Thursday Commuter Bag Review: A Solid Casual to Business Casual Briefcase

Thursday Boot Company positions itself as the value boot brand and is something of a New York City cultural export, meeting the footwear demands of the metropolitan aspirant in a city known for its collision of grit and ritz.

Put differently, their stuff is versatile: their boots are all about combining work boots and dress boots into the ultimate everything boot, but do they bring the same balance of value, build quality, and aesthetics to their briefcases?

At Stridewise, we’ve reviewed everything from note-perfect corporate briefcases (such as those by Carl Friedrik) to rugged Percy Fawcett bags (check out Saddleback), so we have an eye for how to buy a good briefcase for your needs.

Let’s see if Thursday’s Commuter bag is the best bag for you.

Thursday Boot Company: The Brand

Thursday Boot Co has reinvigorated the world of resoleable footwear and I’d venture that they’re responsible for converting a number of sneaker wearers into boot lovers.

Thanks to their direct-to-consumer business model and a very boring mastery of logistics and supply chains, they offer solid boots at a price point and level of quality that impresses both newcomers and more experienced connoisseurs.

They’ve since made an effort to take this same ethos into other product lines, including leather jackets and now, leather bags.

First Impressions: My Thursday Commuter Bag

• Appearance lands somewhere between casual and dressy.
• Looks durable thanks to rivets and additional pieces of leather on corners for abrasion resistance.
• The oil-tanned Rugged & Resilient leather is low maintenance and durable.
• Recessed zippers prevent snagging.

The Commuter bag is more rugged than what might come to mind when you think “briefcase.”

It has a well-constructed appearance, largely owing to the emphasis on single pieces of leather (no unsightly seams running down the middle of the length) and the additional pieces of leather doubled over the bottom corners. It’s almost like your briefcase has a shoe-like heel counter, which, if intentional, is a cute nod to Thursday’s origin as a boot company.

There are four rivets on the bottom, which let the bag stand off from the ground when placed upright on a floor and give it stability and prevent abrasion, which is welcome.

The two rivets reinforcing the handles appear a bit redundant and strike the eye as a little excessive, but they look and feel like they can handle quite a load. Any more of this kind of detailing and we might have a “steampunk” bag.

These design choices result in a sturdy look that makes the bag look like it will live up to use day after day. There are sleeker bags on the market, but the Thursday Commuter is equally suited to bring to work or throw into the back of a car for a weekend trip.

Like I said, they nail the balance: casual, but not too rugged; smart, but not too dressy. Critics might interpret that as hard to pin down, which I’d understand. Not every bag is for everyone!

The Leather

• Mine is the Tobacco Rugged & Resilient leather that matches their boots.
• 6 leathers and 3 canvas options available.
• The dressiest is probably the brown Old English leather; others aren’t quite glossy enough

The Commuter Bag is available in six different colorways in all leather, and in three colorways in canvas and leather. The design of the bag looks good in both high and low contrast combinations, thanks to the generous leather detailing.

I got mine in Thursday’s Tobacco “Rugged and Resilient” leather, hot stuffed with extra oils to make it more durable and weatherproof. It needs practically no conditioning at all.

The canvas bags are more casual than the leather bags, plus it’s better for wearing with a leather jacket.

Finishing

• Rolled edges for a more professional, dressier look.

Thursday finishes the leather edges with rolled over leather in a way that lends an overall look and feel of quality

There are no raw edges that fray with wear, like Saddleback’s more firmly casual offerings. You could wear the Commuter with a sports coat, no problem.

Lining

• Soft synthetic “micro suede” lining is easy to clean.

The interior is lined in micro suede, a synthetic polyester material named for its likeness to suede. You might be familiar with it as furniture upholstery. It actually makes a lot of sense as a material for the inside of a bag: it doesn’t attract dust, it’s stain resistant, easy to clean, and otherwise low maintenance as it won’t pill like a fabric.

It actually feels really nice to the touch and makes digging around in the bag a somewhat enjoyable experience for your hands. As a polyester fabric, it does catch the light in a slightly plastic-y way, which may be a detractor to some people’s eyes.

Organization & Compartments

• Lots of compartments make it easy to organize your everyday carry items.
• Fits a 16-inch laptop.

There are external pockets on either side of the bag: one’s a sleeve, the other has a zipper closure. The main compartment measures a little over 16” lengthwise and accommodates a large laptop with ease, as you can see.

In addition, there are three pockets and one zipper pouch. In all, you have a fair number of choices for organizing a variety of items.

Zippers

• Solid and functional zippers that don’t easily snag or catch.

Flanking the zipper of the main compartment are two strips of leather that recess the zipper — an informed design decision that gives some confidence that things won’t snag the teeth.

The zipper terminates at either end into two large leather tabs which seem well up to the task of coping with aggressive opening and closing. Lastly, the zippers themselves have a durable, heavy duty feel to them that inspires confidence.

Handles & Shoulder Straps

• Comfortable handles that are easy to hold.
• The shoulder strap is adequately long.

The carry handles look wide and rectangular and like they’re not the smoothest to clench with hands, but they actually they narrow slightly where your hand clasps them, resulting in a more comfortable grip. It elevates my overall opinion of the bag to know the designers at Thursday Boot Co gave it some thought.

As for the shoulder strap, you can adjust it to a maximum length of 57 inches from clasp to clasp. As a five foot nine inch-ish guy, this is more than enough for wearing the bag at my hip, so I think it’ll accommodate a wide range of body types.

Note that the length is adjusted by a gliding mechanism rathe than a belt buckle. This gives you more control over the length, though some guys prefer the look of a buckle.

Aesthetics

• Rivets, reinforced corners, burly zippers, and well-oiled leather lends a solid appearance without looking too casual.
• No visible branding on the outside of the bag.

It’s not blowing up with bells and whistles, but it’s far from a minimalist bag.
Note that Thursday’s only branding is an embossed leather patch on the interior zipper pocket: there isn’t anything that explicitly yells THURSDAY on the exterior of the bag in big block letters.

I think it’s nice when companies feel they can tone down their branding and let a product speak for itself.

Perhaps its name is appropriate: this is a bag that looks best when commuting from one place to the next. Stop to look at it while still, and you start to search for character in it.

Price

$349.

I think this would be a great graduation gift, honestly. I remember going to and from one of my college internships with a laptop bag barely big enough for a computer and having to pack anything else I needed for the day into a second tote bag or my pockets. A bag like this would have signified that I’d finished the college journey.

There aren’t many options at this low price, and if you’ve never had a briefcase before, it feels special and promising.

Alternatives

There are quite a few other options on the market that are priced a couple of hundred dollars more. For the quality of materials used, the Thursday Commuter Bag definitely comes at a value.

To put it in comparison with other bags in its lane, the Satchel and Page Counselor is a better bag, but at a price ($565), it is going to feel more distant to some buyers.

More so with Saddleback’s Flight Bag, which is going to come at a cost of roughly twice that of the Thursday Commuter while also weighing about twice as much and doubling down on the overbuilt, pocketed-up, Amazon adventurer appearance.

The Woodward by WP Standard ($348) is a price match to the Thursday Commuter and arguably has a more aesthetic character, although it comes just a little shorter on features and colorway options.

What Other Reviewers Are Saying

On Thursday’s website, this bag reviewed mostly five-star ratings with a handful of four and half-star reviews.

The cons were not fitting a 17-inch laptop, a slippery shoulder strap, and no strap to hold the carry handles together. Some folks don’t like those handles flopping down when your grip has had to only momentarily be released from them, which is fair.

Reddit reviews are mostly positive. The only negative reviews are from guys lamenting the lack of a strap to attach the bag to the handle of wheely luggage.

Who should buy Thursday’s Commuter Briefcase?

• Those looking for a business-casual briefcase. Exploring the different colorways could yield a good partnering with the right suit and tie, particularly the “Old English” and “Old Town” options.
• The budget conscious or those looking for a starter bag.
• Anyone who wants a bag that doesn’t need a lot of babying or matainance, the Rugged and Resilient leather doesn’t require much attention.

Who shouldn’t buy Thursday’s Commuter Briefcase?

• Guys looking for a briefcase to match the sharpest of black suits. None of them dress up that far.
• Aficionados of all natural materials, who won’t love the polyester lining.
• Those looking for a made-in-USA product. The website lists the Commuter as “Handcrafted in Integrity,” which is Thursday Speak for “somewhere in Spain, Portugal or Mexico.”

Wrapping Up

Why purchase this bag? It’s durable, not too dressy but not too casual, comes in a ton of colors and materials, and it’s cheaper than a lot of other bags that are of similar quality.

Of course, that’s Thursday’s entire pitch: make durable stuff that could work with jeans or with business casual.

Like I said, the big upside is also the main downside: it’s so darn versatile that it can’t dress all the way up or all the way down. I might think otherwise if they released one in a glossy black leather, but they haven’t yet.

But if you like the idea of a bag you can pairs as well with denim as it does with tweed, this is your briefcase.