Origins Leather Company The Simple Wallet Review – $45

For those avid readers of BestLeather.org, you’ll recognize the name, Origins Leather Company.  We recently did a review on their Classic Briefcase, and followed that review with a giveaway of the same briefcase.  The giveaway was extremely well received with over 14,000 entries, the best giveaway that BestLeather has had to date.  After the giveaway we knew that Origins had a unique recipe for producing quality goods.  That special recipe is quite simple, like many goods recipes are.  They use very high quality vegetable tanned leather and thread, crafted by experts with a high degree of precision, into a good that is practicable and useful.  That recipe is also used for their Simple Wallet, which we’ll take a look at in this review.

LEATHER

In the Classic Leather Briefcase review, I wrote that the leather Origins uses “feels as good as butter tastes”.  That same leather is used for their Simple Wallet and it feels just as great.  It is a little difficult to describe, but the leather has a soft but substantial feel.  You immediately recognize that the leather is the type that will last a long time (Origins offers a 100 year warranty on all of their products by the way), but has a certain luxury to it as well.  Origins uses a five ounce leather, which is boot leather thickness.  The leather is also slightly burnished on all edges, which gives the edges a nice finish, and it comes in a beautiful chestnut color.

The inside of the wallet is unlined, which allows you to appreciate a different element of the fine leather.  You really don’t need a wallet to have a liner of course, but I also appreciate bags and other goods that are unlined.  There is something about the underside of finished leather that is tactile and fulfills some sensory need to fully appreciate the raw material something is made from.  In other words, I like how it feels.  There certainly are some applications where having a liner of some variety is appropriate, and often it is used for aesthetic purposes, but when it’s not completely necessary, I say let it be.  Perhaps it is because I am a leather purist at heart.  When you use leather as nice as Origins, this certainly is a great way to produce your products.

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DESIGN

The Simple Wallet is as its name implies – simple.  It has one open compartment for stashing your cards and bills.  You can fit at least 10 cards along with some bills comfortably, so it has ample room for what most people need.  The top flap slides securely into the attached strap and the wallet can fit nicely into either a front or back pocket.  When opened, you will notice a small scoop that allows for easier grasping of your cards or bills.

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The Simple Wallet is made from four pieces of leather.  The main body and flap are made from one solid piece, one piece for each side, and the front strap.  Its construction reminds me of how many quality messenger bags are made.  The two side pieces are sewn to the main body with a small flap on bottom of each side piece riveted to the bottom of the wallet.  This manner of construction produces a very hardy and durable wallet and forces the wallet to have a more open pocket.  This could be a benefit to some as it makes sliding cards in and out easier, and also provides more room for additional cards and bills, but could be a drawback to some as it produces a wider footprint.  The rivets at the bottom prevents the wallet from flattening out completely, especially if you only had a couple of cards and wanted a slimmer profile for example.  This makes the wallet a full half inch in width, and provides a rigid bottom, but that is still slimmer than many wallets.

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THREAD AND HARDWARE

The only hardware to speak of on the wallet are the two previously mentioned rivets.  They are approximately 1/4 inch in diameter, with a dark antique finish, and are solid brass.

The thread is a marine grade polyester thread with a brown color that matches the wallet nicely.  Polyester thread is three to four times as strong as nylon thread, and will not fade when exposed to sunlight.  It is some of the best thread that can be used for high quality leather goods.

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BESTLEATHER CONCLUSION

In a world with ever increasing options for minimalistic wallets, the Simple Wallet from Origins Leather Company is a very strong contender.  Made with some of the best leather I’ve seen, leather that is struck through (dyed to the core of the leather), is beautiful to see and feel, and crafted with precision and attention to detail, the Simple Wallet is an excellent choice for those seeking a simpler approach to carrying their daily essentials.

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$425 Origins Leather Company Briefcase Giveaway – Ends September 19th (Winner: Wayne B.)

Update: congratulations to Wayne B. for winning this lovely briefcase and thank you to everyone who made this giveaway a lot of fun!

How many products are you aware of that have lasted for 100 years?  Perhaps a piece of furniture your great great grandfather made?  Or maybe a gun that the same great great grandfather owned with an accompanying leather holster?  My guess is that there are not too many items in your possession that meet this description.  The Origins Leather Company has a mission to change this trend, for the benefit of your future progeny.  They offer a 100 year warranty on all of their products, including their Briefcase, which we are giving away this coming month. The contest will be open till September 19th.

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We had the opportunity of reviewing Origin’s Briefcase a couple of weeks ago, the review of which you can read here.  This briefcase is an heirloom quality leather bag built to last generations.  Though Origins is a relatively new leather goods company, they have contracted with one of the premium leather goods makers to produce their products.  The result is a briefcase that has a premium feel, looks beautiful, and has purpose.

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Origin’s Briefcase is an excellent example of Occam’s Razor in leather form.  According to Wikipedia, Occam’s Razor is a principal of parsimony, economy, or succinctness used in problem solving.  In leather form, applying Occam’s Razor means creating an item that efficiently serves its purpose, does so handsomely, and is stripped of unnecessary fluff.

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The Origins Briefcase is made from thick, five to six ounce vegetable tanned leather, thicker than most boot leather.  It has a pocket on the inside for your laptop, a couple of pens, and a small pocket for accessories.  It has a sleeve on the outside that you can use to carry a magazine, newspaper, or other thin items.  It is as simple as that.  Oftentimes those items that are most simple are the most classic.  The Origin’s Briefcase fits that bill.

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The Origins Briefcase is a classy, well designed, durable briefcase that can be used at work, school, church, or a variety of other settings.  It is a bag that is guaranteed for 100 years and is one that could be sitting on your great great grandchild’s desk one day if you win this giveaway.

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 What do you think?

Origins Leather Company Classic Briefcase Review – $425

Back in March of this year we posted an article on an up and coming leather goods maker called Origins Leather Company.  (You can see that post here.) Origins posted a Kickstarter Campaign that was successfully funded and helped jump start their brand and products.

Origins Leather Company was founded by Aaron Dean, Erik Sjolie, and Michael Sjolie.  They formed the company in order to introduce high quality leather goods for both the business as well as the casual user.  A commitment to the highest quality production, the highest quality leather, and the highest quality hardware was one of their founding principles.  That introductory article in March has led to a review of their Classic Briefcase, on which BestLeather recently got our mitts on.

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS

As those who have had the experience of opening a box with their newly arrived leather good understand, the smell of the leather is usually the very first impression.  There was no exception when I opened the box that contained The Classic Briefcase.  The leather smelled terrific, as it usually does with vegetable tanned leather.  I have often heard that one way (albeit not always 100% accurate) to distinguish vegetable tanned leather and chrome tanned leather is by the smell.

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Considering vegetable tanned leather is tanned using natural and organic ingredients, the leather smells a little more natural.  I asked Erik Sjolie why they used vegetable tanned leather instead of chrome tanned leather.  The main reason was environmental friendliness.  As a company, they wanted to produce goods that were environmentally friendly and vegetable tanned leather certainly has a significant leg up on chrome tanned leather in that department.

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My next impression was how soft the leather felt.  I have handled plenty of high quality leather goods, but for some reason the leather on The Classic Briefcase felt very soft.  It felt as good as butter tastes.  The feel can be attributed, I am sure, to the blend of oils and waxes used to finish the leather, but whatever the reason, it felt nice.

Like all of Origins leather goods, The Classic Briefcase is made from five to six ounce leather.  That is thick leather for a bag, but it does not feel too thick and is not too heavy.  The bag weighs in at only 3.8 pounds, a relative lightweight compared to some other classic briefcases we reviewed.  One main reason for this is that the bag is unlined.  I actually prefer my leather goods unlined.  I really appreciate the finished side of leather, but also the unfinished side.  It seems to give the bag a more natural feel and look.  The unfinished side on The Classic Bag is very smooth, with no loose fibers and looks great.

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CONSTRUCTION

The Classic Briefcase is made in “Old Mexico” by the same company that has been producing other high quality leather gear for many years.  There is always a concern when buying expensive leather goods from an unproven company that you are not sure what you are going to get.  Let me put your minds at rest and tell you that you have no need to worry about the quality of any of Origins leather goods.  They are made to the highest of standards and with the highest quality products by a trusted and proven company.

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The briefcase is made from five main pieces of leather: the back and flap, the front, both sides, and the bottom.  If I tried hard to find a gripe with this bag, it would only be that the bottom of the bag is its own separate piece, which connects the front of the bag and the back of the bag.  In other words, Origins did not use one solid piece of leather to go from the front of the bag all of the way to the back of the bag and then to the flap.  Technically, one piece of leather would make the bag a little stronger, since the stitching is typically the weakest link.  This does not concern me though for a couple of reasons:

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First, Origins uses two straps to secure the bag, which run from the front of the bag, down the bottom and up the back to the flap.  The straps are riveted to the top of the bag and are secured with loops on the front of the bag.  This means that the straps serve to give the bag structure and support. The straps are also made from two pieces of five to six ounce leather sewn together and are therefore very hefty.  There is no way that these straps would fail–unless you tied them to the back of your truck and attempted to tow your boat with them.

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Second, the bag is sewn with marine grade polyester thread.  Polyester thread is significantly stronger than the cotton thread that many manufactures use, but is also three to four times stronger than the nylon that other high quality leather goods makers use, so the bottom of this bag will never have any issues.

One benefit of using a separate piece of leather for the bottom is that the bag tends to sit a little flatter.  If you use one piece of leather for the front, bottom, back and flap, then the bottom tends to bow just a bit.  You don’t have this issue when the bottom is its own piece of leather.

The Classic Briefcase has a compartment for a laptop up to fifteen inches (my 15″ MacBook Pro fits snugly), with a small additional pocket for keys, phone or other paraphernalia, as well as two pen holders.  The rest of the inside is a larger compartment to stash the rest of your office gear, paper, lunch, or other necessities.  There is also another piece of leather sewn to the back of the bag where you can stash the morning paper, a magazine, or–more likely these days–your IPad.  The bag itself is 15 3/4″ wide, by 12″ high, by 4 3/4″ deep.

The bag also comes with a carrying strap for hoisting the bag onto your shoulder or across your body for easier carrying.  The strap is made with two pieces of leather sewn together and is fully adjustable.  It has a shoulder pad that is just the right size and has plenty of padding.

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HARDWARE

The Classic Briefcase is riveted together on major stress areas by solid copper rivets and burrs.  The top of the bag has a one inch strip of leather that secures the handle as well as the bag straps.  There are six rivets that keep this strap in place.  There is a rivet that fastens both the front of the bag to the side, as well as the back of the bag to the side, on both ends of the bag.  This is not totally necessary, as the polyester thread would probably be adequate to keep the bag together, but these rivets reinforce the bag and ensures it will not come apart.  The D rings on each side of the bag are also sewn and riveted.

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As far as I have found, these solid copper rivets and burrs are the toughest types of rivets you can get.  What happens is that you punch a hole through the leather pieces that you want to rivet, place the rivet head and post through one end, put on the burr (basically a solid copper washer), and pound the washer tight onto the leather.  The post is then nipped off, and the remaining post is pounded until it mushrooms out and virtually becomes one solid piece and virtually indestructible.

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The D rings and center bar buckles for the straps are also made from solid brass, as are the swivel clips and buckles on the carrying strap.  The result of the excellent hardware, as well as the premium leather and solid construction is that Origins offers a 100 year warranty on their products against defects.  Only a serious belief in the quality of your product would lead to a warranty like that.

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BESTLEATHER CONCLUSION

The Classic Briefcase from Origins Leather Company is constructed with excellent craftsmanship, is made with some of the best leather you can find, also happens to be more environmentally friendly, and is a beautiful rendition of a classic style.  The bag is roomy enough to carry everything you need for a day at the office, but light enough to not feel bogged down.  The “trunk chestnut” color is beautiful and will eventually wear into a beautiful patina.  At $425, the price is right for a high quality bag that will serve you and your posterity well for many years to come.

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