Messenger Bags from the Saddleback Leather, Co..

This is a simple and cool, no bells and whistles duffle bag. It took me about 4 years, 8 cows, 14 tries and thousands of dollars to get it just right and I’m as pleased as pie. When you join the rest of us, you will be too (we are a very loving family). It isn’t a refined pretty boy bag. The leather scratches fairly easily by design, so it gets that experienced and well traveled look while its body is still young. The stitches aren’t always perfect because it’s made by hand, but each one is as strong as an ox.

Here are some of the features:

No zippers, snaps, buttons or anything that will eventually break
False bottom
Made of 100% waterproof full grain boot leather
Very wide opening (no shadows)
Lots of pockets
Lockable
Carry on size
Has tough pigskin lining
Stronger than strong thread
Keep dry design
Removable shoulder straps and belts
Hidden reinforcing nylon straps.

And if you think it looks good now, just wait until it’s broken in.

Duffle/Overnight Bag in our store

In Australia, I got a nice little crocodile

to come to the boat to test my bag. He clamped down and then pulled and pulled. When he went for a bigger bite, we yanked it out. I was happy to get it back, but disappointed to find that he only scraped it up and hardly damaged it at all. I wanted some souvenir bite marks. It would have been torn to pieces if it had been made with thinner leather or with lots of seams.

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.

This overnight bag is 22” long x 11” tall x 12” wide at the bottom and 11” at the top. The main compartment is 17” long and the two end pockets are both 2 ½ inches deep. It will fit in overhead compartments of airplanes just like any normal sized carry on.
Imagine picking up a normal cheap vinyl duffle bag and then add a pound or so 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 ages.

Three interior pockets run the entire height and length along the back about 3” deep and on each side about 2” deep. You can press the loose pockets out of the way or use them to separate your things. They purposefully do not close

The exterior pockets on each end are closed tightly with a single buckle and are plenty spacious for separating and organizing extras.

A back pocket hugs the length and almost the entire height of the bag for magazines, plane tickets etc.

The design of this duffle bag is very open with everything in view on the inside. No overhanging lip around the edge to get in the way like most duffel bags have. When you open the flap, you won’t see any shadows. Boxes, files and folded clothes fit in without bending or forcing through a small opening.

A stiff sheet of pigskin-covered polyurethane protects or hides photos, cash, passports, magazines or important documents from being wrinkled. Chances are, someone is going to try to steal your bag, not just the contents, but at least they won't get the satisfaction of spending the money you stashed. They'll never find it.
Any sized lock may be placed on the d-rings that come through the flap to lock it permanently.

There are 5 points to sustain the weight so that no single point takes all the stress when carrying. I always use the center buckle, but not always the side buckles. There are also two d-rings that can be clipped on to distribute the load.

There is a wide and very comfortable double riveted reinforced handle with nylon straps embedded into the leather so it won’t stretch or break 10 years from now.

The flap is wider on top to make certain that no rain comes in through the side.

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. Once that tears, say goodbye to your loose change. This bag is lined with solid whole 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 like it because it’s durable, lightweight and if your salsa bottle opens up, it wipes up off pigskin easily.

There are two thick and solid pieces of leather sewn together and attached to a heavy duty swiveling clip. The clip was made in Spain and is used primarily for horse tack. I connect the strap on my bag through my guitar case handle and attach it to the bed of my truck so no one will snatch it out when I'm stopped at a light.

The two belts are completely removable so as to be used for other things. Most bags that have buckles, have them sewn onto the bag.

Until about January, 2007 I was using what I thought was the best thread I could get, but I was wrong. I found the most impressive thread I’ve ever heard of. It’s about 4 times as expensive as the great nylon thread I was using and about 4 times as strong. I didn’t need to change thread, but if Saddleback is going to be the best, we need to 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 the string 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 hard to even melt, then it’s mine.

It’s kind of like killing a fly with a shotgun, but the rivets I chose to hold on the handle and shoulder strap rings are the same type of rivet used by sheet metal workers. They aren’t polished, but they sure are permanent.

Two removable belts(not sewn on buckles) made of two solid pieces of leather sewn to each other, these are very important if you're traveling in places like the subway in New York City or in Guatemala City where the thieves have really quick hands. They'll steal your fillings if you yawn too long. Lots of people put their umbrellas and camera tripods under them.

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. The aluminum is attached to the stiff sheet of polyurethane between the leather and pigskin.

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. Once again, they aren’t perfect and that’s what makes them perfect.

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 stress. 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 straps, and in the side pieces where the shoulder strap attaches to the bags. All areas that would normally stretch now have a nylon strap permanently sewn between the leather pieces.

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 as follows: 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.

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

This bag is like no other. It is of the highest quality and unlike any you’ll ever see. It’s clearly a step above. Shouldn’t you carry something that is an accurate representative of you?