Satchel and Page’s Minimalist Mailbag Has the Best Bag Leather

Satchel & Page is a direct to consumer brand that focuses on really, really good leather. It’s not that design isn’t a priority for them, rather the products are purposefully simple in order to draw attention to the quality of the leather itself — there are no unnecessary buckles, bells, or whistles.

When I’m asked if I can recommend a really high quality bag, I almost always send guys to their website, and they’re always instantly converted.

The product I’m reviewing here is their Mailbag, which I’ve been using around Manhattan for the last few years.

Satchel & Page Mailbag Pros & Cons

Here’s a quick summary of what you’ll find in the review below, since I know you’ve got places to be.

Pros

• Fantastic and dynamic vegetable tanned leather
• Minimalist design inspired by by vintage US Postal Service mailbags
• Casual design is easy to dress down or up
• Well priced
• No breakable parts
• Minimalist, but has a laptop sleeve
• Rear sleeve for quick access to belongings on-the-go
• Smaller size available

Downsides, not dealbreakers

• No zippered pockets anyway, which I’d have liked
• Unlined, which reduces the “luxury” feeling for some guys
• Edges are finished with beeswax, some prefer higher end finishing like piping or burnishing

The Design

• Measures 12″ x 16″ x 4.5″ = 14.1 liters
• Unlined, spacious
• Padded laptop sleeve
• Key chain
• Exterior sleeve pocket fits a magazine
• No breakable parts
• Copper rivets

The big deal here is that the interior is very simple: there’s a welcome laptop sleeve with some slip pockets for cards and pens, but there are otherwise no dividers, no lining, no zippered pockets… did I mention no lining? It’s cow all the way down.

There’s no front pocket under or on top of the closure flap either, but the rear slip pocket is handy for stashing items you want quick access to.

So it’s simple, but in the controversial realm of men’s shoulder bags, minimalism is often the name of the game. Guys are really, really scared of anyone calling their satchel a purse, and the Mailbag has the kind of uncomplicated handsomeness that should assuage those fears.

Side note: while “rainproof” would be an overstatement, it’s worth noting there are cinches on either side of the bag’s opening to help seal of the interior of the bag from rain or snow. 

The thread is polyester 277, very heavyweight stuff often used for horse saddles and that kind of thing, and their bags are made with a combination of hand and machine stitching, depending on the application.

Lastly, we should talk about the rivets. Satchel & Page note on their site that 95% of bags use rapid rivets and 5% use copper rivets like these: solid copper, hand set rivets, which are about the most unbreakable you can find.

The way the rivets work is that you have a burr and a rivet: the rivet goes through the leather, the burr does on top, and then it’s ball peened over by hand, making one solid piece that isn’t hollow and won’t come apart. Rivets are the most durable way to protect stress points on a bag and hand set copper rivets are the most durable way to do that.

This bag will last forever. Yes, there’s a warranty. I have their backpack and they happily reimbursed me when I needed to get the zipper fixed. On the Mailbag, though, there are no zippers because there are no breakable parts.

Satchel & Page’s Leather

• 6 – 8 ounces/yard
• Vegetable tanned in Tuscany
• Sourced from French cattle
• Hot stuffed with oils
• Shoulder cut leather

This leather is 6 to 8 ounces per square yard, it comes from French cows, and it’s tanned and finished in the town of Ponte a Egola in Tuscany, Italy.

The tannery is small, run by the same family for three generations, employing just 14 workers, and wholly dedicated to making vegetable tanned leather. Tuscany is something of a headquarters for vegetable tanned leather and with this bag comes a sticker that says it’s certified by the Genuine Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortium, a group of artisans who are dedicated to preserving the ever dwindling number of veg tan leather craftspeople.

If you’re not aware, 90% of all leather on earth is chrome tanned, and it’s exceedingly rare to find vegetable tanned leather goods. Chrome tanning was invented in the 19th century and it’s faster, cheaper, and it’s able to make leather that’s softer and dyes more easily than veg tan. Those are real advantages for footwear.

For bags, a lot of guys prefer stiff vegetable tanned stuff. I should note that chrome tanning makes leather a bit more resistant to sunlight and water, but hey, I’ve used this bag for years and am very happy with how it’s held up to everything I’ve put it through.

This leather is a heavy duty, everlasting material, and it’s also gorgeous: it’s been “hot stuffed,” imbued with oils and waxes to make it durable and weather resistant. This also gives it real dynamism and what they call a “pull up” effect: the color undulates throughout the leather as the oils and waxes move around with use.

An interesting feature you don’t see on chrome tanned leather is these wrinkles from the hide, which is an indicator that it’s shoulder cut leather. That’s something you almost never see specified, but a trimmed double shoulder is roughly 3 by 4 feet and it grows on either side of the spine, perpendicular to it.

Because of the shape, you get a nice, consistent piece of leather. (Leather along the belly often isn’t amazing, near the neck and the hind are kind of hit or miss, and many leatherworkers prefer shoulder cut stuff for its consistency.) For smaller bags like this that don’t need tons of leather, you can make these large panels out of a single piece of hide.  

All in all, it’s phenomenal stuff. Not too dull, not too shiny, just a beautiful rich, complex leather that’ll age very well. No corners have been cut.

Satchel & Page Mailbag Price

$545.

And that is indeed good value. For this quality leather and craftsmanship, that it’s all single pieces of vegetable tanned leather, it’s shoulder cut, the rivets, the finished edges, and so on… it’s good value.

It’s true that you need to appreciate how good the leather is to appreciate the price, but trust me when I say that I don’t think there’s anything out there that’s this high quality at this price point.

Feel free to check out my list of the best leather messenger bags I’ve tried to make your own value judgment.

Wrapping Up

This is a stunning piece. The leather is thick, heavy, durable, oily, and beautiful, and it’ll age beautifully — once it’s ready to be handed down to the next generation, it’ll look even better. The durability and patina potential are such huge factors here, and the edges are even burnished and oiled by hand to ensure they don’t fray over time. It’s an heirloom piece. 

The Mailbag is worth every penny. Some feel it’s too casual for the office, but your descendants will thank you.