June 4, 2025–I’ll probably get teased for saying this, but manly men love our leather bags.
My addiction began in 7th grade when I received a briefcase for Christmas. It was a black plastic briefcase that snapped open to reveal pockets under the lid for pens, slide rule, and eyeglass case. In acne-riddled nerd tradition I used it to carry my college-ruled notebooks, leaky BIC pens, and outdated textbooks from science to math to music.
In high school I moved up to the faux leather model, that was the same container but with a tan covering of not-a-hide. In college, backpacks took over as a more practical way to tote the thicker books while riding a stolen bike across campus (I didn’t know it was stolen, but since a skinny guy sporting sideburns and cigarettes rolled-up in a white T-shirt sleeve gave it to me I assumed it was).
After getting into my teaching career, I dusted off the old briefcase. At first I went back to the hard shell type, as that was the only option available in my price range.
Then laptops came along. I discovered the leather book/laptop bag. These models were wickedly enticing to a narrow-necked geek.
They came in buttery leather, in shades from smooth tan to deep ebony. They had dividers to keep the laptop separated from the clipboards. They boasted an abundance of hidden inner pockets, some in mesh, to hold pens, calculators that replaced slide rules, and cell phones that replaced calculators. The more zippers, buckles, flaps and straps the better. Yes, we may have been nerds to the outside world, but we saw ourselves as bikers.
My family ribbed me for my bag addiction. In the same way many women collect shoes, I would come home from a trip to the office supply store with yet another bag.
Their appeal is immutable.
I recently dug out one of my early bags, and was again impressed with its sturdiness and function. I rubbed in some mink oil and it regained that patina of age and durability, so coveted in everything from boots to seat covers to a Texan’s skin.
They weren’t all leather. The rip-stop nylon and canvas bags were tough and weather resistant and worked well for cameras. I in fact still have a pair of army-surplus canvas bike saddle bags I bought in grade school to carry the newspapers on my route. They are as sturdy still to endure another deployment to the front.
It was gratifying to learn that this alpha male fascination with leather portfolios is not recent. When my family was cleaning out the home place, we found several leather satchels used by my dad for his real estate business. I immediately claimed them with the intent to resurrect them in tribute. Sadly, they were so old and parchment thin, they literally disintegrated when I tried to restore them. It gave me succor, though, to know that I was carrying on, literally, my father’s tradition.
With all this handbag reverence, I must admit I do not understand the concept of designer purses. I hear there are bags that people are willing to pay in the mid-four-figures to have slung casually over their shoulders. It’s a bag, I protest. You could use an organic grocery store sack to accomplish the same function, and they are free at checkout. But I would be labeled a hypocrite if I said that out loud while sashaying around with my leather portfolio, my canvas camera bag, my laptop backpack, and my belt clip cell phone pouch.