Messenger Bags from the Saddleback Leather, Co..

If your backpack or the other backpack you’re considering were sitting on a table in front of 30 of your peers and they didn’t know it was yours, what would they guess about you by looking at it? What would they guess about you if this were that backpack? What you wear and carry makes a gigantic statement about who you are. Are you still using the backpack you used in High School? Does it look like it?

Typically, professionals who meet with clients carry briefcases and professionals who don’t, carry backpacks. The only reason that’s true is because there are no backpacks on the market that leave the impression you desire… until now. Saddleback’s versatile backpack is just as at home on the back of a plaid flannel shirt as it is on the back of a suit jacket. This is a classy one; no mullets or faux hawks allowed. Not only did I put a whole lot of time and thought into the look of it, but also into the functionality.

Backpacks in our store

Besides it’s cool look (and it’s not even broken in yet), these are some of the reasons I truly believe, deep in my heart, that this is the best medium sized backpack there is on the planet:

Ideal size 16” x 12” x 6” – fits almost every 17” laptop (normally only 15.4” wide) and also fits into overhead compartments of small commercial airplanes.
Built of thick 100% waterproof full grain boot leather just like high end hiking boots.
No zippers, snaps, buttons or anything else that will eventually break
Lifetime warranty
A moveable and removable divider that doubles as a mouse pad and notepad holder 12” long x 9 1/2” wide. Do you need one compartment or two?
Two removable very comfortable padded shoulder straps. Do you need one shoulder pad or two?
Two exterior pouches with very cool closures 9” tall x 6” tall x 1 ¼” deep (flexible to fit fatter items)
Two deep and open exterior pockets behind both pouches for fast stowing
Two deep interior pockets each 7” tall x 4 ½” wide x 1 ¾” deep
One front exterior pocket for files and folders 12 ½” tall x 10 ¼” wide x 1 ¼” deep
Rear map/magazine pocket that covers most of the back of the backpack
Pigskin lined (2nd toughest hide in the world)
Welded d-rings on all corners for tying things on

Each Saddleback backpack is built of three large pieces of leather and therefore only two main seams. This construction is far stronger than several pieces sewn into a sort of leather quilt bag. Using a lot of smaller pieces is a way of lowering the cost of production and therefore, diminishing the strength of the bag. Seams tear a lot faster than a solid piece of leather. I saw a cheap fanny pack in the store the other day and counted how many seams it had. It had 34. Having only a few larger pieces with a few seams costs us more, but with quality like this, we separate ourselves from the masses.

We build each Saddleback piece with as few seams as possible. Two or three large pieces of leather sewn together is far stronger than several pieces sewn into a sort of leather quilt bag. Sewing together a lot of smaller pieces is a sly way of lowering the cost of production and quality of the product. By using up almost every tiny piece of the hide, a large company can save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Remember, seams tear faster than leather. Having only a few larger pieces with a few seams costs us more, but with quality like this, we separate ourselves from the masses.

Imagine picking up a normal cheap leather or vinyl backpack and then add a pound or two and you have the weight of this one. It weighs about 7 lbs. In general, the lighter the bag, the sooner it will break and the worse it looks as it gets used.

Comfortable and adjustable solid pieces of leather with high density foam inside. The cheaper foam is made with larger air bubbles (air is cheaper than foam), but the large bubbles eventually pop and will flatten out. That goes for furniture cushions too. So, we’re using the most expensive and highest quality foam we could find. The straps are removable so you can choose to use just one or both. The cool thing about using only one strap is that you can wear the strap across your chest if you’re on the run. Not everyone wants both shoulder straps on at the same time. They can be attached to the lower back side d-rings or the lower front side d-rings for comfort and to adjust for all sizes of people.

This backpack was built for use in wet climates. Not only is the leather thick, but it’s 100% waterproof. I designed the top of the flap much wider than the rest, to act as an umbrella over the opening of the bag. Once it’s buckled shut, the flap is pressed snugly along the top edge, but the flap overhangs just to make sure nothing enters that backpack. When you see it, you’ll slowly nod your head and say, “That’s cool”.

You'll find that most trendy pretty boy bags are lined with some sort of cute shiny fabric usually with an antique world map design to make you feel adventurous. This bag is lined with large solid pieces of pigskin. Did you know that they used to make footballs out of pigskin because it’s the second strongest leather in the world? Kangaroo is #1. I chose it because it’s durable, lightweight and if your salsa bottle opens up, you can clean pigskin easily. Louis Vuitton also lines his things with it.

A German leather craftsman taught me a great trick. He told that he sews in a nylon strap into all of the parts of his horse equipment that get stressed. He said that nylon doesn't stretch and therefore the leather won't stretch either. It really sounded like a good idea and so we do that with every single piece that we make. I put tough nylon strips inside the handle and where it attaches, inside the center strap, and in the side pieces where the shoulder straps attach to the backpack. All areas that would naturally stretch, now have a nylon strap permanently sewn between the leather pieces.

Until about January 2007, I was using what I thought was the best thread I could get, but I was wrong. Mine was really good, but I found a more impressive thread that’s about 4 times as expensive as my thread was and about 4 times as strong. I didn’t need to start using it, but if Saddleback is going to be the best, we will be the best in the small things too. Be careful not to buy a bag sewn with cotton thread. It wears quickly and your bag will fall apart in no time. This is one of the differences between a $200 and a $700 bag. Free helpful hint: Here's how to test thread or material. Light the end of it with a match. If it turns to ash, it's cotton. If it smells like hair, it's silk or wool. If it balls up, it's the good synthetic stuff. If it’s really hard to even melt, then it’s mine.

This is almost like killing a fly with a shotgun, but the handles are all fixed in place on each side with two solid rivets and then one beefy metal workers’ rivet. They’re not real polished, but they sure are permanent.
Hidden between the leather and the lining beneath the handle is a durable strip of aluminum to keep the bag from flexing and losing its form when you lift it by the handle.

Because Saddleback Leather bags are each individually made by human hands, the stitching is sometimes a little bit crooked or uneven. Only those laser guided computerized machines make perfect lines.

There are dozens of combinations of textures, colors, tones, thicknesses, oils, finishes, stiffnesses and softness to choose from. Of all of those options for leather, I found the four that I absolutely love. The colors are Dark Coffee Brown, Carbon Black, Chestnut Reddish Brown and Light Tobacco Brown.

If you've bought an article of leather and it went from Ferrari to Sorry in 4.3 seconds, then you need to read this part. Either you were too cheap, too broke, too rich or too ignorant. Saddleback only uses 4 - 5 ounce (2 – 2.2 mm thick) Full Grain boot leather tanned with various oils to keep it from being ruined by dryness and moisture. There are four grades of leather: Full Grain, Top Grain, Genuine and Bonded.

The leather comes off the cow about ¼ inch thick. The fibers on top of the hide are densely woven (vertically) and are really hard to pull apart. The closer to the bottom of the hide you go, the more loosely woven (horizontally) the leather fibers are and more easily pulled apart (torn). Therefore, the top of the hide is the best leather. Basically, the top third of the hide is where the “Grain” is.

This is the top of the hide of leather and has all of the grain of the hide, therefore “Full Grain”. The bottom part has been split off and now all that’s left is the very dense and tough grain of the hide. This is the strongest and most excellent leather money can buy. These hides have all of the natural marks of the cow’s life (scars, bites, brands, etc). This leather is used to make saddles, holsters, boots and high end furniture. Full grain leather burnishes and beautifies with use and sunlight. From what I've seen, maybe 2% of all bags are made of Full Grain, and those rarely sell under $500. This leather is expensive for me to buy and very difficult to work.

This is the second highest grade of leather and still has some of the grain of the hide. The top layer (the strongest part) is sanded or split off to get rid of the little imperfections. This leather is usually used for car seats and good quality furniture. Top grain leather does not age very well, but is still pretty strong and durable, but not good enough for Saddleback Leather Co. Did you know that leather shavings are used for insulation and as filler in cheap dog food? Cheaper dog food = more yard work.

This is the third grade of leather (suede) and is what is left over after the top is split off for the better grades. The surface is usually refinished to resemble full grain leather, but usually just ends up looking like someone spray painted cheap leather to look like full grain leather. It can be smooth or rough and can last a long time if it only gets rubbed and doesn’t get pulled or stressed. Caution: This inferior quality of leather (still better than almost any material) becomes evident with use since the fibers are horizontal and not as tightly woven.

Bonded Leather is leather's bottom. Leftover scraps and dust are ground together with glue and resurfaced in a process similar to vinyl manufacture. Bonded leather is weak and degrades quickly with use. Most Bibles are covered with this. My Bible and journal covers are coming soon and they’re cooler than Christmas.

The colder the weather when they peel the cow, the more veins you’ll see. The veins get fatter in order to carry more blood to warm things up and therefore, you get more of that marbled look. A lot of people request marbled leather, so if you want it, let us know and we’ll look for a real beauty for you. I haven't done anything to my bags to add character. Since I use full grain leather, I let the leather tell the story. Wherever the cow had been gored, scraped by barbed wire, cactus or mesquite thorns... been bitten by a coyote... or branded by the rancher, the color sets in deep and stands out a bit. Your bag may have a few small scars and imperfections, but those just give it more character.

The process goes like this. The cow dies in the meadow after having lived a long life roaming free and eating natural organic food. A hiker finds him, skins him and takes the hide to the tannery where they remove the excess meat, fat and hair. Next, they magically extract the moisture and oils from the hide and replace them with lots of different oils, colors and other preserving liquids. They replace those oils and fats by putting the hide in a giant tumbler and let it tumble for sometimes up to 10 hours with those new oils, colors and preservatives. In the morning, they pull it out, press it with a huge heated press, spray on sealers and finishes and press it again. Finally, they hang it up to dry on a slow moving hanger for several hours at a certain humidity level.

Because those tumblers usually cost well over $100,000 USD each, smaller tanneries can only tan a few hides a day if they don’t have very many tumblers. Therefore, they cut the tumbling time in half so they can produce twice as much leather. If they do that, then the middle of the hide never gets the necessary oils and preservatives to keep it from drying out and cracking and weakening in a short time. You can’t tell if the leather is cheap or not until you cut it. The middle is usually a pale blue color. To hide that, bag makers paint the cut edges so the buyer is none the wiser. All of our edges are unfinished and unpainted and you’ll see that they’re the same color throughout. They don’t look as refined and “Pretty boy” that way, but that’s okay with me.

If they used cheap oils, dyes and colors, then your bag will eventually fade from black to gray, red/brown to pinkish brown etc. A large company that outsources their production can save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by buying cheaper leather. If the company itself is not buying the leather (Saddleback buys our own leather), then the owners may never know that the factory is buying cheaper leather and charging them for the more expensive stuff, because it all looks the same if the edges are painted. That’s one reason that handles tear and pieces dry out and crack on leather products. It’s a common practice when production moves very far away from the control of the owners or the owners get a little too greedy.

We buy American hides tanned in Mexico at perhaps the most expensive tannery in the western hemisphere. It’s the same tannery that Hartmann, Timberland, Tony Lama and Justin Boots use, to name a few. You could almost eat off of the floor. We get excellent leather every single time.

I lived in Juarez, Chihuahua Mexico for a few years in a $100/mo. apartment (utilities included). It wasn’t fancy and I didn’t have air conditioning in the house or my truck. I didn’t have hot water either, but that’s another story. In those few years, I learned some things. One thing was that my bag was a great insulator to keep my water cold. I would drive around all day with Blue next to me and my leather bag below him on the floor in 95 degree weather. In the morning, I’d pack my Nalgene water bottle full of ice and then fill the rest with water. I learned that if I kept my bag closed, the ice would last for hours and hours. If I kept my water bottle out on the seat, the ice would be gone in no time at all. Leather is a great insulator to keep things cold and hot and my leather even more so because of the thickness I use. Below is a small scientific chart measuring the thermal conductivity of various materials. The lower the number, the better it is at insulating.

Thermal conductivity @20° C W/mK

Wood	.04
PVC	0.16
Leather	0.14
Cork	0.07
Cotton	0.03
Foam Glass	0.045
Mineral insulation materials	0.04
Plastic insulation materials	0.03

Over the next several decades, this backpack will be your companion and will experience things with you that no one else will ever know of. You will look at it and recollect all of those good and bad times you’ve shared with it. As it is used and ages, the edges will round a bit and the sides will soften some and it’ll mold to your back and body. It’ll send up like a well loved baseball glove. When it gets to that point, it won’t just look really really cool, it will inspire. You’re about to choose something that will be with you the rest of your life. You may not realize how important of a decision this is, but I do and I appreciate it that you are considering mine. By the way, if this is the second time you’ve read through the entire novel I wrote about this backpack, then you’re a goner. You haven’t got a chance. Just send me your address so I can get your box ready. You and I both know that you won’t be able to sleep well at night until you’re using this backpack as a pillow.

Thanks for your time,
Dave Munson
Presidente Saddleback Leather Co.