning process, named the color of the original brown leather collection "Vintage Chestnut '38 Leather," now abbreviated simply to "chestnut."

At any rate, all my Ghurka products are superb and have actually improved with time and wear, taking on a darker color and a beautiful patina. My oldest piece, the Gearpack No. 4 that Army gave me, looks and feels best of all. Though it's now an eye-popping $795.00, when you consider it will last virtually forever, that's not as much as it sounds at first. I highly recommend it.

 

[Edward]

Well, looks like I'm on the lookout for a replacement for my favourite canvas bag. I lost it on Saturday - still don't know whether I left it behind somewhere and it was not handed in, or snatched outright. Feel pretty stupid as a result - I'm kicking myself. Nothing in it that can't be replaced (fortunately the camera, phone, wallet, keys etc were all in my jacket), but it's the sheer annoyance and feeling like an idiot for losing it.

Actually, the bag is going to be the hardest thing to replace... it came from Next about three years ago - was a Christmas present from my folks (my mother knocked herself out trying to find the right one, eventually it was brought in from a branch in London), so I want to find something identical. I'm trying not to let on that that was the bag I lost. Bah.

 

[bobjones]

I may be late to the thread, but do want to back up my fellow car-less New Yorkers, that almost everyone here is carrying some type of bag.

Since most people will start their activities early in the day, and possibly not return until late, they need something to hold all of their stuff. I went with this, which I have opted to call my "day-bag" (hardly original, but superior to some of the other, perhaps derogatory terms used):

http://www.tonyperottiusa.com/detail.asp?prod=80

It is the right sizing I wanted, and has the top handle. Plus it comes in a rugged bull leather that should outlive me. I am finding as I age that less in my pants pockets is preferable - (maybe my flab is taking up all the room?), but carrying a small bag like this is easier to deal with than stuffing everything into my pockets.

 

[Twitch]

Got a single, vintage solution to all this- bookstrap. Ya can hold all your junk together with a good, old fashioned bookstrap. It'll be cheap. It'll look stylish and all importantly old timeylol lol lol lol

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Well, looks like I'm on the lookout for a replacement for my favourite canvas bag. ... it came from Next about three years ago -

Do you have a photo? I love NEXT. Sorry for your loss.

I am still a huge advocate of the Barbour Tarras Bag.

 

[bobjones]

Do you have a photo? I love NEXT. Sorry for your loss. I am still a huge advocate of the Barbour Tarras Bag.

Ha.

I also have the Barbour Tarras with leather top:

http://www.barbour.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=products.view&ProductID=11148&PCategoryID=16&RangeID=4

and its great as well. I use it to carry heavier loads than my new "day-bag," and to less than ideal environments, like the beach. Barbour's stuff is great, no doubt.

 

[Molorom]

Not really a man bag...
but its the only thing I can trust.

http://www.portabrace.com/productA-PB-2500F

And, no I'm not kidding.

 

[Harley Quinn]

My weapon of choice is a Fat Face canvas despatch bag with leather and brass trim... Since I tend to carry more technology than a Time Lord, it's about the best thing I own... I did lift it slightly with a Starkweather-Moore Antarctic Expedition patch...

from Chaosium.com