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Most of our leather briefcases convert into backpacks, including this one. Run the adjustable shoulder strap through the o-ring on the back of the briefcase, and clip it to the d-rings on the bottom. Now your hands are free to carry more luggage through the airport. This leather briefcase has a false bottom to hide your passport, spare cash, and other secret things. The d-rings are great for strapping on blankets, jackets, and wet sandals. And the main strap has a hole at the very tip, just in case you overstuff your bag or want to put an umbrella under the flap. The two front pockets actually have hidden pockets behind them too.
This leather briefcase is made of full grain leather, which is the strongest there is. And then, we line the leather with pigskin, which is more durable than cow skin. Our thread is some of the best in the world. The strong industrial marine-grade polyester thread doesn't deteriorate like Nylon when the sun touches it. Our custom hardware is 316 Stainless Steel which means our clasps can hold up to a 750 lb. bag of cats. It's the metal of choice for when your life depends on it.
We only use full grain leather. Sure, we pay a higher price to purchase full grain leather to make our bags. And we pay more by using traditional craftsmanship. To us, these are essentials to offering a leather briefcase with a 100 year warranty. Leather is like a roof. First, there is plywood, tar paper, and then shingles. The grain is like shingles. It's the toughest and most water-resistant part of the leather. A lot of companies shave off that grain to get rid of scars or blemishes so they can use more of the hide, but by doing so, they get rid of the toughest part. We don't do that.
Did you know pigskin is actually stronger than cowhide? It is, and that's what we line our leather briefcases with. Not only is it stronger, but it is also more flexible and has a nice feel. We could have left it with just thick full grain leather, but we wanted to give you the best of the best. By using both, you get the best for the inside and the outside of this large leather briefcase.
The hardware on this backpack briefcase is all 316 Surgical Grade Stainless Steel. That's the good stuff. The kind that doesn't corrode, pit, or rust like other metals. It's the best for when your life depends on it, and it's what we use because your life could depend on this briefcase (ya never know, right?).
Polyester is awful for underwear or sheets, but it is the best for thread. We found the strongest polyester thread and used it in our leather bags. It's a marine-grade, UV resistent polyester thread that doesn't deteriorate when sun hits it.
Two small internal pockets are located in the main compartment, which is great for holding things such as pens, pencils, and other things that you might put in small pockets. The internal compartment is split into two main areas with a large capacity to hold a large laptop or two. So you can fit that huge 17" laptop in here without a problem.
The two front pockets on this briefcase are large and ideal for holding chargers and cables, passports and travel docs, phones, glasses, and a multitool. And behind each external pocket, you've got a hidden pocket. These pockets are great for things you might access more often, such as a cell phone or a USB hub, depending on how secure you need it to be and your own packing method.
Yes, this briefcase has a hidden compartment that is large enough to fit a passport. It is located on the bottom of the leather bag and can be easily accessed by lifting a strip of leather. You will see it right away. The false bottom is great for hiding things such as money, your passport, or anything else you might not want anyone to find.
When I tell you we thought of everything, we did. In between the front pockets is a pocket that is good for carrying a cigar, a flashlight, pens or pencils, or Epi pens.
Not everyone wants a shoulder strap; they might prefer the hand strap or the backpack feature, so we made it removable. The durable shoulder strap is also made of full grain leather, just like our leather bags, and has the same quality stainless steel hardware.
It is also functional as a great carry-on for short trips or long trips. You can fit your large laptop and maybe even a change of clothes and other gear. For example, you might not want to put your suit jacket inside, but an extra t-shirt and shorts to wear. The Front Pocket Leather Briefcase fits nicely under seats on the airplane.
Front Pocket Briefcase Explained by Dave
Front Pocket Briefcase & Thin Front Pocket Briefcase Comparison
Large Sized Briefcase Comparison
Front Pocket Leather Briefcase in depth explanation of the design
How to Knock Off a Saddleback Leather Co. Briefcase
Just received my bag very happy with it and I'm already receiving compliments and folks are asking where I got it. Very happy with my purchase, I certainly recommend it. I great for my daily use and fits my Mac Book Pro 15' and a 4th Gen iPad, my note book and computer cables and more. Bag is beautiful and feels very strong and well built. I'm looking forward to traveling with it soon. Thanks Dave!!
My first purchase with sbl was a few years ago and I purchased a wallet and an iPad case. I was excited to get them, but not ecstatic as I had actually never seen any of their products in person. Once they arrived, I fell in love for life. It's all to rare today for a company to be solely focused on quality and equality, and for me, it was quickly apparent what sbl's goals were. From that point, I knew I had to have one of their bags. Fast forward to last week, when my tobacco front pocket briefcase arrived. After having wanted a bag for so long, once I opened the box, I have to say I had the slightest bit of disappointment. That disappointment was in the effort that the buckle took to open and close the bag. I am a person of function, and while I was still in complete awe over the bag, I was worried about it's operation day to day, it's ease of use. After about 10 minutes though of opening and closing it, and rolling up the leather strap in both directions, all of my worries were gone. The leather was already breaking in during that short period of time, and was becoming easier to use with every use. I now actually love the operation and technique required of the buckle, and it somehow makes doing something so simple as opening a bag, feel full of purpose. It's a hard feeling to explain haha. I do wish though that the bag was a half inch wider as my 15" MacBook sleeve from sbl is a very snug fit, almost to snug. Again though, both products are new, so I definitely expect this to get better once broken in some more. When picking the bags, I went with this one over the others because of it's smaller size compared to the traditional briefcase, and because of the look. I liked the look of the pockets a lot more then the other bags straps, and though I didn't think the pockets would be all that useful, they still looked good. I'm happy to say though that the pockets are extremely functional and can hold quite a bit of stuff and they are something that will be used every day. I couldn't be any happier with the bag. While waiting for it to come in, I showed it online to several people. Most just shrugged and couldn't understand or justify the price. After seeing the bag in person though, everyone of them has changed their minds and is really impressed. Now a warning to some. Do not buy this bag if your just looking for a fashion statement. If that's your goal, at least go with something smaller, if not another brand all together. These bags are utilitarian, heavy duty, and functional. They just so happen to look great as well. I can really imagine certain people purchasing these, only to find them overkill for a typical office / cubicle work style. If these bags were just used to go from your house to the car and then to work, it would be like having a Ferrari and putting a speed limiter on it and giving it 2 flat tires. These bags are made to go out and explore, and that's where they truly excel. Thanks again Saddleback for another great product, I'm already saving for my next one!
OK, I bought this bag almost a year ago as a gift to myself for finishing grad school and thought I should break it in, and learn about it before I wrote a review; so that I could actually comment on how the bag functions on a daily basis. I should also confess, as others have, that I have always been in love with the classic bag. However, the classic would have been too big, and the thin would have been too small, and this happened to come into production at just the right time and it has really been perfect for me. I will attempt to give you my opinion on the great features of the bag, and also some of the places i feel it could use improvement. However, that being said, please not that i have given the bag 4 stars which means it nearly perfect, if there was a 4.5 option i would have done that. I just couldn't give it a 5 because it's not "perfect" for me. Pros - perfect size (for me). I'm ~5'10" and not a big guy so i think this bad is really the perfect middle ground between the classic and the thin, as i mentioned earlier - outer pockets! These are great, honestly, i couldn't imagine a bag without them. Where would i put all my little nick nacks (e.g. notebook power cord, headphones, thumb drives, wallet, highlighters, pens, etc). Putting all these things in the front pocket allows me to keep the main pockets free of little things that could get lost. I will say that the clasps on the front pockets are practically useless, I never use them because it's impractical to latch and unlatch them so frequently. Furthermore, it's not necessary to latch them since the main bag flap keeps them closed and prevents things from falling out (if that makes sense). - leather quality is excellent (of course). Prior to buying this i bought an Allen Edmond's messenger, which was almost the same price. As soon as it arrived, I opened it and immediately closed it and sent it back. Pathetic how big of a difference there is in the leather. I can't even describe how bad the "leather" was on the AE bag. Minor changes that could be made: - the water bottle holders are really difficult to use for even a plastic water bottle and are completely impracticable for anything like a nalagene bottle. My work around is that I bought a carabiner and if I take a Nalagene bottle, I just clip it onto one of the D rings. - I much preferred the old style of handle that was/is on the classic bag. It's more round and I think it would feel much better than this flat one. I'm really not a big fan. I understand that this flat one can be compressed down so it sits flatter but I'd rather have the old style. - the shoulder strap hits the main bag flap when it's on your shoulder and has caused some curling on the lateral edges of the main flap. This is really hard to explain, but i'll try to capture a picture. This, I believe can be solved by making the attachment point of the shoulder strap a little wider than the width of the main flap, or vice verse (make the main flap a little narrower than the attachment points of the shoulder strap). - Lastly (and this is just a stupid little suggestion), is that I would have loved a second shoulder strap belt loop at the very distal (furthest) end of the strap. The reason is that my strap has a decent amount of excess length and it flaps around everywhere. Not a big deal though. That's about it. Bottom line, the bag is great, you know it's great, I don't need to tell you how great it is. Enjoy :)
I will not go on and on about how great Saddleback Leather is. This is my 12th purchase, so I feel like I know my way around their products fairly well; and if you're on this site, then you're already a fan. I bought this as a replacement for my Large Satchel, which is just too small to hold a three ring binder and can only hold the smallest of laptops. In contrast, this briefcase will hold my 15-inch MacBook and IBM laptops along with most business documents, binders, and notebooks, including the Large Notepad Holder from Saddleback. My main complaint with the Thin Briefcase was the interior pocket placement. While a pocket is essential for holding keys, wallets, etc., it made it difficult to put binders or computers in front of the middle divider. The front pocket briefcase solves this problem beautifully by putting the pockets on the exterior, thus opening up both partitions inside the briefcase for full storage. This seems to be the perfect compromise between the Thin Briefcase and the Large Satchel. A number of comments have been made about the difference in the leather. I have the Dark Coffee Brown (DCB), and the finish of the leather has a far more natural feel then the DCB products have over the past two years. Whereas the finish used to feel very smooth and synthetic, this is a much more natural, soft, and grainy feel to it. Additionally, the "natura" pigskin is significantly different from other Saddleback products. It feels like it hasn't been finished at all, like you're petting a live pig. It's almost a little hairy. The traditional pigskin lining makes bags very stiff and requires A LOT of break-in time. This bag is very pliable and is already softer than any of my other five Saddleback briefcases. This greatly increases the visual and tactile appeal of the bag. However, I imagine that the briefcase will tend to lose its shape and not stand up by itself after a few months. Again, where the other bags felt a little overproduced and synthetic in places, this is pure roughneck awesome leather. I can't recommend it enough. I do have a few complaints. First, the buckles on the pockets are very small and close to the loop. This makes them very difficult to open and close, so I tend to simply feed the strap through the loop and forgo the buckle completely, which is not a big deal since the main flap holds the pocket flaps down. Additionally, four of the rivets on the bag are different. The rivets closest to the handle and on the main buckle are pretty ugly and out of place. I'm guessing that they are stronger since there placed in the load-bearing points of the briefcase, but I can't imagine why they wouldn't do more to match them with the bag and the other rivets. The side pockets overlap both interior compartments, so the seam on the outside takes up a lot of room within the pockets. I can see this being a problem for some, in that you can't fit a water bottle in them. However, I usually only use exterior pockets for drop-in items such as pens, cell phones, keys, etc. Finally, I've never been a fan of the dog-leash-style connector for the shoulder strap, but at least it is better than the short-lived D-ring with a screw sleeve. Am I the only one who misses the old trigger-release connectors? Overall, I think this is a great design with great changes to the letter. As soon as I got it, I called all my other Saddleback Leather aficionados to stop by my office, and they haven't stopped touching it since. Now I've just got to find a way to sneak into my house without my wife seeing it.
It was time for me to upgrade to a more professional bag for office-based work and I spent hours pouring over the different options. Finally, I chose the front pocket briefcase in chestnut. I decided against the classic bag, because, although beautiful, I personally preferred the small exterior pockets. I initially wanted the thin version, but quickly realized that it was too small for my personal needs (I was right - the regular sized is perfect). I decided on chestnut because I wanted something a little more formal and I like the appearance of chestnut when it becomes worn-down. After using it for one month, this bag has drawn a large amount of positive attention from friends and colleagues. The leather has a bit of stretch to it, and has softened the more I stuff the front pockets and take on a more natural appearance. It has been slowly accumulating scuff marks which make it more attractive. The only criticism I have is that the back open pouch (on the side of the bag that touches your body) was quite loose upon opening the bag. I figure this was purposely done based on past feedback that it was too tight until it was used a lot. Ive used that pocket a lot and it's become quite loose now, not to a detrimental level, but to the point where I wouldn't trust putting valuable objects in there for fear of falling out if the bag falls or is tilted too much. Overall extremely satisfied!
