Handbags

Smooth, Pebbled, Washed or Croc Embossed Leather

The surface of a leather bag decides how it looks in its second year, which is a bigger decision than its color. Smooth leather shows everything at first, a fingernail mark, a drop of rain, the corner of a table, and then folds those marks into the patina that many people buy leather for. Pebbled leather hides the first year of scuffs inside its grain, so it is the forgiving choice for a bag that ends up on floors and train seats. Washed leather arrives already softened and gently creased, so new marks blend into it from day one. Croc embossed leather is a pattern pressed into the hide, and with a high gloss finish it wipes clean easily, while fine scratches show more on a gloss than on a grain.

What Changes Between Leather and Vegan Leather

Leather and vegan leather, a polyurethane material, are worth a minute's comparison before you choose. Leather is skin: it breathes, darkens where hands touch it, softens at the folds and wants a leather conditioner a couple of times a year. Unlined leather, as on a raw edge tote, shows its suede side inside and ages fastest of all. Vegan leather is a coated material that keeps its first day color, shrugs off a spill with a damp cloth and asks for nothing. Choose leather if you want a bag that records its years, and vegan leather if you want one that looks the same every morning.

Reading Bag Measurements and Handle Drop

A listed measurement is the outside of the bag, and the inside is always smaller by the thickness of the leather, the lining and the zipper. Measure the largest thing you carry every day and look for a bag at least an inch bigger in that direction. A 13 inch laptop runs about 12 inches wide, so it needs a tote or a hobo with comfortable room to spare, while a clutch takes a phone, cards and keys and little else. Then read the handle drop, the distance from the top of the handle to the bag's opening: around 9 inches clears the shoulder even over a coat, while 4 or 5 inches means carrying by hand or over the forearm. A bag that converts from shoulder bag to backpack gives you each answer in a single bag.

Decide the leather surface first, confirm the size against what you carry, and the shape usually chooses itself. The hands free shapes have a shelf of their own in Crossbody Bags, and wallets, belts, scarves and gloves are in Accessories.