I know the one of which you speak. Hartmann made it of belting leather. It is called the Diplomat, and you can get one on eBay for around $600. I had (still have) a Mark Cross that was and is more on the elegant end of the spectrum. My son in law recently got a Filson that is pretty cool, but it is softer. They may be old school, but they are pretty darned handy for lugging hard copy files, and in a pinch they can hold a folded shirt, socks, a tie, a pair of boxers, a hankie, and a toiletries kit.

 

I sold Hartman luggage when I worked for Sterns department store in college in the '80s. Their luggage and that briefcase were made to last.

But to be honest, the only people I see on the street with those today - and it's rare - are men in their 70s. Those under that age don't carry that type of briefcase anymore.

I have a soft -sided bag that I've used for twenty years from the now-out-of-business Mulholland Brothers. I love it and doesn't look dated, but still feels traditional. This is a web pic of it:

I still see a lot of men carrying similar bags, but to be sure, the most common thing is the backpack today.

So, it depends on your son, the business he's in and what he sees his peers using.

As noted, in finance in NYC, the traditional soft-sided briefcase is still common, as are backpacks. But in tech, even in NYC, it's almost all backpacks.

I'd talk with him before you got him anything.

If he does want to go the soft-sided traditional route, while Mulholland Brothers is gone, Tusting makes a very similar bag (dark brown looks very close to mine):

https://www.tusting.co.uk/product/the-clipper/

As to backpacks, I have this one from Tanner Goods (old pic), it's very well made and has a nice vintage vibe, but of course, I'll bet he knows what backpack he wants:

 

My daily bag is the Filson original briefcase (tan).https://www.filson.com/rugged-twill...2H2BNlmCR9o0rn0K15dmz_wlsF9ZEWjd_OBuFMhoChlwQAvD_BwE#sku=11070256-fco-000971914

I can't remember the last time I saw somone carrying a hardsided case.

 

Would never consider giving a hard-sided case to a 25-year-old. Would likely get shoved into a closet, never to be seen again. So many better options out there.

 

Back in the day men wore the expected tailored business suit in my white shoe law firm, but there was always a couple guys who wore their neck ties with hush puppies and orange short sleeve shirts. They were viewed as eccentric but tolerated in good humor. Now in this alleged era of tolerance-worship a young gent better not come to work with a hard-sided brief case. Heh.

 

I have several briefcases. The nicest is an old English-made Tusting, soft-sided, with two pockets on one side. It's very much like the one pictured in Fading Fast's post above, but a lighter tan colour. It has acquired a lovely patina with time.

https://www.tusting.co.uk/product-category/business/

I also have a much less expensive Wilson Leather case, more like a doctor's bag in construction. I think Lotuff (in Providence) makes very nice cases, although they are more expensive.

https://lotuffleather.com/collections/briefcases

My beloved beater briefcase, much repaired LOL, is a classic, olive drab Land's End Square Rigger canvas attache case. Land's End canvas briefcases (I have three or four) are some of the best in the business for carrying stuff, and some of the most rugged I have seen.

The olive drab beater, my daily use case and more than 20 years old, has been with me to several continents and countries, under wildly varying conditions, and withstood all of the tests a briefcase could possibly face. Over the years, it developed small tears or holes, which my cobbler repaired for me. Now the attachment loops for the shoulder strap are fraying badly and one of these days, the strap will simply come off. Oh well, I'll just carry it by the handles (which got wrapped in leather by my cobbler a while ago).

I have three other Square Riggers, a navy blue, khaki and a maroon. So I think I am all set.

 

My youngest son, now 25, is asking for a good leather attache/briefcase. In "my time" there was a boxy, hard case made by Hartmann, and it seemed to be coveted by all who did not have one. My boss had one and it had such character to the browning of the leather and the almost worn handle. Of years now I see everyone carrying a soft case and or a backpack.

My wife got me a nice "lawyer/doctor" case with the rounded top.... beautiful leather by Peal & Co. I carry it around today and I look like a dinosaur! I know this is not a "fashion or clothing" question, so much as it is good style? yes?
So, any feedback on my search for a good, leather "case"?

Go with a Filson. Rugged, beautiful, modern and made in the USA. The problem with those old school briefcases is that they might not meet the needs of modern gentlemen, because they won't hold a laptop correctly, won't have a cell phone pocket, and can't be quickly opened to access whatever may be inside that one needs right away.

 

My specific recommendations would be to gift your son with either a leather TUMI bag or perhaps a Custom Hide "1945 U.S. Army (2 to4 compartment) Briefcase." I've carried the TUMI Bag for several decades and it's holding up surprisingly well. It was my go to bag for the final decade and a half of my full time work life. I purchased the Custom Hide bag at the suggestion of a fellow AAAC member and had it made with four compartments (including a padded laptop sleeve), an optional holster for a large frame handgun that can be snapped in the case or left at home (as you may wish), and optional straps that can be used to carry the case as a rather handsome backpack if you so choose. The bag is made of heavy vegetable tanned leather and is built like a tank. It is so well made that, having used it for five+ years at this point, I have been unable to invest it with any signs of significant wear and tear! Just an old man's ramblings about days and purchases gone bye! LOL.

 

I dont think theres anything wrong with a 25 year old carrying a hard or soft leather briefcase - just so long as it blends with his daily work attire. If he wears athleisure then id say a backpack. If he goes for plaid shirts & red wing boots then id say a Filson. If hes in a suit and tie then its the canvas/nylon bags that will look out of place &, in my opinion, a leather brief looks great.
There will definitely be more recommendations for the Filson brief here, but personally I would go with the Filson field bag. The zipper on the brief, though tough as nails, was a pain when trying to get anything in or out of it - especially my laptop, which ended up with its fair share of scratches.
A solution might be to recommend the Filson padded computer brief, but at by that point it begins to look like youre hauling a carry-on suitcase.

 

Mine is, and continues to be a leather Coach branded soft leather bag which I carried for about fifteen years until I retired nearly ten years ago. Simple, fold over flap, high quality, two interior pockets in what seems to be bridle leather. It's worn a bit on the bottom but will continue to serve my needs then will likely become my son's or grandson's at some time. It should last several generations.

 

I think a hard-sided briefcase might risk looking slightly ridiculous in the contemporary workplace. It's just not something you see anymore, and this is one of those situations where a young man is better off not risking standing out for the wrong reasons. I would definitely opt for something like a Filson or Tumi as suggested.

I have a tan Filson laptop type / document holder and my only complaint is it stains easily. I would probably sooner go for a darker option.

 

Personally, I use a soft leather briefcase with a shoulder strap. That seems to be the common thing these days. If were going to get a hard attache case, though, I think the only real option is the Halliburton Zero.

 

I've never owned a Halliburton briefcase, but I did own a Halliburton camera case...it looked like a briefcase but was filled with a protective foam pad, sectioned out to hold the individual camera components in place. After a couple of years of use, the foam pad began to disintegrate and trail debris all over everything, each time I opened the case. I was always cleaning my camera equipment to get rid of the incessant black dust. I contacted Halliburton and was told , essentially, that there was nothing they could do. I took my cameras and components out of the case, pulled out the remainder of the foam pad, cleaned the interior of the case and took it to the local Goodwill Store, after which, I suppose someone got themselves what appeared to be a cheap Halliburton Briefcase. Once a company screws me, I don't do business with them. I would not recommend them.

 

This thread has been a fun bit of archeology. On a lark, I searched a few places. Bean has a canvas briefcase that looks quite a bit like a Filson for half the price. Orvis has some nice things, but they are priced more like Filson. Somewhat surprisingly, REI seemed to have the best selection. For my later years in the workplace I had to go across the street to testify before the Texas legislature pretty often. I used an REI backpack (Sacs Millet) that I bought in 1970 as my briefcase! I thought the bright red nylon and the ties for crampons looked lovely with dark grey and navy blue suits! Plus it comfortably held the voluminous statutes I had to have at the ready, the contents of my in box for the hours waiting to testify, a laptop, a Nalgene bottle of water, and more!

 

Was the water "branch" and the "more" include Bourbon?

 

By hard-side do you mean an attache case, or any rigid-frame briefcase? Attache cases are rare as hen's teeth, but I see a fair number of people---myself included---with right stand-up leather cases. I have a Korchmar, an ancestor of their current "Churchill" model. This may vary depending on the area of the country: here in the middle America people aren't always as fashion-forward as in some place like New York; we still carry leather bags, and no man wears pointy shoes.

I don't know that they advertise this, but Korchmar will fix and refurbish those for free, at least if you drop it off at a licensed dealer. I picked this one up for something like $20 years ago---it was on fire-sale price because the handle was broken. I took it to the local shop, they shipped it off, and Korchmar fixed the handle (I think for free). The lock strap recently came loose, and I did the same thing: dropped it off, paid shipping, and received the briefcase back in the mail, fixed and polished (well, mostly polished; they didn't polish the strap or one of the opening edges).

 

I don't think I've seem anyone carry a Zero since Deal or No Deal made them into punchlines.

 

I read this and wonder. Are there really creatures out there calling themselves men who are afraid to carry an attache case?

Sad, really.

 

Well I must admit I don't carry either of mine these days. A lovely Renwick and a Hartmann. Both relegated to the closet.

I carry this when needed but still get the ho-ho's from the younger metro's in the office who carry sleek bags to match their calf hugging suit trousers

 

Walk proudly when carrying an old friend, such as that pictured in the post above!

 

I think the sleek bags of those young metros won't hold a candle to your uniquely aged and patina'd briefcase. It's a bit hard for my old eyes to make out, but is this one a Hartmann too, like the one in your closet?

 

It is but that is a google image of the same model as mine. I have great patina as well but I've taken better care of the leather.

Timely subject. We are currently packing up to move and I was looking at both hard sided cases just this evening. I really can't see using these any longer just based on carrying capacity.

 

Agree with Dr. Peter - here's a pic of the Lands' End Square Rigger in waxed canvas with leather trim. I have it in navy and brown, and have been very pleased.

 

Agree with Dr. Peter - here's a pic of the Lands' End Square Rigger in waxed canvas with leather trim. I have it in navy and brown, and have been very pleased.

View attachment 51013

This is what I carried in college. It's hard to express the amount of abuse I heaped on this bad boy, and it never complained.

I'm pretty sure it stopped a couple of bullets, but I just was never aware of it.

Best bag for the price/performance, certainly! (Granted, mine was purchased in 1985, but I think they're still basically the same.)

DH

 

I received the classic, Hartmann belting leather hard case as a college graduation present (1990). I still have it; it's, as promised at the time, beautifully patina-d now. I think I last actually used it around... 1991? 1992? I should probably retrieve it from storage to see if there's anything inside it, like a time capsule.

The problem was that I went to grad school, and it simply wasn't a very useful bag format. You hame to lay it flat to open the top, and 90% of the time in grad school I was retrieving things on the go, or I was in a classroom with too-small desk tops, that kind of thing. *Now* I have a big desk, but it's at my *house*, so I'm not really using attaches!

I do think it's worth having a leather bag, even though they're heavy. Things that last are good.

If I were 25, I'd want the following in a bag:
- it protects my computer and other electronics
- I can retrieve items on-the-go, without needing to lay it down (like if I'm in a place, on a train, or my bag is on the floor next to my chair in a cafe)
- I can carry it cycling (ie. messenger bag style)

One saving grace of the modern world over the 90s/00s is that notebook computers are not small enough that you don't need "a computer bag" any more. My 2019 MacBook Pro slips easily into a thin case which itself slips easily into a "normal" attache. I'm partial to Swain Adeney's "Westminster Legal Case" in the American size ("London Tan" if you want patina in twenty years), but there are many functional equivalents.

(Caveat: if your boy is a hipster, he might very well appreciate an "ironic" case such as an old-school hard attache or document case. Caveat 2: if he's an attorney, well... they still make the hard, rolling document cases!)

My advice: an attache is as personal as a tie - it's just very difficult to buy one for someone without their input. I suggest a father/son outing, grab some coffee or lunch in town, visit the leather goods shop, buy him a briefcase of his choice. How often does that happen nowadays! It's a memory.

DH

 

If I were 25, I'd want the following in a bag:
- it protects my computer and other electronics
- I can retrieve items on-the-go, without needing to lay it down (like if I'm in a place, on a train, or my bag is on the floor next to my chair in a cafe)
- I can carry it cycling (ie. messenger bag style)

I'm not 25, but those are all the things I want out of my bag as well. I mostly carry my computer, various chargers, a few papers (again, I'm not 25!), and my iPad.

The other thing which I like is being able to sling it onto my back, so I can ride an e-scooter easily. Yes, I ride e-scooters regularly. Usually while wearing a suit and fedora.

 

St John Fisher Grad here....1981

 

Indeed. When I lived in Rochester (1975-81, graduate school plus a 2-year postdoc at the U of R on an NIH grant) I used to attend screenings of foreign flicks at St John's Fisher, a nice private school with a great film society then -- no idea if that sort of thing has continued. One of my Wisconsin colleagues, a philosophy and religion professor went to St John Fisher's some years ago, and she has said she enjoys the school very much.

 

Even though, as noted above, I used a backpack for work rather than an attache case, it was for the simple reason that I needed to lug around a three inch binder of statutes and rules and usually a board book that was +/- 1000 pages. Otherwise I would have used and occasionally did use my old attache case. It made me look no more out of place than did my 3/2 sack suits, Alden tassels, and OCBDs. A TNSIL needs to be impervious to fashion critiques based on contemporary standards! You are who you are!

 

I have one, but I don't normally carry around things which can be bent, squished, shattered, or crumpled, other than maybe my lunch, so the advantage of hard sides is not so great. For carrying miscellaneous junk, an old Square Rigger is a very convenient choice, as has been mentioned. The move away from paper in many offices changed the dynamic.

This will all come down to his work; what sort of things does he normally need to carry? The bag choice will depend on this.

 

I will say a backpack with a suit, or even nice business casual clothing, is a HARD NO for me. A messenger-bag style sling is fine, though.

Backpacks are for backpacking (and perfectly appropriate there)-- save them for that use.

 

Should a person be bicycling or walking to work, a backpack can greatly simplify the process. In so many ways a backpack can be the right choice for some. Whether you are headed for the woods/mountains or on your way to work, a backpack frees your hands to do other tasks! Nuff said.

 

Should a person be bicycling or walking to work, a backpack can greatly simplify the process. In so many ways a backpack can be the right choice for some. Whether you are headed for the woods/mountains or on your way to work, a backpack frees your hands to do other tasks! Nuff said.

We'll have to agree to disagree. Personally, I think a backpack looks ridiculous when combined with a suit or sportcoat. The straps destroy the lines of the jacket. A messenger-bag is just as easy to carry, and the cross-over strap looks much better.

 

I agree with Eagle that a backpack is more practical, but I agree with you that it looks ridiculous with a suit or sport coat. Sometimes aesthetics must give way to pragmatics, and each person must decide for himself.

 

I'm going to have to disagree as well, I'm afraid. Though cycling with a backpack is definitely better than with a messenger bag across your shoulder - nothing is better than just using a rear or front pannier rack/basket. A backpack just leaves your back sweaty.
And as mentioned above, it looks silly. If Jr couldn't pull it off, I'm not sure anyone can;