How to Choose a Leather Backpack

1. Measure your laptop.
2. Ask the grade of the leather.
3. Check the edges, the stitching and the zips.
4. Try the straps at your height.
5. Compare the price with the making time.

A leather backpack is worth it if you want one bag for work, travel and the weekend, and you are willing to care for it. It is the wrong choice for hiking, heavy rain or anyone who wants the lightest bag possible.

What a leather backpack does well:

• It looks right with a suit and with jeans, so one bag covers the office and the airport.
• Full-grain leather develops a patina. The colour deepens as you carry it.
• It can be repaired and conditioned.

The disadvantages of a leather backpack:

• It usually weighs more than nylon or canvas when empty. Ours weigh about 2.5 kg.
• It is not waterproof.
• It usually costs more than nylon or canvas.
• It needs conditioning two or three times a year.
• A made-to-order piece means a wait, usually 30 days for ours.

The best material for a backpack depends on where you carry it. Leather suits work, travel and the city. Nylon suits hiking and heavy rain. Canvas suits casual use.

Choose the size of a leather backpack by your laptop first. Measure the width and height of the laptop in centimetres and compare them with the dimensions of the bag, leaving room for a sleeve.

Our leather backpacks that take a 15 inch laptop

Our leather backpacks that take an 11 inch laptop or a tablet

If you carry a tablet and little else, a smaller backpack sits closer to the body. Our leather laptop bags page shows the laptop styles together.

To tell if a leather backpack is good quality, ask what grade the leather is, then check five things yourself. Full-grain leather is the top layer of the hide with nothing sanded away, and it is the grade to look for.

1. The grain. Full-grain leather usually shows small natural marks, and panels rarely match exactly.
2. The edges. Look where panels are cut. Good edges are finished and sealed.
3. The stitching. Even, straight and close together, with no loose ends.
4. The zips and buckles. They should run without catching.
5. The lining. Open the bag. The inside should be finished as carefully as the outside.

The words “genuine leather” mean the bag is real leather. They do not name the grade, so ask which grade it is. Ours is full-grain bovine leather, and we set out how we source it. For the trade definitions, see the Leather Naturally fact sheets.

Look at six construction details on a leather backpack: the stitches, the cut edges, the lining, the zips, the points where the straps join the body, and the base.

The quality section above gives several of these a line each. For each one, this is what I would look at more closely and what I would ask the seller when a photograph does not show it.

I give no figure for the right number of stitches. What you can judge by eye is evenness.

Our article on luxury leather backpacks goes further into corners and strap joins on a backpack at a luxury price.

Searches for leather backpack in South Africa ran between 1,600 and 2,400 a month over the year, and laptop backpack between 1,900 and 3,600.

A leather backpack is comfortable when the back panel is padded, the straps are wide and the bag is the right size for what you carry. Leather is heavier than fabric, so fit matters more.

• Look for a padded or quilted back panel.
• Check that the straps adjust far enough for your height.
• Choose the smallest bag that holds your laptop. An oversized bag adds weight you do not use.
• Use the top handle for short distances and both straps for long ones.

Among our own pieces, the Morningside Leather Backpack has a padded grid back cushion, and the Zulu Treasure Leather Backpack has a diamond-quilted leather back.

Look for straps that are wide across the shoulder, padded or lined underneath, adjustable to your height, and fixed to the body at more than one point.

• Width. I would avoid a strap narrow enough to roll into a cord when the bag is full.
• The underside. Look at what touches your shirt: smooth leather, suede or a padded fabric. Ask whether the colour of the underside can mark pale clothing.
• Adjustment. A buckle with holes is set once, and a slider is changed in a second. The first suits one wearer, and the second suits a bag two people share.
• Length. Ask for the shortest and the longest strap length in centimetres. You need room over a winter coat as well as over a shirt.
• The top join. I would expect straps set close together at the top to sit nearer the neck, and straps set apart to sit nearer the shoulders. Try both if you can.
• The top handle. It should take the full weight without the top of the bag folding.

Test the straps with weight in the bag. Put in your laptop and charger, wear the bag for ten minutes and note where you feel it. In a shop, ask to do this. Online, check that you can return the bag if the fit is wrong.

Our guide to leather laptop backpack sizes covers where a laptop backpack should sit on your back.

A leather backpack needs a pocket for each thing you reach for without looking, and for an ordinary working day I think that means a laptop compartment, one zipped pocket inside and one pocket outside.

Every extra pocket adds leather, lining and a zip, and so adds weight. Start with how you work.

Open every pocket, in the shop or in the photographs, and check that your own phone fits the one meant for it.

For students, our article on leather backpacks for university deals with a laptop and books on campus. If the weight is what worries you, our comparison of leather, nylon and canvas backpacks lists the lighter options.

In my view a zip top is better for a laptop and for travel, a flap suits a bag you open a few times a day, and an open top is the quickest to reach into and the least secure.

Whichever you choose, I would want one zipped pocket inside for a wallet and a phone. No closure makes leather waterproof, and our article on whether leather backpacks are waterproof covers rain in full.

If you fly with the bag, leather backpacks for travel covers the cabin sizes airlines allow.

The best leather backpack for work, travel or every day is the smallest one that carries what you carry most days.

All of these are in our collection of leather backpacks for men and women.

Choose by size, not by label. Several of our leather backpacks come in a men’s and a women’s version of the same style, and the measurements on each product page tell you more than the name does.

Our leather backpacks come in RedRuby, Cognac, Butter Tan, Avocado and Charcoal.

Choose the colour you already wear in your shoes and belts, and choose a darker shade if you will carry the bag every day.

This is advice on taste, and yours may differ. As this page says above, full-grain leather develops a patina and its colour deepens as you carry it, so expect the colour you buy to change with use.

• In my view black and charcoal sit most easily with formal office dress.
• Brown and cognac move between the office and the weekend, and I think they show the change in the leather most clearly.
• Tan and other pale shades are where I would expect marks, water spots and colour from dark clothing to show first.
• Red, green and other colours suit a person who wants the bag noticed. Decide whether you will want the same colour in five years.

Look at the colour in daylight before you decide. Online, ask the seller for a photograph taken outdoors without a filter, and compare it with something you own in a similar shade.

No. Leather is not waterproof. If you are caught in light rain, wipe the bag with a soft dry cloth as soon as you can. In heavy rain, a laptop inside needs its own sleeve.

Four habits keep the leather supple:

1. Store the bag in its dust bag, away from direct sun and heat.
2. Wipe it with a soft dry cloth. For marks, use a barely damp cloth, then let it air dry.
3. Use a light leather conditioner two or three times a year.
4. Rest the bag between uses so the leather recovers its shape.

Our leather care guide has the detail, and we repair the pieces we make.

Judge a leather backpack online by whether the photographs show the parts that wear, and whether the description states the leather, the measurements, the weight and the terms of sale.

The photographs should include:

• The bag from the front, the back, the side and underneath.
• A close view of a seam and of a cut edge.
• The inside, open, with the lining and the pockets visible.
• The straps where they join the body.
• The bag on a person, so that you can judge its size against a back.
• One photograph in daylight.

The description should name the grade of the leather and the animal it comes from, give the outside measurements and the size of the laptop compartment in centimetres, and state the weight when empty. If any of these is missing, write and ask.

A real leather backpack is found wherever the seller will put the grade and the hide in writing, and I would look at a maker’s own site or shop before a retailer. Our guide to backpack sizes explains how to read the measurements a maker states, and our luxury backpack article lists the questions to put to a maker and the checks to run on a seller.

Check a second-hand leather backpack at the places that carry the load and the places that fold: the strap joins, the base corners, the zip and the creases in the leather.

• Strap joins. Pull gently on each strap and look for stretched holes or loose thread.
• Base and corners. Look for leather worn through to a paler layer.
• Creases. I would accept fine lines on used leather and walk away from cracks that open when you bend the panel.
• Edges. Look for sealing that has peeled or split.
• Zip. Run it fully both ways and check for missing teeth.
• Lining. Turn it out if you can, and look for tears, ink and stains.
• Smell. I would read a musty smell as a sign that the bag was stored damp, and I would not buy it.
• Repairs. Ask what has been repaired, by whom, and whether the maker still repairs that model.

Ask for proof of purchase, and ask the maker whether the guarantee passes to a second owner before you rely on it. Get a quote for any work the bag needs and set it against the asking price. A used bag that is sound but dry may need only cleaning and conditioning, which our leather care guide describes.

Our made-to-order leather backpacks cost R14,150 to R22,150. The Zulu Treasure Leather Backpack in Nguni hide is R22,150, and no two are alike. The Hyde Park Leather Backpack is R14,150. Delivery is free across South Africa.

Three things account for most of the price of a leather backpack: the grade and origin of the hide, whether it is made to order or made in bulk, and the finishing. Ask a seller about all three before you compare prices.

We are a luxury fashion house, born in South Africa, and each piece is made to order here. Making usually takes 30 days, and can take up to three months when our order book is full. Each product page states the guarantee: three years on the stitching and thread, and five years on the hide. See the Zulu Treasure collection and all our leather backpacks.

• Leather Backpacks
• Work Laptop Bags for Women