Moore & Giles Carlton Courier Bag Review – $610

There are tons of messenger bags on the market, and sometimes it can be tough to choose one that stands out as your style. An easy way to make your bag stand out is by selecting a unique leather. Moore & Giles has done just this with their Carlton Courier Bag made with American Bison leather.

ABOUT MOORE AND GILES

Moore & Giles designs and develops luxurious natural leathers for leather upholstery, residential leather, hospitality leather and aviation leather. In 2007 they also introduced a collection of luxury leather bags and accessories as an additional avenue to showcase their leathers.

We’ve reviewed quite a few Moore & Giles products including the Bray Sportsman Duffel, Donald Dopp Kitt, and Brennan Rucksack. A few weeks ago, we published an interview with Thomas Brennan, one of their product designers. You can read the interview here. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the Carlton Courier Bag.

THE LEATHER

Moore & Giles beautiful bison leather is really the star of the show here. The natural wrinkles and striations of the bison hide set it apart and give it a very luxurious look. The leather is supple, yet sturdy. The bag also comes in a slightly darker cowhide called Titan Milled Brown. Each bag comes with a monogramming option, located at the top of the exterior pocket. The leather is absolutely perfect, and will require some maintenance to remain supple and scuff-free. We reviewed Moore & Giles proprietary leather conditioner here, which works very well on this bag. We’ve reviewed quite a few other leather conditioners, which you can read about on our “Leather Care” tag.

CONSTRUCTION & AESTHETIC

The Carlton Courier measures in at 15” x 10” x 4”, slightly smaller than the average messenger bag. Its compact inside space is maximized by several zippered pockets: a small pouch on the front, a slim one on the front of the inside, and a large pocket that stretches the whole back of the bag. The rest of the bag, between the two interior zippered pouches, is totally open in the middle, leaving room for books, tablets, notebooks, or a 13″ laptop.

The edges are all trimmed and finished nicely, and the inside of the bag and the top flap are lined with Moore & Giles classic fabric liner. Despite the thick leather, the messenger bag stays fairly slim, and doesn’t get bulky even when full.

The Carlton has the classic, buckled double strap look, but with a convenient twist — you won’t have to fiddle with a buckle every time you want to open your bag. Instead of traditional heel bar buckles, hidden slide locks fasten the straps for quick access with the press of the button. The slide locks don’t feel cheap or easily breakable, making the tradeoff from heel buckles feel less scary. They also hide very well under the buckles, and no one will ever know the difference.

The strap is attached to the bag with D-rings and a lobster claw clasp, and the thick padded strap is unusually comfortable. These straps are removable if you prefer to carry it as a briefcase, and the top handle is sturdy enough to do so.

CONCLUSION

The Carlton Courier Bag is a traditionally styled, compact messenger bag set apart by its thick, beautifully finished American Bison leather. American Bison leather is always quite pricy, so $610 seems a fair price for such a large amount of high quality leather. Moore & Giles continues to make classy, well-constructed items for the high-end buyer.

August 14, 2015December 19, 2017

Moore & Giles Canady Haversack Review – $850

We’ve reviewed a few Moore & Giles products including the Bray Sportsman Duffel, Donald Dopp Kitt, and Brennan Rucksack. A few weeks ago, we published an interview with Thomas Brennan, one of their product designers. You can read the interview here. Today, we’ll be taking a look at his Canady Haversack. Keep an eye out for more reviews of Moore & Giles products, coming soon!

THE LEATHER

Moore & Giles beautiful milled leather is really the star of the show here. It’s supple, yet sturdy. My Canady Haversack is in the color they call “Titan Milled Brown,” a lovely rich brown. It also comes in Brompton Brown, a darker color, and Titan Milled Gunmetal, a deep black with brown accents. Each bag comes with a monogramming option, located at the top of the exterior pocket.

The leather is absolutely perfect, and will require some maintenance to remain supple and scuff-free. We reviewed Moore & Giles proprietary leather conditioner here, which works very well on this bag. We’ve reviewed quite a few other leather conditioners, which you can read about on our “Leather Care” tag.

CONSTRUCTION & AESTHETIC

The Canady Haversack has a very unique tapered construction. It’s a cross between a messenger bag and a briefcase, allowing easy access to the contents of the bag while maintaining the sleek handled look of a briefcase. The bag has D-rings that attach to a leather shoulder strap for shoulder carry if you prefer, but the bag does look pretty sleek as a briefcase, and its padded handles make it easy to carry by hand.

Lined with Moore & Giles signature fabric liner, this bag features a padded laptop sleeve and lots of functional little pockets. The main compartment unzips at an angle so the bag conveniently sits upright on its own. The angled zip means the bag opens and expands quite a lot, but is supported by a piece of liner that connects opposite sides of the zipper. The Canady Haversack measures 15” x 11.5” x 4.5”, a nice medium-sized messenger. You can fit plenty of items in here, and view and access them all with ease.

The main pouch features several reinforced pockets in the liner, where you can store folders, pens, and notebooks. The front pouch has pockets for business cards and a slot for your cell phone. If you have a bulky case on your phone, it imprints the front of the leather, making it obvious that you have a phone there and stretching the leather a little bit. It’s a minor issue, but it does interrupt the sleek aesthetic of the bag.

CONCLUSION

The Moore & Giles Canady Haversack is a beautiful, functional bag that will absolutely stand the test of time. If you’re looking for an everyday carry bag that will keep you organized, the Canady Haversack is a great option. It’s expensive, but it’s not unusual to pay a premium for Moore & Giles famous leather and thoughtful design.

July 10, 2015December 19, 2017

Moore & Giles No. 33 Luxury Leather Conditioner & Restorer Review – $40

Whether you’ve spent $100 or $1000 on your leather bag, it’s going to need conditioning. There are quite a few products on the market, with ingredients that range from almond oil to beeswax to unicorn tears. We recently received Moore & Giles No. 33 Luxury Leather Conditioner & Restorer.

ABOUT MOORE & GILES

Moore & Giles has been firmly entrenched in the leather industry since it was founded in 1933 in Lynchburg, VA. Currently, Moore & Giles employs more than 70 people in its headquarters in Forest, Virginia with representation in every major metropolitan area as well as strategic partnerships in England, Germany, France, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Moore & Giles designs and develops the world’s most luxurious natural leathers for leather upholstery, residential leather, hospitality leather and aviation leather. In 2007 they also introduced a collection of luxury leather bags and accessories as an additional avenue to showcase the inherent beauty and timeless appeal of their natural leathers.

No. 33 Luxury Leather Conditioner & Restorer

To formulate their brand of leather conditioner, Moore & Giles partnered with Tad Coffin Performance Saddles, an equestrian outfitter based in Ruckersville, Virginia. The all-natural formula comes in a rather large plastic container. It has an odd consistency that I haven’t seen in a lot of other leather conditioners– an almost grainy feel. I’d recommend patch-testing this cleaner in an inconspicuous spot, and don’t use it on suede.

Make sure your bag/purse/shoe/other item is clean, then use a damp cloth or sponge to apply a small amount of the cream to the leather. Rub it in vigorously and you’ll immediately see results. Some of the little grains don’t rub in immediately, so don’t be too gentle. If your leather is really dry, you can do this step twice. After two or three minutes, use a paper towel or dry cloth to remove any excess conditioner that didn’t soak in.

I used a Marlondo Leather desk pad as my guinea pig for this conditioner. As you can see in the pictures, the leather darkened up considerably and the color became even richer. The conditioner leaves a waxy feel that keeps the desk pad feeling conditioned and protected.

Overall, I was impressed with the performance of Moore & Giles No. 33 Luxury Leather Conditioner & Restorer. The $40 price is a little steep, but the huge container will last you forever. I’ve been conditioning pretty much every leather item I own (which is a lot now), and have barely put a dent in it. Be sure to check out the little instructional video Moore & Giles put together:

July 8, 2015December 19, 2017

Interview with Thomas Brennan of Moore & Giles

We spoke to Thomas Brennan, their lead designer, on the phone and at the Magic Trade Show in Las Vegas in February. Thomas has been with Moore & Giles for almost 4 years, since September 2011. His route into bag design was a circuitous one, studying architecture, dabbling in the food service industry, and more. He started off at Moore and Giles as an intern after realizing his love for design.

“Moore & Giles is a great place to be a designer. With the full materials library from the Moore & Giles tannery available to me, I’m able to take advantage of working with almost any type of leather in-house,” says Thomas. As such, Moore & Giles keep their beautiful leather as the focal point of each piece, often sticking with a traditional shape or silhouette while digging into the details and making a piece look or function better than ever.

It takes approximately seven months for a new design to make it from concept to production. The Moore & Giles team cites collaboration and flexibility as the key to their success in design. Their team also does extensive in-house testing with their pieces before they release them to the public. Their own sales team, marketing team, and others within their employ use prototype bags and report back to Thomas on their findings, recommendations, and offer insight into how new bag designs should be finalized for production. And, with the bags that we’ve been able to review and use the end result is well worth the development and testing time.

Thomas’ favorite designs are the Zip Tote and the Crews Backpack. BestLeather has enjoyed reviewing their gorgeous Sportsman Duffel, Brennan Rucksack, and Donald Dopp Kit. Keep an eye out for more reviews of their Canady Haversack and their Sackett Messenger Bag. The video below is a short interview with Thomas about some of the Moore & Giles Bag designs. We’ve been very impressed with Thomas’ designs and can’t wait to see what he and Moore & Giles do next!

Moore & Giles Bags: An Interview with Designer Thomas Brennan from Moore & Giles, Inc. on Vimeo.

June 5, 2015December 19, 2017

Moore & Giles Father’s Day Gift Guide

Moore & Giles, based in Lynchburg, Virginia, is a supplier of fine leather and fine leather goods. In honor of Father’s Day, they’ve put together a Father’s Day Gift Guide showcasing a few of their gorgeous pieces built for dads. We picked out a few of our favorites below, but be sure to check out their full Father’s Day Collection here.

Canady Haversack in Titan Milled Brown – $850

Review coming soon!

Antique Douglas Belt – $135

Benedict Weekend Bag in Brompton Brown – $860

Donald Dopp Kitt in Brompton Brown – $195.00

April 13, 2015December 19, 2017

Moore & Giles Bray Sportsman Duffel Review – $1200

Spring is finally prevailing here in the Inland Northwest. Trees are starting to leave out, flowers are blooming, the snow is melting and the rivers are full. I always get excited about this time of year because it’s prime time for me to delve into one of my favorite hobbies…fly fishing.

Fly fishing is a great sport and I hope to actively continue swinging flies for the rest of my life. The only downfall to the sport is that it requires a lot of gear (most of it expensive too)…particularly in the spring and late fall when the air and water temperatures are still very chilly.

“They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that’s not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they’re just not such a big deal anymore.” – John Gierach

In a conversation earlier this year, a friend of BestLeather’s, Daryl Calfee of Moore & Giles Co., said I needed to check out the Bray Sportsman Duffel. And now, here it is.

About Moore & Giles

Moore & Giles has been firmly entrenched in the leather industry since it was founded in 1933 in Lynchburg, VA. Currently, Moore & Giles employs more than 70 people in its headquarters in Forest, Virginia with representation in every major metropolitan area as well as strategic partnerships in England, Germany, France, United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Hong Kong. Moore & Giles designs and develops the world’s most luxurious natural leathers for leather upholstery, residential leather, hospitality leather and aviation leather. In 2007 they also introduced a collection of luxury leather bags and accessories as an additional avenue to showcase the inherent beauty and timeless appeal of their natural leathers.

Construction

When the Bray arrived in my office, the first thing that struck me was the sheer size of the duffel. At 15”L x 17”H x 13”W, it’s big. It’s not a traditionally shaped duffel either. Most of the time when you hear duffel or duffle, you think of a cylindrical shaped bag. The Bray is more of a cube.

More details about their construction comes directly from Moore & Giles: “The construction process is meticulous – ensuring every stitch and strap are perfectly crafted in place. The leather is our finest Moore & Giles Titan Milled Brown. This leather is crafted in only one small 5th generation tannery located at the foothills of the Italian Dolomites. This leather will get better with age and adventure. The body is constructed of our strong and water resistant Waxwear Rangertan. It too will age beautifully and wear in with a patina that is as unique as the places you take the Bray.”

Function

A lot of great planning went into the creation of the Bray. It’s a feature rich bag that just keeps exposing more and more uses. It’s designed to be an outfitter’s bag or a guide’s bag. But, it’s totally set up for the gentleman who’s off to spend a week at an Alaskan lodge to stalk salmon on the fly, the dude who’s heading down to Bolivia to stalk Golden Dorado from one of the great lodges there, or for the man taking to the salt flats in search of Bonefish. Whatever your pleasure, this bag will carry all of your fly gear in high style.

The interior of the bag is spacious. With one, large top flap you gain access to the interior, which features a removable waterproof lining with a cinch closure. This is perfect for wet waders and/or your wading boots. It keeps the sand, mud, and mess inside. The compartment is vented though, which is great to provide air circulation and prevent mold/mildew inside. The exterior of the bag features an entire side with pockets designed to store your reels, fly lines, fly boxes, tools, etc. And, on each side of the bag are leather straps so you can lash down three of your favorite fly rods in their storage tubes. In addition to the nice, long handles, the bag comes with a solid leather, adjustable shoulder strap, which is great because when fully loaded the Bray can be bulky and heavy.

Aesthetic

This is a beautiful bag. The leather is supple and has a great texture to it. The waxed canvas looks fantastic too. The aged brass hardware combines with the other two components to create a trifecta of visual awesomeness. This is definitely a bag designed for adventure. I’ve had the chance to show this bag off to a few different people and the result has been unanimous. They all have loved it. And, they all asked if they could keep it. No chance of that happening!

Conclusion

The Moore & Giles Bray Sportsman Duffel exudes a combination of refined ruggedness and luxury. At $1200, it’s not a purchase to be made lightly for most of us. But, there aren’t many other bags that can contend with it in this particular niche either. If you’re an avid fly fisherman who enjoys traveling with style and likes the leisurely appeal of great lodges, this is a perfect choice for you. In fact, it’s made for you.

It’s definitely a Buy It for Life item and will certainly be something to be handed down to sons and grandsons who have followed in your footsteps and passionately enjoy fishing with a fly rod.

A Quiet Morning on the Tye from Moore & Giles, Inc. on Vimeo.

July 9, 2014December 19, 2017

Moore & Giles Half Zip Wallet Review – $140

Wallets.

Everybody has one, and there are countless iterations. Some are made of leather. Some are made of pleather. Some are made of of nylon and Velcro, and some are made of duct tape. In a world of dull, run of the mill wallets, it is refreshing when you see one that it is unique and has some character. Unique was probably the first word that came to mind when I saw the Half Zip Wallet from Moore & Giles. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a mens wallet that has a zipper, but it just happens to be fitting for this design. The Half Zip Wallet is the brainchild of Thomas Brennan, designer with Moore & Giles.

MOORE & GILES

Moore & Giles is chiefly a leather producing company. They produce finished leathers for the high-end hospitality, aviation, and residential interior design industries. Born in 1933 by Donald Graeme Moore (if you know anything about Moore & Giles you’ll notice that many of their products have names like The Donald, Graeme, Brennan, etc, which are all named after current and past employees of the company), Moore & Giles initially sold components for the footwear industry and eventually expanded that to shoe leathers. leather linings, and sole leather. As excellent companies do, they have continually shifted strategy to meet the needs of a changing market and found a burgeoning business in the high-end leather trade. Fairly recently, the company has added a line of high-end leather goods, which upholds the company’s tradition of producing a fine quality product. The Half Zip Wallet that BestLeather had the opportunity of reviewing is no exception.

THE LEATHER

The Half Zip wallet is made of two primary components, one piece of two to three ounce vegetable tanned leather for the exterior and a tonal waxed canvas lining for the interior. As frequent visitors to BestLeather.org know, vegetable tanned leather is known for its durability and quality. It takes significantly longer to vegetable tan leather, and the result is a hardy product that ages well over time. Moore & Giles has their leather tanned at a factory in Italy known for producing some of the finest leathers in the world. Combining veg tanned leather with waxed canvas makes sense, considering waxed canvases water resistant properties. Originating in the sailing industry in Scotland in the 1920’s, waxed canvas has become the go-to material for many bag and apparel manufacturers because of its durability and waterproof properties.

The leather is Hickory, or light brown, color that will patina over time into a golden bronze. The canvas is a pale tan color and the combination of the two colors marry well.

The edges of the Half Zip Wallet, including the zipper pull, have all been burnished as well. At BestLeather, we love to see edges burnished because it shows a higher degree of finish, which both increases the beauty of the product and also gives the edge increased durability and protection against abrasion. It is another sign of a quality product.

DESIGN

The Half Zip wallet’s signature design is the zipper. As mentioned, I have never seen a mens wallet with a zipper, but it makes sense. We carry some of the most valuable stuff we own in our wallet, namely our money, credit cards, driver’s license, and our Papa Murphy’s frequent use card. It makes sense to stuff all of those valuable items into a wallet that stays closed no matter what. You can also add a little coinage for those that still frequent bubble gum machines without worrying about losing your quarters.

The wallet also has a thin piece of leather folded over and sewn into the interior of the wallet which you can use to place your credit cards. It’s a nice feature that gives the wallet some compartmentalization, and allows you to keep some organization within your wallet as opposed to everything floating about.

FUNCTION

As a specialist in the finished leather market, Moore & Giles knows how to put fine leather goods together that work well. In my opinion, most wallets should be somewhat thin, considering we sit on them throughout the day. The Half Zip wallet is very thin, but is still substantial enough to carry everything you need. Even after stuffing several credit cards and some bills in the wallet and zipping it up and throwing it in my back pocket, I hardly noticed it. It has a small footprint while being able to carry what you need in a wallet at the same time. That is not an easy accomplishment, but Moore & Giles has done it well and done it in style.

BESTLEATHER CONCLUSION

If you are an individual who is bored of their plain ole’ bi-fold and wants something unique, durable, and stylish in a wallet, the Half Zip Wallet from Moore & Giles would be an excellent choice. Though spendy for a wallet at $140, you get a wallet that fits well on the haunches, that has a lot of utility while still remaining simple, and that is truly unique in a sea of boring wallets.

April 30, 2014December 19, 2017

Moore & Giles Donald Dopp Kit – $155

A dopp kit is a small bag made for carrying a razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, clippers, scissors, deodorant, and other toiletry and grooming essentials. It can be made from leather, canvas, vinyl, cloth, or other similar material. The name “dopp” was unfamiliar to me prior to my interest in fine leatherworking. The name derived from Charles Doppelt, who immigrated to the United States from Germany and set up a leatherworking shop in Chicago in the early twentieth century. He introduced a small bag meant to carry toiletries, and had printed the word “dopp” on each of these bags.

Dopp kits became popular among Chicagoans, but when the United States Army adopted these bags for World War Two and had one made for each enlisted soldier, they became nationally known and recognized. After the Second World War, it became popular to purchase a dopp kit for a young man as a symbol of reaching adulthood, and those bags were often passed down from father to son, a testament to excellent craftsmanship and tradition.

Moore & Giles of Forest, Virginia, makes a dopp kit that can be handed down from generation to generation. The Moore & Giles Company has been producing fine leather since 1933. Their principal product to this day is finely tanned leather made for a number of industries, including the high-end hospitality industry and the commercial and residential interior design markets, among others. Producing other fine leather goods such as dopp kits, rucksacks, and messenger bags became a natural extension of fine leather tanning. BestLeather has had the opportunity of reviewing one of these fine leather goods, their Donald Dopp Kit.

LEATHER

Moore & Giles Donald Dopp Kit is made with their Brompton line of leather. This is leather that has been vegetable tanned and drum dyed a deep dark brown, then finished with hot waxes that highlight the leather’s natural grain. The result is a beautiful, antique look with a fair amount of sheen. This antique look is a very nice feature and lends a sophisticated air to the bag.

The leather is 1.0 to 1.2 MM thick, which equates to approximately 2 1/2 to 3 ounces thick. It is not boot thick leather, but I do not think that is necessary for a dopp kit which is meant to be carried within another bag. The leather feels fairly thin, but it is robust at the same time. It is fairly rigid, especially for a thinner leather, which is common with vegetable tanned leather. As a result, the bag keeps its shape well, without any internal structural support.

FUNCTION

One of the first things that caught my attention when I opened the Donald Dopp Kit was the space the bag had. Most Dopp Kits are tall and narrow. The result is a bag that can be more difficult to dig through and find what you need on a trip, especially if the dopp kit is full. The Donald does not have this problem because the bag is wide open; there is ample space for all of your toiletries. On a recent trip I was even able to get my long sonicare toothbrush in without collapsing it. The bag measures nine inches tall by eight inches wide by three and a half inches tall.

The inside of the bag is made with an Italian, waterproof jacquard so that you can clean out any spills with ease. Moore & Giles also went the extra mile and treated their size 92 polyester thread so that it too was water repellent. The leather is similarly finished in a way that water is naturally repelled. The result is a product that will not mildew or easily stain, and that is a snap to clean out.

DESIGN

The Donald Dopp Kit is made from just two pieces of leather. The first piece travels from the bottom of the bag up the back to the top flap. The second piece wraps from the side around the back to the other side. Using as few pieces of leather as possible to construct a bag is a good sign, and means that the bag is designed to last. In general, the fewer the seams the better, as the seam of a bag is the weakest link.

The Donald also has a leather bead sewn in where the two pieces of leather meet, and which runs along the perimeter of the bag. This gives the bag a higher level of finish and adds some depth to the dopp kit as well. Similarly, the Donald has an all-leather carrying strap on the back of the bag which is both useful of course, but also aesthetically pleasing.

On the inside of the Donald is one large space, but also contains two zippers. The first is on the inside of the top flap of the bag and has a fairly large pocket lined with the same Italian jacquard. The second is on the inside of the back panel, with a smaller pocket with the same waterproof lining. I liked this design because it gives you one large space for the majority of your items, but a couple of zippered pockets for those items you do not want to mix.

BESTLEATHER CONCLUSION

The Donald Dopp Kit from Moore & Giles is a bag that is excellently constructed and smartly designed. It is crafted from premium leather at an attractive price point. It is made to last generations and is the perfect bag to carry on the tradition of handing down your dopp kit to the next generation.

January 19, 2014December 19, 2017

Great Video From Moore & Giles On How Their Leather Is Made

Moore & Giles uses leather tanned in Italy. On a recent trip to their tannery they made this fantastic video featuring each step of their leather making process. What I found particularly interesting is the modern equipment featured in the film compared to some other renowned tanneries such as Horween that seem like not much has changed for a hundred years.

Source: https://www.mooreandgiles.com/resources/how-leather-is-made/

Included for comparison; this video by Trunk Club of the Horween facility.