Satchel & Page’s Leather Backpack: 5-Year Review

I’ve been covering leather bags and backpacks for so long that I’ve started my own leather bag and backpack company on the side (they’re made from feral hogs, it’s awesome). Yet I never got around to reviewing my favorite leather backpack: Satchel and Page’s.

The leather quality is so high that it perfectly balances the design’s minimalism — and I’ve worn this backpack with shorts in Italy, alpaca wool in Canada, and everywhere in between.

Again: I sell leather backpacks for a living and I think this is the best leather backpack. Here’s why.

Satchel & Page’s Backpack: Pros & Cons

Hey, I’m not going to make you read a long review if you don’t want to. Here’s a summary of this whole article:

Pros

• The best bag leather I’ve ever seen: vegetable tanned but full of oils to give it great luster and pull up.
• Minimalist and versatile design: Matches all the outfits.
• 15-ish liter capacity has always worked for me for daily carry or a sleepover.
• Few seams: you wouldn’t want something so simple if the leather wasn’t so great, but since it is, you’ll love how big the pieces are here.
• A whole separate laptop compartment: the most reassuring way to transport tech and food in the same bag.
• Clamshell opening: you can open it all the way up for speedy organization.
• Suede lining is very, very fancy.

Cons

• Suede lining means you might not want to carry stews (I eat a lot of stews)
• Just the one color to choose from (to be fair, their black version wasn’t popular)
• $476 at the time of writing isn’t cheap, and they (like everything) used to be cheaper — but I legit think that under $500 is solid for this quality.
• Vegetable tanned leather isn’t quite as water resistant as many cheaper chrome tanned leathers (but mine has never needed stains fixed)

Satchel & Page’s Leather Quality Is Insane

Most leather on Earth is chrome tanned, a method invented in the 19th century. For all of human history before that, we did vegetable tanning.

Of course, it’s slower and more expensive, and chrome tanning can be better in some cases (it’s more waterproof, for instance, and it’s more comfortable for footwear).

But many love vegetable tanned leather for its history, rugged nature, depth of color, and enthralling patina. Check out their messenger bag I also own:

Satchel & Page’s leather comes from a small tannery in Tuscany that’s even certified by the Genuine Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortium.

Remember to clean and condition it every now and then, but a bag doesn’t get as beat up as a boot does, so it’s not like you have to rub cream on your backpack every quarter.

Satchel & Page’s Backpack: The Long List of Features

It’s lined with suede, has a zippered internal pocket, lots of slip pockets, and a whole separate laptop compartment that can hold a tablet at the same time. Maybe even another laptop, I don’t know. But I have a big laptop and it fits great, which is more than I can say for some leather bags I own.

They Have a Good Warranty Too

As someone who his own leather bag company, believe me when I say: you can’t criticize a bag when the zipper breaks, because zippers will break. They are a breakable part.

I used this backpack so much that the zipper broke, and Satchel & Page had this really cool policy: I could get it fixed by a local business, show them the receipt, and they’d reimburse me. That’s totally the fastest and most convenient way for a company to help out.

Satchel & Page Backpack: Is It Worth the Price?

• $476

Definitely. Listen, I’m telling the truth: I write about leather bags for a living and this is the nicest bag leather.

And it’s so cool that there are so few seams and so many single panels of leather to show it off. The design just works with anything.

You won’t find a leather backpack at a better price, not with vegetable tanned leather anywhere near this quality.

If you don’t care about how god damn good looking this special kind of leather is, I can understand why you’d go find a cheaper leather backpack.

But we all have a certain look in mind when we think of the coolest kind of old, well loved leather. This is the kind of leather that will bring you that satisfaction — decade after decade!

Satchel & Page’s Backpack is really nice and I use it more than any other.