Now, before I get too far, I do realize this is all personal preference. But for me, and what I carry and what I use a bag for, these are my two favorite options. That being the briefcase and the messenger bag. It’s also worth noting that I’m not necessarily a fan of hard sided briefcases, so today I’ll be showing you soft-sided leather briefcases and messenger bags.
Briefcases have changed
Personally, I own messenger bags as well as briefcases because for me, each one serves a slightly different purpose. In terms of style, the messenger bag is a little more style forward and fashionable. While briefcases were mainly designed for a singular purpose of transporting your paperwork and your laptop to and from work. Traditionally, if you wanted something more formal for an office setting, you went with a structured, hard-sided briefcase. Fast forward a few years and the laptop is now in everyone’s bag. The briefcase started being made less boxy with less structure and with soft leather which started being preferred by more and more men.
The bags I’m showing in the video I linked above are all from MAHI Leather, and they’re also the sponsor of this post. I love the bags I have from MAHI Leather and as always, MAHI’s are handmade to order with premium leather, solid brass fittings and YKK Zippers. And they now offer a 1 year warranty as standard on all orders. Because they make everything to order and ship direct, their bags are significantly less expensive than their competitors that have to include price mark-ups for storage and retail space. MAHI also donates a portion of their sales to go towards clean water charities in India. They also inspect their tanneries and workshops to ensure impeccable working conditions as well as an Eco-responsible approach to leather preparation.
Get a discount
A lot of people right now are taking advantage of their bulk discounts and gift sets to do their Xmas shopping in one go – which like I talked about in another video earlier this week, saves time and money! MAHI is offering this audience three different ways to save.
First, you can get 10% off your order by using the code 40FASHION11 at checkout. Next, and only for a limited time, they’re offering a 20% discount for customers that order 4 items or more. Use code MAHI20 at checkout to get that great deal. Keep in mind, this code will expire in one week on November 26th at midnight eastern time. Lastly, MAHI Leather is running a monthly giveaway. They’re giving away a MAHI bag of the winners choice every month in a monthly raffle. Just go to www.mahileather.com/win to enter.
Consider your use
Another thing to think about when you’re considering a messenger bag or a briefcase, is what you’re using it for and what you’ll be carrying. Since I’m assuming most of the time you’ll be caring around a laptop and other expensive items like your phone or portable hard drives, it’s a good idea to get a bag that has a great design to help prevent those things from getting damaged. Chances are you’ll also be carrying smaller items like your wallet, car keys, Bluetooth ear buds and cell phone along with whatever else you need for that day.
Make sure your briefcase or messenger bag has different compartments to keep all your small stuff together to make sure that it doesn’t all collect at the bottom of your bag so you don’t have to dig for everything. Not only that, but having organization inside your bag prevents things from banging into each other and getting all scratched up.
Pros for the briefcase
So, for me personally, I do like the idea of a briefcase. I like the slim minimal design and the fact that everything stays fairly tight inside so nothing bangs around and gets damaged. Now yes, you can go spend $1000 on a traditional nice hard-side briefcase or attaché case, but I’m not a fan of those. They might open up nice and wide, but I don’t like the idea of carrying around what’s essentially a box where everything thing inside have an opportunity to flop around and bang into each other. Especially if you’re only carrying half it’s capacity. Also, since this is primarily a style channel, I just think soft-side briefcases and leather messenger bags just look a lot better, especially with a shoulder strap.
How to wear the shoulder strap
And, speaking of shoulder straps, here’s a tip. If you’re using a messenger bag or a briefcase with a shoulder strap, make sure the strap is long enough so the bag sits at, or just below the hip. If it’s too high up on your body, it looks like a purse. I don’t think you want that. Also, if security is an issue, you can go cross-body and still have it at a good height.
So, what’s best?
So, what’s better, the briefcase or the messenger bag? It’s not as clear cut as that. Because it really boils down to what you carry and what you prefer. I’m a fan of the messenger bag mainly because of it’s universal carry-all design. But the briefcase definitely has it’s place especially if you’re mainly carrying slim items like a laptop, paperwork and a notebook. So if that suits your lifestyle better, definitely go with a nice briefcase like this. Otherwise, if you carry more irregular shaped items on occasion, having a good universal messenger bag might be ideal for you. Now, because there’s no clear winner here, I’ll call this one a draw because both can be great for the same purpose. It just comes down to preference. The good thing is, you have options.
