Saddleback Leather Classic Briefcase (Thin) Review

We first heard about Saddleback Leather Co. online when we were researching for the best high-quality leather bags available. The moment we saw their products (which are made in El Paso, Texas) on their website, we were floored. All the bags looked amazingly rugged, tough, and “manly”. Unfortunately back then the idea of buying a bag for more than Php20,000 was just crazy. That was then, hehe. Fast forward a few years to today and we now have a Saddleback Classic Briefcase (Thin) and we daresay the 3-4 year wait was well worth it.

Built to last: 100 year warranty

Saddleback Leather Co.’s tagline is that “your kids will fight over it when you’re dead”. They actually live up to this because of two things. First is the 100 year warranty. Yes, you read that right – one hundred years. They’re able to do this because they’re fully confident about the quality of the leather of their bags and the parts they use for it. The leather is made from Full Grain Leather. This is the best kind of leather money can buy. If you don’t take our word for it and you want a technical discussion on the four different types of leather, click here. Saddleback Leather Co. also uses the toughest and most durable thread — Polyester. This is easily 3x more expensive than the commonly used Nylon threads and 4x stronger.

Other than the leather and thread qualities, the bag can also live up to the 100 year warranty claim because of the unbreakable parts. There are no zippers, latches, metal hinges, buttons, or snaps on Saddleback Leather bags. What you get are Full Grain Leather flaps, straps, and nickel-plated brass D and O rings.

Even the inside is durable! They used pigskin lining making it very scratch resistant. Stuff whatever you want to stuff in it… the insides will look just as good as the day you bought it after a lot of abuse.

Unfortunately this type of leather as well as the other materials make it a heavy bag. The one we got was the thinnest and lightest among the briefcase bunches — the Saddleback Leather Classic Thin Briefcast. It weighs in at 4.25 lbs. That’s without your MacBook Pro yet and other accessories. The entire thing with your stuff can easily go up to 8-10 lbs. If you’re going to do daily commutes and long walks, this bag is definitely NOT for you unless you want a workout. If you have a car though then it makes a big difference and makes more sense to use one.

It can carry so many things

The Saddleback Leather Classic Thin Briefcase has several compartments and a lot of space inside. First up is the pocket for the laptop. It can easily fit in a 15-inch MacBook Pro even with a snap-on case or sleeve on. The separator also gives it a second compartment which we use mostly for device peripherals like battery packs, wall chargers, and occasionally our tablets. There’s a pocket inside also for your pens and phones. For your keys there’s a built-in key-lock with a polyester reinforced leather strap.

There’s a back pocket as well for easy-to-reach items. This is very useful when travelling and you need to bring out documents and other stuff while on-the-go.

To have a better appreciation for how big the compartment is inside watch the video below. It will also give you a better feel for how the bag looks like. 🙂

Amazing right?! And yes… as you saw in the last part of the video you can actually convert it into a backpack.

Also it smells so good that it can…

… give rugby sniffers a run for their money. I just had to say that.

It’s a crazy good bag but it is heavy and quite expensive

Despite the awesomeness level of this bag, it ain’t for everyone. Other than being heavy, Saddleback Leather bags aren’t cheap. Usual price range is anywhere from $400-$600. Locally there are some sellers on Sulit. The Saddleback Leather Thin Briefcase was sold there for Php20,000 but I’m not sure if the seller still has any more stocks left on him. If you’re in it for the long run though that Php20,000 makes sense since you get something that will probably outlive you, hehe.

Verdict: Either you’ll hate it or you will obsess over it

The Saddleback Leather Briefcase is a polarizing bag. There are a lot of barriers to buying one (weight, price, availability, etc), but the idea of only a few people owning one makes it more attractive to buy, haha!If you’re that type then this is something you will probably obsess over, hehe. That’s how we felt anyway.

The Saddleback Leather Classic Thin Briefcase is not locally available. You can order though using your credit card via their website (they ship globally) or you can just type “Saddleback Leather” on Sulit and look for online sellers.

PS: We quickly featured the bag during the recent Unbox Video Podcast episode. Watch it below. If you want to skip the Cherry Mobile Omega HD, Lenovo P770, and Microsoft Surface features, go to 46:20.