Is this premium hand-made backpack lacking craftsmanship?

[danielz]

I am lacking expertise in leather making and would appreciate your comments.

Exhibit A is showing the overall look of the bag. The whole bag is made of ~2 mm thick leather (easy to fold for storage). Shoulder straps are ~4 mm.

Exhibit B shows the main problem with the front buckles: (i) they are too thin (~2 mm) and therefore bend (ii) they have no stitching on the edges further compromising the rigidity. It makes the buckle hard push through the loop, as it constantly bends, it also looks ... em "unfinished".

Exhibits C and D also show "flaps" of the bag that have no stitching on the sides. Again, in my eyes, this makes the bag feel "unfinished", although I am not sure how functionally justifiable this intuition is.

I am considering for asking for corrections to be made and would appreciate an unbiased professional opinion.

[Martyn]

1 hour ago, danielz said:

Exhibit B shows the main problem with the front buckles: (i) they are too thin (~2 mm) and therefore bend (ii) they have no stitching on the edges further compromising the rigidity. It makes the buckle hard push through the loop, as it constantly bends, it also looks ... em "unfinished".

Exhibits C and D also show "flaps" of the bag that have no stitching on the sides. Again, in my eyes, this makes the bag feel "unfinished", although I am not sure how functionally justifiable this intuition is.

When you say the buckles, you mean the straps? Putting stitching on the edges or the straps is usually done either to secure a liner material, or for style. Edges and straps dont 'need' stitching and I dont think you can justifiable complain about the lack of it. But be aware, if the item is hand sewn, then adding stitching to the edges and the straps will add a lot of time - and therefore money - to the item.

 

If you are not happy with it, then I would suggest as a first option, you just talk to the maker and see what can be done.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Martyn

[Thor]

1 hour ago, danielz said:

I am lacking expertise in leather making and would appreciate your comments.

Exhibit A is showing the overall look of the bag. The whole bag is made of ~2 mm thick leather (easy to fold for storage). Shoulder straps are ~4 mm.

Exhibit B shows the main problem with the front buckles: (i) they are too thin (~2 mm) and therefore bend (ii) they have no stitching on the edges further compromising the rigidity. It makes the buckle hard push through the loop, as it constantly bends, it also looks ... em "unfinished".

Exhibits C and D also show "flaps" of the bag that have no stitching on the sides. Again, in my eyes, this makes the bag feel "unfinished", although I am not sure how functionally justifiable this intuition is.

I am considering for asking for corrections to be made and would appreciate an unbiased professional opinion.

Was this backpack made upon special order for you?

If so, have there been any special or certain agreements etc.? 

As Martyn wrote already, if it's a single layer on those straps then no stitching is required. Hard to tell whether it would prevent or contribute to stretching with this leather.

From my point of view, only if you had any special agreements with the maker that weren't kept you would have reasonable ground to complain. Other than that, I think that backpack looks nicely done.

And to be honest, this is a fashion backpack and not built for rigidity. 

[danielz]

22 hours ago, Martyn said:

When you say the buckles, you mean the straps? Putting stitching on the edges or the straps is usually done either to secure a liner material, or for style. Edges and straps dont 'need' stitching and I dont think you can justifiable complain about the lack of it. But be aware, if the item is hand sewn, then adding stitching to the edges and the straps will add a lot of time - and therefore money - to the item.

 

If you are not happy with it, then I would suggest as a first option, you just talk to the maker and see what can be done.

Sorry, yes, I did mean straps. The small straps are thin at 2 mm (unlike the shoulder ones at 4mm) and therefore putting them through a buckle is difficult. Re-making the item is not a problem and neither is cost an issue -- what I am looking for is a genuine opinion if this is a functionally deficient bag. Paper-like straps that are so bendy as to not go through the buckles surely can't be a good thing.

They really seem like a joke compared to the straps of a Saddleback backpack I own (image below) usability wise; even considering that the backpack in question is not meant to be too robust.

The maker of this bag charges a large sum so I expect the item to be top-notch.

[danielz]

This probably a more illustrative image of the strap.

 

[Thor]

Now you are comparing apples and pears... Different types of leathers and so on. Saddleback uses webbing to reinforce its bags and straps. Saddleback's strap is a two layer strap at least if not 3, depending whether they have a webbing core or not.

Price doesn't stand for craftsmanship. It only tells that he found someone who's willing to pay the price. I can understand that you're demanding higher craftsmanship if the price is higher. Nothing wrong with that and yes that strap is poor. I would expect at least an end cap on it, having it tapered or whatever, but I have to ask again didn't you see this before you bought it?

And for all others reading this thread - here's the seller's page for this backpack http://en.dawanda.com/product/94250511-leather-backpack-vintage2-balck where it's sold for 104 EUR or here http://mobs.com.ua/kozhanyj-ryukzak-handmade-s-pryazhkami-5498-blue.html sold for 59 EUR. I don't know what you paid, but for that price I wouldn't expect anything. I'd be happy if it would hold together for a year. Especially knowing where it comes from now.

On a personal note - next time if you're considering to buy something new that is called vintage, think again and go somewhere else. If something goes wrong, people in Europe are calling it vintage to make it look special. But crap just remains crap no matter how it's called.

[Martyn]

2 hours ago, danielz said:

They really seem like a joke compared to the straps of a Saddleback backpack I own (image below) usability wise; even considering that the backpack in question is not meant to be too robust.

The maker of this bag charges a large sum so I expect the item to be top-notch.

There are different ways of making things. The way the straps on your bag are made is not the best, but it's not wrong either. I dont know how much you paid, but the 60-110 EUR price in Thor's links above, is not a large sum. Like Thor said, for that price I would not be expecting much from the bag.