Top 3 Must-Haves in a Great Leather Bag

Whether you buy one of my bags, or buy a bag from another craftsperson, these are the three things to look for!

1. Top grain/full grain leather.

A quality bag is made of the best leather, drum dyed so the color won't bleed.

Some manufactured bags are made of leather scraps in a process similar to creating particle board. Honestly, one way to tell is price. If you're out shopping and a leather bag is VERY inexpensive, the leather is either urine-tanned (as gross as it sounds) or made of urethane-coated leather scraps.

2. Nylon Thread

Any other type of thread will either rot or break.

3. Solid cast hardware.

Check for seams. If a buckle or ring has a seam then it will pull apart with use.

For a later post, I'll talk about bags that are pieced together - tip, a bag is more durable, the fewer pieces it is made with! If your strap isn't one continuous piece, it's a dead giveaway.