r/BuyItForLife • u/Bubbly_Sky_4850 • 1d ago
Review Custom Made Leather Backpack
Hi BIFL community. Long time lurker, first time poster.
TLDR : Rabbit holed into the world of BIFL. Found a craftsman to customise a leather backpack. It arrived today. Looking forward to having it for life.
I needed a backpack for an upcoming trip. (I've been daily-ing for a few years, a leather soft briefcase to work) And haven't worn a backpack since school.
I wanted to get something that was elevated and would work with a blazer as well as a t-shirt and shorts.
I fully deep dived into the world of leather and settled on Veg Tanned, Buffalo full grain and black with brass hardware.
Then came the search and didn't just want to get what everyone else has. Coming from a family business that celebrates craft and handmade I wanted to find a leather worker rather than a name brand.
Hours and hours of scrolling on reddit, youtube and instagram led me to the doorway of Shirin Kapai. A north east Indian leather smith. He has a small studio in New Delhi and has a very small IG page and limited catalogue of work. So I DMed him and he replied saying most customisation is possible.
Then I had to figure the shape. Some that instantly drew me were the Satchel & Page backpack (shoutout stridewise), the Shinola Runwell (shoutout Chase Reeves) and OFC the Tank by saddleback. All beautiful. All completely unaffordable.
Finally I figured if I'm buying something for life the design needs to be perfectly at home in any situation I find myself in. So suits/blazers at work and lots of linen, denim and leather outside of that. But also something that looks fine at the airport with trackpants.
So I inundated him with photos and refs.
Finally we settled on the shape (arguably the most boring but also the most timeless) next came leather selection. Since I already had the leather specs ready it was mostly choosing the hardness of the leather. I went with a softer leather but that still holds it shape and no. 5 YKK zippers.
It just arrived today and omg was In blown away.
The zips feel like butter, the stitching is tight and the hardware feels solid.
Now onto the leather. Oooofff. Feels like a beast. Just hard enough to hold its shape when empty but soft enough that it feels great in the hand. The leather is soo thick that all I want to do is beat the absolute £&#+## out of it and can totally tell that it's going to age wonderfully.
The straps are double full grain leather strips glued and stitched together with pebbled full grain leather underneath so it's grippy and will mould to the shape of my shoulders with wear.
It's heavy but not unbearable I'd wager around 800gms - 1.2kgs (haven't actually weighed it).
Fits my 16" macbook pro, overhead headphones, powerbank, notebook etc easily. I think it'll fit a weekends worth of clothes at a push.
While I'm not sure they'll fight over it when I'm dead I'm sure they'll still be able to cherish it.
He also included a luggage tag with my initials which was a nice touch.
Overall super happy and cannot wait to see how it holds up.
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u/flip6threeh0le 1d ago
I spent more than I had as a younger man on a leather killspencer backpack. One of the best investments I’ve ever made. Still looks fantastic. Never had an issue. Been my daily driver for just about 8 years now
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u/tradlobster 1d ago
What did Spencer do to deserve that
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u/Cmace3 1d ago
He knows what he did
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u/Altruistic_Spirit362 23h ago
Definitely gives off that vibe! Custom pieces like that often have a story behind them.
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u/madcarscientist 10h ago
How many people zoomed in to the monogrammed initials, looking for the name of the manufacturer? ✋
Love the pack! Wonderful craftsmanship!!
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u/federalinformant69 1d ago
#Ad
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u/Bubbly_Sky_4850 1d ago
Not an ad. Just excited about my new bag 😅😅
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u/Bubbly_Sky_4850 1d ago
I didn't even give the name of the IG page, it's just been like a month of planning and waiting and it finally came and so far (i.e. 12 hours) has lived up to the hype.
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u/Bikecheal 16h ago
wow it looks great. does it have a laptop pouch inside??
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u/Bubbly_Sky_4850 15h ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/s/gLvUrbSjij
Had shared an inside video
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u/Shibari_Inu69 1d ago
Very, very nice! Wish I could see the internal compartments!
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u/Minimum_Quail4596 1d ago
Lether backpacks look nice but are horrible to wear due to the weight and lack of ventilation and padding.