New England Style Consulting Reviews the Thin Briefcase

Carl Murawski of New England Style Consulting recently reviewed our Thin Briefcase in Dark Brown! Check out his YouTube review here, and his blog post here. His video and blog reviews are extremely insightful and are a great resource for people on the fence! You can follow New England Style Consulting on Instagram and Facebook. 

The moment I took the Marlondo Thin Briefcase out of its packaging I knew it was something special: this case is built to last. The heft and substantial feeling inspires confidence and I would have no second thoughts about strapping it to the sissy bar of my motorcycle for a cross country trip. The look, the smell, and even the sounds of this bag make you feel like you’re in the presence of a serious piece of equipment. The thick full grain leather is sewn together by thread which looks like it could mend a sail on a pirate ship and that’s not far off, Marlondo uses marine grade thread! Brass rivets bolster stress points and look incredibly handsome with the dark coffee brown leather. Perhaps I’m getting swept up in the aura of this bag, so let’s see what makes this case tick.

Construction

• United States sourced full grain leather in thick slabs make up the exterior and shoulder strap, pigskin is used for interior lining.
• Solid brass hardware (some nickel plated and some natural). A quick word about brass: brass is actually an alloy which means it’s a combination of the 84 metals on the periodic table. The ability to combine metals has allowed us to combine strengths of different metals to create a hybrid alloy which has the best characteristics of its parent metals. Brass is a combination of copper and zinc making it extremely corrosion resistant and strong, which is why you see it used on ships. It’s also beautiful (think of a big band brass section with their polished trumpets and trombones) and in time when the zinc plating on the rings and clasps begins to wear away it will expose the deep gold hue hidden beneath.
• Lots of rivets at all stress points, they look especially nice against the dark brown leather.
• Dog leash style clasps which look like they could hold Cerberus himself!
• D-rings and loops everywhere! This is a terrific feature because I often lash things to my bags like blueprint holders, an umbrella, water bottle, etc.
• A nice substantial padded carry handle on top and equally hefty shoulder strap both made of matching full grain leather.

Style                

The cliché “built like a tank” has never made much sense to me in the world of style. Tanks aren’t particularly beautiful or designed to be asthetically pleasing, they’re built to perform a task in the most efficient way possible. If this case were built like a tank it would be made of aluminum or carbon fiber, have a nylon mesh carry strap, and look like it was designed by a committee of accountants. The Marlondo Thin Briefcase certainly does not. It’s a handsome devil, I find myself stealing glances of it while driving or when it sits next to my desk.

It’s structurally solid enough to stand up on its own with ease making loading or unloading it a snap. Especially in a darker color like this brown the briefcase is extremely versatile. In fact, it would be hard to imagine a situation where it would be out of place or look too casual. School bag? Perfect. Office-commuting warrior? Ideal. Traveling companion? Let’s go!

The especially nice thing about full grain leather is that it “wears in” according to its use, so over time it will develop a personality and wear pattern based on how you use it. Then you can point out the scratches to a friend and say “see that? That’s from my trip to Rome. And this scuff is from the canyon wall during a hike two years ago.” Why would you ever take a briefcase on a hike? Well Marlondo has included another strap pad and the ability to turn this briefcase into a backpack! Versatile and convertible.

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