Satchel & Page Counselor Review (2 years) | The Best Briefcase Leather You’ll Find

Satchel & Page is a direct-to-consumer online company specializing in crafting high-quality leather goods for men, focusing on bags. (Though their jackets are no slouch either.)

Founded by Daniel Ralsky with a commitment to creating timeless, durable leather goods inspired by his grandfather’s map bag from the World War II era, the brand is known for its minimalist designs and emphasis on Italian, vegetable tanned leather.

Naturally, the leather is the real star of the show and it very much deserves the spotlight. This is a brand made with the kind of materials and craftsmanship that ensures they only look better as they age — a good thing when they come with a lifetime warranty.

We review their bestselling bag, the Counselor briefcase.

Satchel & Page Counselor Pros and Cons

If you’re in a rush, here’s a quick list of our pros and cons of this heirloom briefcase.

Pros

• The best bag leather in the game; made like leather was a thousand years ago with a rare depth of color for its tannage. 
• Incredible value for the quality 
• Build quality; the stitching, hardware, and lining are all very robust
• Minimalist aesthetic; no unnecessary bells and whistles to complicate your look
• Plenty of interior pockets and a suede laptop sleeve to avoid scratches
• Lifetime warranty

Best Overall

Satchel & Page Counselor Briefcase

An uncomplicated, sleek design that fits into business or casual settings, the brand's transparency, and sustainable practices places puts this bag in our top spot.

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Cons

• Leather takes time to soften; it’s stiff to use at first  
• Just one shade of brown or black available 
• Suede lining can be tough to clean
• Not always in stock; wait times aren’t unheard of

The Counselor Briefcase

• Minimalist aesthetic
• Timeless, not old fashioned
• Seamless one side with a welt wallet pocket, a zippered slot on the other
• Dimensions / Weight: Height 12″, Width 16.5″, Depth 3.75″ / 4 lbs

S&P’s style is unique and simple, yet timeless and elegant. It’s as though the company and the bag have been around for over a hundred years.

It would be an understatement to say how versatile the Counselor briefcase is. I work as a senior leader in a large office. Carrying this bag around feels appropriate. I’ve also carried this bag through airports in my comfy clothes. That feels appropriate too. It never feels totally out of place anywhere or in any setting. I believe that is due to its minimalistic aesthetics and beautiful leather. (More on that later.)

During the two years I’ve owned it the leather has picked up small nicks and scratches. This is patina. And the leather has a beautiful pull-up effect when squeezed or pulled. This refers to leather that has so many oils and waxes in it that it slightly lightens and darkens in different areas. This creates more patina, plus it’s one sign the leather is hardy and longlasting. Rest assured, this bag will age wonderfully. (Note that some of these pics are of the bag when it was newer.)

Other than the full zipper pocket on one side and a small open slot pocket big enough to hold a smartphone or wallet on the other, the overall aesthetics is minimalist and simple. 

Until recently, S&P only offered all of their products in their signature brown leather color. Now, you can find some bags and accessories in black, including this bag. That’s the only other color choice that they offer currently — and it’s worth remembering that black leather does not age as dynamically as brown!

Satchel & Page’s Leather

• Vegetable tanned, the way leather has been made for 5,000 years
• Certified by the Genuine Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortium
• Few seams, more single pieces of leather; this improves the look and gives fewer places to tear
• Vey stiff at first

Satchel & Page uses full-grain, vegetable tanned leather sourced from France and tanned in Italy. Their leathers are tanned in a small tannery from Ponte a Egola in Tuscany, run by three generations of tannery family.

We’ve looked at a ton of leather bags at Stridewise and we’re telling you: this is the best leather for a bag. 

A little leather 101: just about all leather on Earth is vegetable tanned or chrome tanned, the latter being invented in the mid 19th century. Before then, everything was vegetable tanned and today some 99% of leather is chrome tanned: it’s faster, cheaper, softer, and can be dyed more colors. There are reasons to like a good chrome tannage, but especially when you’re talking about bags — which don’t have painful break ins like your standard veg tanned boot — we prefer traditional vegetable tanning. 

It’s old fashioned, slower, more skilful, and uses tannins found in tree bark and vegetable matter. As it’s typically less harsh on the hide, many find veg tanned leather more durable and that it ages better as well. We don’t like being quite so normative (a lot goes into making leather) but we prefer veg tanned bags.

One potential drawback of veg tanned leather is that it’s often less colorful and flatter looking — see Cravar’s Indonesian leather for an example. We love Cravar, the leather just isn’t as nice as S&P, who after years of painstaking recipe writing, have made a veg tanned leather that has tremendous color depth and natural beauty.

Now, the vegetable tanned leather was incredibly stiff and firm at first. In fact, while I noted that you don’t need to “break in” bags the way you do a jacket or footwear, it did take time for the strap that secures the laptop in its sleeve to soften enough to easily use the stud closure. The button hole would not fit the button because of its stiff leather. (It reminded me of the time when I tried to button my first pair of ultra heavy raw denim buttons, but I digress.)

Eventually, over time and with some elbow grease, it is now a cinch to secure the laptop bag strap. This type of stiffness is still present throughout the bag even after two years, but that’s okay. I appreciate the stubbornness of good, thick, vegetable tanned leather that will gradually patina over time and get better down the road. 

Satchel & Page’s Build Quality

• Suede lining really amps the value
• Though suede can be hard to clean, to be fair
• Antique brass hardware ages gracefully
• Riveted at all the right stress points

All S&P products are made in Europe and shipped from their central warehouse located in Dallas, Texas, so there’s no need to sweat lengthy delivery times or complicated returns/exchanges.

The hardware is antique brass and zippers are Japanese YKK, the go-to brand for quality zippers of any size. (This isn’t like Filson’s YKK zippers, which are so meaty they’ll tear your flesh if you’re not careful.) All of this information is detailed in every product page, and I appreciate the transparency. The solid YKK zipper goes all the way around the bag allowing you to fully open the bag, almost like a hatch or clamshell, a useful quirk also found on S&P’s excellent backpack.

In addition to the premium materials, all the stitching looks clean and perfect. Nothing feels loose. Everything you touch on the Counselor feels solid and you can feel the heft.

Satchel & Page’s Counselor: Pockets and Functionality 

• Option of carry handles or shoulder strap
• Brass “legs” keep the leather off the ground
• Handles can be studded together
• Small, invisible welt pocket on exterior to fit phone/wallet
• Zippered pocket on other side for documents
• Internal laptop sleeve with stud closure
• Multiple interior slip pockets of varying sizes, one zippered compartment

You can carry the bag with its carry handles, which can also be secured together with a strap and a brass button, or you can also carry the bag with its adjustable shoulder strap. The strap itself is a single piece of thick leather. 

There is a small pocket outside on one side that’s just big enough to fit a small wallet or maybe even your smartphone. It is not secured by anything so while you might want to avoid putting anything too valuable in there, it’s extremely flush and it’s awfully hard for anything to fall out of there. (Which also makes it a bit hard to use, but hey, it’s secure.)

The opposite side has a full zipper lined pocket that is large enough to fit many small items you might want to access on-the-go. My one complaint is that the grab handle bar is placed under the zipper. So if you have the grab handles secured together, but need to access the outside zipper pocket, you have to undo the grab handles. It’s a very small ,minor complaint for an otherwise amazing bag. 

The interior of the Counselor is lined with tobacco suede lining which feels very smooth and soft. You will find a small zippered pocket big enough to fit lots of small accessories or cables. There are multiple small pockets for other small items (such as cards) as well as two dedicated pen slots. The bag also comes with a removable key clip attached to a leather strip that can be attached to a dedicated button inside the bag. Nice touch — I love not wondering where my keys are in this thing.

The bag also comes with a separate strap for your luggage. I just wished that there was a dedicated space for this strap inside the bag. Otherwise, the strap is awkwardly placed inside one of the pockets. Not a deal breaker, but something to note. 

The best part about this bag is the antique brass legs. Brass hardware is used throughout the bag, but four of them are located underneath the bag serving as legs. This is incredibly functional, especially when traveling. If you place the bag on any surface, these brass legs protect the leather on the bottom of the bag. Whether it’s a $350 Thursday Boot’s value-oriented leather briefcase or a $1,500 Frank Clegg briefcase, most brands simply do not include legs on their bags.

Overall, the bag is functional and versatile enough that I use it daily for work, and brought with me to multi-day domestic flight trips. 

Satchel & Page Counselor Briefcase Price, Value, and Ordering

• $565

Satchel & Page products are not cheap by mainstream standards. That’s an important qualifier because, compared to similarly built products, S&P offers tremendous value.

The Counselor costs $565. If I didn’t know any better, I would expect this bag to cost at least double. And that value theme permeates throughout their entire lineup of various products. Their direct-to-consumer model is the primary reason why they’re able to keep the cost down: they’re only sold online, so they avoid markups brick-and-mortar stores need for their rent and staff.

Best Overall

Satchel & Page Counselor Briefcase

An uncomplicated, sleek design that fits into business or casual settings, the brand's transparency, and sustainable practices places puts this bag in our top spot.

Check Best Price See the Black Version

We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

As far as the ordering process is concerned, due to the rise in the brand’s popularity, many of their popular products are sometimes on pre-order or are in low stock. (Especially their one-batch-per-year jackets.) This can be frustrating for some shoppers, as long wait times aren’t unheard of for out of stock items. Then again, some like the cachet… and the anticipation. 

Satchel & Page Alternatives

Sure, there are plenty of companies offering full leather briefcases. But most of them, if they’re any good, charge around $600 and they go up from there.

But more importantly, most of these bags are designed in such a way that it is more appropriate in professional office settings. Brands like Carl Friedrik, S&P’s main DTC competitor here, are not as versatile as the Counselor, which is excellent in formal settings but just as easy to wear smart casual. The leather is much more dynamic and patinas better than Carl Friedrik’s vachetta leather as well.

On the lower end of the price scale, Thursday Boot Company, known for offering well made stylish Goodyear-welted boots for around $200, just recently entered the leather briefcase market. For just $349, Thursday offers full-grain and decently built and stylish briefcases and they come in several different finishes. I still think the style of S&P and its high build construction offers a better value proposition compared to even Thursday’s, especially given S&P’s leather quality and suede lining. 

The Bottom Line: Is Satchel & Page Worth It?

I love my Counselor bag. I love everything from Satchel & Page. No company out there offers high quality leather products using premium materials with such versatile style that’s minimalist, heritage, modern, and timeless all at once. It’s rare to find anything that’s better on day 1,000 than it was on day 1, even when it comes to briefcases, which many brands try to make as smooth and characterless as possible.

The Counselor will get better as the leather patinas and softens over time. Add that to the fact that they cost less than other retailers and they’re deceptively functional as well, and I cannot recommend S&P’s bags enough. Like me, you will fall in love. 

Further Reading

See also: our lightning-round review of all their other products we own: