Conestoga Leather “The Professional” Folio Review – $299

After spending several hundred dollars on a tablet, the last thing you want to do is scratch it, shatter it, or otherwise damage it. Thankfully there are tons of options out there when it comes to high quality tablet cases, tablet sleeves, or folios. We’ll be looking at The Professional, from Conestoga Leather. Conestoga Leather focuses almost exclusively on luxury tablet folios, with three goals.

1) Design it to be undeniably beautiful and extraordinarily functional
2) Use only the finest of domestic bison leathers
3) Place those leathers in the hands of the best artisans in America.

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About Conestoga Leather

Colorado-based Conestoga Leather features craftsmanship by the Amish community nestled in the Rocky Mountains. Their product line, which includes folios, bags, and valet trays, has a heavy focus on functionality and design.

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From their website:  “Our goal is to offer quality, American made products that are handcrafted by artisans. We desire to be fairly priced but realize that we do not have the advantages of large companies who build items by the tens of thousands. Our products are often crafted one at a time. “

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Construction

Handcrafted from genuine bison leather, this zippered folio’s construction is impeccable. It’s quite large, at 11” x 9.25 x2.5, but it’s cushioned for drop protection and can fit everything you need for a meeting or business trip.

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The Professional has three multipurpose pockets with plenty of space for your tablet, a 5×8 notebook, and pen. There’s a center leather flap with credit card slots, and a diagonal-cut sleeve for loose-leaf paper. The riveted piece on the front hinges outward to act as a desk stand.

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The tablet is held in the folio with leather straps at the corners. Upon purchasing, you can choose what tablet you will be using, and the straps will adjust size and position accordingly. You can also choose whether you are right or left-handed, and whether you want brown or black bison leather.

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FUNCTION

My brother has been using this folio for several weeks now, and has quickly become a daily staple. Here’s what he has to say about The Professional:

“High quality, very functional, not too bulky. The snaps to remove and install the iPad are easy to use and durable. The notepad holder works very well. The card holder pockets are handy and easy to use. The leather stand is surprisingly durable and handy when you want to view your iPad for an extended length of time. I still don’t know what the purpose of the front top pocket serves. If I had to choose, I’d rather just have a larger storage pockets there or two more additional small pockets. It is difficult to access the power button on the top of your iPad to turn it on and off.”

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CONCLUSION

The iPad is very secure and protected in this case. It is a good looking, good smelling case that is both functional and stylish. This is not a minimalist folio. It has a much more traditional aesthetic. If you’re looking for something simple, this is probably not the case for you! However, you are getting a high quality bison leather piece, handcrafted in the USA. At $299, it’s certainly not cheap, but nothing about this piece is cheap. The Professional is currently on sale for $229, a $70 discount, so snatch one up if you’re in the market for a multipurpose tablet case.’Conestoga Leather Professional Folio 10 Conestoga Leather Professional Folio 7

Colonel Littleton No. 18 Tablet Portfolio for iPad Review – $189.50

Do you ever get something that just makes you feel fancy? Something new that you just can’t wait to use? Maybe it’s a new wallet or a nice manicure or a new pair of shoes. For me, that’s how I felt about the Colonel Littleton No. 18 Tablet Portfolio. When I saw it come in for review, I swooped in and snatched it up for myself.

See, I’m a speech-therapist-in-training, and these days, I carry around an iPad and a notebook for use in the clinic. So when a gorgeous iPad and notebook portfolio comes my way, I claim it for field testing.

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ABOUT COLONEL LITTLETON

Colonel Littleton is based out of Lynnville, Tennessee, a town with a population of 327. The real Colonel Littleton himself got his start selling vintage cufflinks in 1987, which sparked an interest in creating unique, heirloom items. Now, 28 years later, Colonel Littleton makes bags, belts, hats, wallets, knives, cologne, and more, all with a unique Tennessee flair.

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THE LEATHER

Colonel Littleton primarily uses full-grain, vegetable-tanned, American hides for its products. The leather on the No. 18 Tablet Portfolio is a lovely polished, double-tanned black full-grain leather. The snap closure on the front is made of the same leather but tanned in a chestnut brown color. For an additional $8.00, you can get your initials embossed on this strap. The finish on the leather is great for a portfolio. It’s fairly scratch-resistant and won’t get stained. The stitching is absolutely perfect and makes the whole piece look very polished.

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The No. 18 Tablet Portfolio comes in black with brown trim, as seen here. I like the black with brown because it goes with just about anything else I choose to carry. It also comes in all black or all brown for the same price, brown buffalo for $215…or in all alligator for $1650. The same size portfolio is also available without a tablet pouch for $150 if you’re not an iPad user.

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FUNCTION

I have literally met older speech therapists who had to have shoulder surgery from lugging around so much stuff all day. So I have avowed to try to be as minimalist as possible when it comes to carrying the essentials. Thanks to lightweight technology like iPads, and wonderful portfolios like this one, my shoulders may still stand a chance (though I may be naïve about the amount of paperwork looming in my future). The No. 18 Tablet Portfolio has two brass snaps on the closure that allow it to expand to fit a big stack of documents if need be.

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The left side of the portfolio has a business card slot, a tablet pouch, and a diagonal slot for documents. There is a little loop in the center for a pen or pencil. The right side holds a standard legal pad by tucking the cardboard back into two leather straps. The portfolio comes with Colonel Littleton’s Memorandum pad, their proprietary legal pad with brass rivets and thick paper, which you can reorder on their website.

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CONCLUSION

What really stands out about the No. 18 Tablet Portfolio is the attention to detail. The double snap closure, the business card slot, the penholder, even the included legal pad and pencil are unique and customized for this piece. You won’t find another portfolio as distinctive as this one for $189.50. It’s American made, it’s full-grain American leather, and it does its job beautifully. Make sure to order some extra legal pads because you’ll be using this often.

 

Stevens Leather Portfolio Document Sleeve Review – $80

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy—rich, not gaudy,
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.
—Polonius, “Hamlet” Act 1, Scene 3.
The Rocketeer

Take a look at the man above. Without even knowing what he looks like beneath his clothes, any man would trade places with him without a moment’s hesitation.

Now consider the man below…

Brad Pitt is seen exiting his Downtown hotel in New York City

Is he known to be particularly homely or ungainly? Or is he rather known around the world as a top-shelf looker? Would any man not desire to trade appearances with him? And yet now consider the patently hideous visual impact he makes here. Would you boldly stride through public spaces in such a get-up? Would you show up for a job interview, serve a subpoena, or deliver a fine oration? Whatever else may be said about Shakespeare’s Polonius, his advice is sound: Spend all you can afford on clothes, but make sure they’re quality, not flashy, since clothes make the man. 

In my experience, sometimes even a single article or accessory can substantially improve the visual impact delivered by one’s appearance.

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When TJ saw me carrying around a stack of 120 undergraduate essays on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Plato’s Republic in two paper filing folders, he offered to upgrade me to something better suited to the task. Something that would reflect the importance and prestige of the documents it carries: the StevensLeather Portfolio Document Sleeve pictured above. The difference between the paper sleeves and the leather portfolio was akin to the difference between a paper gown and Cliff Secord’s jacket. I wondered why I had been carrying around pieces of trash. The next day it rained and I had to carry the papers across campus. Had they been in open paper sleeves they would have been soaked. Instead I looked classy, and the papers were dry when I delivered them to the professor. Had they been in the paper folders I suppose I could have carried them under my shirt. I probably wouldn’t have looked specifically bad when I walked into the office. I would have survived. This leather sleeve is not a necessity. But it is sharp.

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It is big enough to hold a fairly thick stack of papers (roughly 120 1–2 page essays and Reason and Responsibility edited by Joel Feinberg and Russ Shafer-Landau). It is constructed of a thick, rich, full-grain, hand-cut, hand-dyed, American-sourced bovine leather by a couple out of Saint Albans, West Virginia. The stitching is all done by hand with a thick nylon cord first coated with beeswax. It is basically the nicest portfolio crafted by humankind. With one caveat: the button. It has a nickel-plated snap that broke after a few days of use. The portfolio will likely endure with grace and class for another 100 years without it. The piece still looks and feels and smells amazing. Since they are made to order, I recommend checking back with the artisans before purchasing one to see whether the snap issue has been addressed. We’ll update this article if we hear first.

I am hoping that since I’ll be carrying it by hand it will develop a nice patina fairly quickly, but we shall see. At the end of the day, this item delivers a lot of visual and functional quality for its price. I recommend it for anyone who can imagine a use for it and who likes its overall appearance. See some more pictures or buy it straightaway here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/StevensLeather.