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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The materials in our leather briefcase are full grain leather, pigskin lining, 316 stainless steel hardware, and German industrial marine-grade polyester thread. Our leather is tough and resilient, and our pigskin lining is super strong. Our hardware is 316 stainless steel and is rated to hold up to 750 lbs. Our thread is UV-resistant and German industrial marine-grade polyester thread. In addition, our hidden reinforcing straps ensure that the bag will never stretch and those straps will never deteriorate. This is over-engineering.
Full Grain Leather is the key to a quality leather briefcase. If you take off the top part of the leather (grain) it's like taking the shingles off of the roof. They get rid of the toughest and most resistant layer of the hide. When tanneries get a leather hide from the slaughterhouse, it's really thick. So, the tannery splits the top half with the grain from the bottom half. Now they have two hides to sell. The tough and beasty hide that still has the full amount of grain (full grain) is expensive, and that's what we buy. The bottom half is great for making low quality budget leather briefcases or laptop bags that will dry out and fall apart in a short time.
We glue and sew tough, strong pigskin leather to the cow leather. And the pigskin is even stronger than the cowskin. We've chosen this instead of using a shiny pretty fabric lining. We want all of our real leather bags to be durable, rugged, and sturdy.
Our custom hardware is 316 Stainless Steel. If you are a metallurgist, then I'm sure you just gasped. It's the metal you want to be used when your life depends on it. The testing laboratory told us that our clips were rated to hold up to a 750 lbs. bag of cats.
Our thread is unbelievably strong and UV resistant German industrial marine-grade polyester thread. It doesn't deteriorate when the sun hits it like nylon thread does. And we use the thick double ought version of it. It's the same thread used on ship sails and parachutes (things your life depends on).
Polyester is good and bad. The good is that it doesn't stretch and never deteriorates. The bad is that it never deteriorates. When it comes to polyester in your sheets and blankets, you won't sleep as well. But, when it comes to polyester straps sewn into the stress points of a bag, it's the best there is to get that extra strength.
The classic leather briefcase converts into a laptop backpack with a shoulder strap with two shoulder pads. Clip one end of the strap onto a d-ring on the bottom, run the strap through the o-ring, and clip it to the opposite side and you've got yourself a backpack. Now your hands are free to carry the wife and kid's luggage.
You can remove the side straps to use as an emergency size 36 full grain leather belt, tie-down, or tourniquet (hopefully you won't need that). But on the bag, they are great for holding wet umbrellas and blueprint tubes to the top of the flap.
The d-rings on the bottom are designed to strap on blankets, dirty boots, fly rod tubes, or blueprints. And you'll use these d-rings to convert your leather briefcase into backpack mode. The d-rings up top are great for clipping keychains, carabiners, or extra gear too.
The shoulder strap is adjustable (40" - 65") and it's removable. You can take it off to tie down the Christmas tree to the roof of your car. The shoulder strap comes with two strap pads for backpack mode.
There is a hidden flap on the bottom of this leather briefcase for hiding passports, extra cash, your collection of rubies, or whatever else you don't want anyone to know about. This false bottom can be a lifesaver in itself.
A small detail, but the main center strap has a hole all the way at the tip for closing when your laptop bag is really overstuffed. This gives you that much extra space in your leather briefcase, for "just in case." Comes in handy when you need it.
There is a pocket on the side, a pocket on the back, and pockets on the inside. From a place for your pens to a spot for your wallet in case you lose your pants. With two main compartments inside, you can take two laptops if need be, with room for chargers and accessories. These quality leather briefcases will protect your belongings and your reputation.
Classic Leather Briefcase Explained by Dave
Large Sized Briefcase Comparison
The Classic Briefcase in depth description and explanation on design
How to Knock Off a Saddleback Leather Co. Briefcase
I was waiting 5 years to get this briefcase
I've only had my Medium Classic Saddleback Briefcase for a couple of years, so it's still practically new. I take it to the office every day, where I've received more compliments on it than I can count, including from senior management. I took it to another city for a training conference recently, where it received more compliments from several people. I took it into a job interview and we spent the first 5 minutes talking about the bag - talk about an easy ice breaker for a panel interview, and I did get the job; I can't blame that on the bag entirely, but it sure didn't hurt. I'll have to celebrate, but not with a new bag - this one is perfect. Yes, it's heavy, so if you're too weak to carry a few extra pounds then you'll have to find yourself a lesser bag. Every single day, every time I open my briefcase, it brings a smile to my face. If only I loved everything I own just as much!
Just received my bag. Firstly, I will start with something that has been said in virtually every single review â" This is a beautiful bag. The quality of leather, the design, the craftsmanship, the stitches, the d-rings, the two straps on the front that give it such a complete look even though they are not likely to be used muchâ"¦ are just a few things that make it a truly beautiful bag. Secondly, I would also like to walk through my decision process â" in case it helps other potential buyers. (1) Whether to buy this bag or not â" Easiest of all decisions. The bag is beautiful and the moment I saw it in pictures and Daveâ"s videos I knew I had to have one of these. The only two questions that I came across in other reviews/videos and made me think for a bit were (i) lack of pockets - I felt that there are already 9 pockets/compartments in the bag and which are more than sufficient for me to organize my stuff. This bag can potentially have some pockets covered but I guess it is what it is. I am probably going to get 1- 2 extra pouch/cube for better organization(ii) why so much money for â"just another bagâ" but then I know that this question can be asked for just about everything and every price point. This is a product which is definitely more than just fulfilling the need for carrying stuff from-to office. I personally feel nice about owning a high quality product (2) Which size is appropriate for me â" A relatively difficult decision and required some involved thinking. Couple of things I did to decide on this - (i) Compared the dimensions of my current laptop bag with the three sizes M/L/XL; (ii) watched numerous videos on YouTube and read comments on those videos e.g. some people bought XL but had second thoughts that it is too big, someone bought M but had concerns that it doesnâ"t fit legal size folder, etc. ; (iii) took a judgement based on weight. In my opinion after about 20 lbs of weight on shoulders for a long time, things start getting into the â"last straw on camelâ"s backâ" zone so I didnâ"t want to add avoidable weight; (iv) overall look based on my body frame. After weighing these factors, I decided on size L (3) Which color should I buy â" The toughest of all decisions because the bag looks awesome in all the 4 colors. I started with systematic elimination â" (i) In general, I am not a very off-roader kind of person; (ii) my job requires heavy travel and being in meetings with senior Directors and VPs so I didnâ"t want to project an unnecessary and false Indiana Jones (although I like Indiana Jones movies a lot) type image so I decided to drop tobacco and carbon colors. Now, between DCB and Chestnut, I just went nuts. Read reviews, looked at videos â" didnâ"t help much. So, I made a small investment for my big investment â" I bought a DCB wallet. Absolutely magnificent wallet and almost decided on DCB. However within a month I noticed that it captured scratches very easily. Although I like the fact that as leather wears, it shows character and has stories, I didnâ"t really want my bag to start showing character from 1st month itself, especially when the expected journey is 100years long and didnâ"t want the bag to capture every short story like getting scratched by nails etc.. Eventually, I decided to buy the Chestnut color. After I received the bag, I am glad I went with this choice (4) Money to buy the bag â" difficult not from the perspective of being â"complexâ" but took the longest simply because of the amount of money involved. Something or the other kept coming up and every time I ended up comparing the need for a $600 bag to the need to replace $250 microwave, or a new $350 furniture for my daughters, or a long overdue $400 patio furniture and what notâ"¦ and my bag kept getting delayed because of the guilt of comparing the need for a bag with other more essential things. Anyhow I kept patient and eventually after a couple of months things stabilized (or I felt so) and the purchase was approved by my wife. Yay! In market research sometime we ask respondents about which celebrity comes to their mind when they think of a particular product, or company or whatever. If someone were to ask me that question about this bag, I would say â" Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt because it is a good combination of ruggedness and style. Anyhow, regardless of how long it lasts and what my kids plan to do with it after Iâ"m gone (fight over it to keep it or fight to have the other kid take it), I know for sure that I am going to enjoy every moment with this bag. Thank you Dave for making such a nice bag and Thank you wife for approving to buy it.
Other than UPS acting like a monkey humping a football the experience was ok. I picked up my bag today and it was well worth the wait. This bag is solid...no other way to say it. So, if you have an old high school shoulder injury, you may want your wife to buy you one of those girly 31 bags. Dave, just for your info, I was able to store my old school 17"mac in the large bag so it can be done. My great grandchild will be contacting you company in about 100 years.....take care.
So five years ago, I was in Iraq standing watch 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. My mom had sent me a care package full of random magazines(flight attendants have a lot laying around). One of the magazines had a section "100 luxury Items you want" or something to that effect. I saw this old school bag that was built like a tank. I thought to myself, here is a company that is making products that actually have value. I figured I would treat myself and I went ahead and had the bag shipped to me in the middle of a war zone. So from a military perspective, some guys get it and others don't. Everyone wants to be tactiCOOL lately with all of their wannabe Seal Team 6 gear. DISCLAIMER: I did not kill Osama and neither did my bag. But over the last five years I have noticed more people asking me about it or simply saying, "Nice Saddleback!". Moving On.... When I first received the bag it smelled amazing and all the other stuff that everyone on here has written about. My thought was it just looked too good. I laugh at the people who worry about scratching it or complain about the natural leather marks. IT MAKES THE BAG LOOK BETTER! So my recommendation is to stomp on it, roll it, stand it upright and crush it. I did this at the 3 year mark and now I am even happier. The pigskin lining makes parts of the bag stiffer than the rest(for good reason). Stomping and creasing the the bag not only makes it look older and more like Clint Eastwood, it makes it easier to manipulate. So buy this bag and don't baby it. At the 5 year mark and being in the Navy, living in humid environments, the hardware does have some corrosion. Hey, it happens. I did see a video talking about using stainless, but I am not sure if they started or not. Once again, corrosion only adds to the my bag has been around the world three times, while your bag was sitting in a sweatshop in China look. So if you want to have a bag that will tell people that you like things that are well made, you understand that leather weighs more than nylon, and you have the cash... do it! I have since bought the Macbook Sleeve, multiple wallets, iPad case, and I am really thinking about that Waterbag. I should just take my own advice and buy the damn thing!
