Our hope is that you’ll be proud of your bag because of the compliments you get and how long it lasts. But our deeper hope is that you join our community of those nurturing the vulnerable and loving the unloved. We do more than just quality leather bags; we do quality in all areas of our business.
Our purpose is not to change the world by loving orphans, single moms and ex-prisoners one at a time. It’s to work with a Love 41 community/family of loving and nurturing people to do it. If you want to but you’re not sure how, then join us on Facebook or sign up for our newsletter to learn more. We’ll help you get plugged in.
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Our leather is the strongest we can find (full-grain boot leather, but thicker). The top layer of a leather hide has all of the grain in it, and the grain is the toughest, most protective and longest lasting part of the hide. The grain is like the shingles on a roof. Most companies shave off the top layer (grain) of the hide to get rid of scars so they can use almost every inch of the hide in production and therefore save money. But in doing so, it's like they're shaving the shingles off of your roof. Kind of insane.
The thread is unbelievably strong industrial marine grade UV resistant polyester thread. It's what they use on sails and parachutes (things your life depends on). We use it to hold together leather briefcases.
This mid-1800's English style Gladstone Bag closure is just plain cool on this leather briefcase. It opens wide and stays open until you say otherwise. Pilots love this feature to put next to their seat. For closure, I chose a single leather strap with holes punched all the way out to the very tip, just in case your bag is way overstuffed or you want to stick your umbrella or blueprints under the strap horizontally or leave the laptop bag open to stick your stuff out vertically. The front pockets are built and then sewn on, so there are hidden pockets behind the pockets.
We use tough, but soft pigskin lining, which is stronger than the cow leather, instead of some pretty shiny fabric with a world map on it. There's also a false bottom inside that serves two purposes: First, it adds an extra layer of reinforcement. Secondly, you can hide cash, passports, etc. under there, but please don't hide drugs. Drugs are bad.
Our custom hardware is the amazing 316 Stainless Steel (please please google it). A metallergist told me that it was way overkill and that I really didn't need it to be so strong. I guess it's like killing a fly with a shotgun for a leather briefcase, but we NEVER have problems with our hardware.
The removable, adjustable shoulder strap is a handy feature. You can take it off your briefcase to tie the Christmas tree to the rack of your car. The strap on this briefcase is as tough and durable as our quality full grain leather belts.
This is more than a leather laptop bag or briefcase for pilots — it’s a legacy piece designed to be fought over long after you’re gone. We believe your bag should outlast your career, your travel miles, and your wildest adventures. Buy it once. Break it in. Pass it down.
If something does go wrong, we’ll fix it under our 100-year warranty — because your leather bag shouldn’t give out before you do.
The last small plane we were on was from Nairobi to Lamu. From there we took a 2 hour small boat ride to an island off the Northern Coast of Kenya, next to Somalia where a Kenyan friend of ours told us was a really super cool place for holiday. We didn't know about all of the Al-Shabaab terrorist activity and kidnappings in the area or we probably wouldn't have chosen it for our family vacation, but ignorance is bliss? The last night there was a little freaky. Okay, a lot freaky hanging out and discussing theology with the witchcraft practicing angel prophet of Islam, but that's for another place and time (or bag description).
So we finally get to our destination called Mike's Camp, run and owned by a British Kenyan named Mike. A charming chap who had made a barefoot luxury Gilligan's Island resort built almost entirely from woven reeds. The walls and floors were 100% woven and the ceilings were thatched. All of it was supported by branches and sticks.
It was SUPER COOL. Unbelievable. And that's why billionaires fly in to stay there all the time. Since we're not billionaires, we flew into Lamu and then took the little skiff to the island, but there are people who fly in at low tide, land on the beach and walk up the sand dunes to the camp. It's where you completely unplug. No laptop bags allowed. To read about the Angel prophet of Islam and our walk through the terrorists, go to the Slim Leather Briefcase page.
Anyways, each of those small plane bush pilots that land on the beach or take people to Lamu, have a smaller flight bag briefcase next to their seat. It's just what you do when you need all of your things in one small cramped place.
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It's awesome Bag no doubt Thank you so much
This is the perfect bag for professional pilots. It holds enough without becoming too cumbersome. The bag stays upright and the Gladstone top allows easy access without the bag falling over and your stuff falling out like happens with unzipped backpacks. I bought the suitcase strap and bear trap pen pouch to go along with it. The pen case fits perfectly in the open top pockets. The suitcase strap works ok if you attach it to the handle hardware and keep it short. It won’t reach from the end hardware; and keeping it shortened keeps the bag from swing around and falling off the suitcase handle. My only complaints: 1. The shoulder strap is quite long and has lots of extra material if you shorten it. 2. I don’t carry a laptop with me, but use the laptop sleeve as a divider to separate flight paperwork and my iPad. I would prefer a more robust leather as the softer sleeve material can bunch up the way I use it. Overall it is a great bag and worth every dollar.
If 4.5 stars were an option, I'd have given it that rating. The bag is great -- rides on the shoulder well, clearly impeccably made, very functional, except...there is no dedicated pen holder anywhere in/on the bag. This is absolutely perplexing to me. ALL satchels and briefcases should have dedicated pen-holders. But since this bag doesn't have one, I have to carry my pens bunched down inside the inner pocket, where they mix with keys, glasses cases, a cell phone, etc... It didn't even occur to me to check ahead of time to ensure it had a dedicated pen-holder, because OF COURSE it does! But it doesn't. Other than this, the bag is excellent.
I carried a Saddleback Large Classic Leather Briefcase daily for six years. Four appointments a day over that time works out to about six thousand houses I carried that bag in and out of and I bet I easily got 3000 compliments on it. But because it's big it holds a lot and can get heavy and as I got older it seemed to get heavier and I needed something lighter. I chose the Flight Bag Briefcase because it's more compact and square and I love the Gladstone opening. It's flawless for what I need it to do. The bag sits perfectly upright for access to my files when I'm in an appointment, it's a solid pound lighter empty and because it holds less I'm less tempted to stuff it full of what I don't really need. I've had it for about a month and won't need another Saddleback bag for the rest of my life but now that I've got two it seems I've got a collection so there's no doubt I'll buy more. You simply can't go wrong with any Saddleback bag you choose.
I recently purchased the Flight Bag Briefcase and love the bag. It has that "leather" smell and seems to be built well. The strap needs to get broken in before I reach an opinion on it. Right now it seems awkward and slides of the shoulder if not "crossing" it over your head. An improvement I would recommend is inner compartments for pens, and such. The inner laptop sleeve is loose and baggy which I read from a previous review. The bag is expensive but seems to be high quality.
