Back in 2007, I posted a less than enthusiastic review of a Saddleback Leather briefcase I’d purchased and subsequently returned to sender: “Why Saddleback Leather Fails to Live Up to its Own Hype“. The leather was sturdy, the hardware was dependably solid and the overall design was ruggedly satisfying, but the bag itself was plagued with shoddy workmanship — excess glue oozing out of seams, stitching that wandered, and noticeable gaps at the corners where the leather should have been sewn tight.

After shipping the bag back to the company at my expense (and then getting charged a “restocking fee” for the privilege), I wrote the company off as another one of those Over-Promise and Under-Deliver brands and never looked back, only now and again reminded of their existence when some enraged Saddleback fanboi would leave a response to my review, usually punctuated with insults and/or profanity.

*NOTE: The “delete” button is a site administrator’s best friend.

But in December of 2009, a commenter informed me that the Saddleback company had gone through a seeming rebirth, that their bags were much improved and maybe I should take a second look. You know, if I wanted to be open-minded about the whole thing.

New and improved, with flattering lighting!

I was skeptical, but I cruised on over to their website anyway and yes, much to my surprise, the bags *did* look like they’d gone through some very definite refining and tweaking. Scrolling through the Saddleback company blog, I noticed that company founder Dave Munson had written a blog entry in September of 2009 that gave an indication of the how and why behind Saddleback’s revitalized look:

“Near the end of last year, we decided to make our own leather briefcases, backpacks, bags and luggage instead of having them made by someone else,” he wrote. “In doing so, we significantly increased quality and lowered the number of defective bags we received.”

*NOTE 2: A-ha! So it wasn’t just me — take that, fanbois!

Munson stated that they’d had to raise prices on all their bags as a result of the restructuring, but judging from the customer comments on their website, the price hike didn’t seem to put off any of their existing fans — who are, to put it mildly, rabid admirers of all things Saddleback.

“Okay, fine,” I thought, and noted Munson’s blog post and possible increase in bag quality on my site, as my own particularly critical review had gained some Google traction in the meantime and I felt it only fair to mention that my experience with their briefcase was B.C. (before the changes). But again, I wasn’t looking back. Once bitten, etc. etc.

Stitching that’s straight and true

That is, until a big, heavy package arrived on my doorstep about a month ago (“Compliments of the Presidente,” emailed Ryan Barr, Saddleback’s go-to guy for business development) and I opened it up to find a new version 2.0 medium-size Saddleback Leather briefcase in a deep chestnut brown.

Curious as to whether the version 2.0 hype was going to be any truer than the old hype, I pulled the briefcase out of its wrapping and examined it carefully: no oozing glue, the stitching was straight as an arrow and all the seams were sewed up tight. So far, so good.

I unbuckled the fastenings and opened the briefcase to find that the interior work was the same excellent quality as the exterior: the under-flap and compartment walls boasted a nice pebbled finish; there were several heavy-duty pouches to hold small items like cell-phones, iPods, pens, power cords and business cards; there was the (new?) inclusion of a leather strap that hooked into a branded leather keychain for keeping your keys within easy reach; and the interior stitching, binding and riveting was clean and straight, with the whole thing coming across as remarkably solid and reliable — the kind of bag that could handle wind, rain, sleet, snow and blistering sun while dutifully protecting its contents.

Interior leather pouch, big enough for power cords and devices

Yet while the manufacturing quality for the bag is pretty darn good, I do have a few quibbles with the design: 1.) none of the interior pouches fastens shut with either a zipper or snap closure, so carrying valuables becomes a risky proposition, and 2.) since the leather is so sturdy and the plentiful hardware is solid metal, the bag weighs a lot (about six and a half pounds empty, and that’s for their smallest briefcase size), which might not make it the best option for lugging around as a carry-on bag for air travel.

But all in all, if this had been the briefcase I’d received in 2007, I never would have shipped it back.

Impressed, I sent a message back to Ryan Barr and asked if I could interview someone from the company about their obvious improvement in manufacturing quality, but also just about Saddleback in general — how a small leather company that sells strictly via the Internet has been holding out for the past couple of years. He fired back an email that read, “One of the guys would love to speak with you . . . We’ve had a lot of growth in the last few years and are really proud that quality has improved along with it. Seems that in most cases quality is the sacrificial lamb of growth.”

So I emailed a bunch of questions, founder Dave Munson answered them (from a remote island northeast of Madagascar — I seem to be catching people on vacation lately) and Part 2 is where you’ll get to read what he has to say about running an independent leather-goods business in the 21st century.

*NOTE 3: There’s a false bottom to one of the bag’s interior compartments which does allow for safe storage of some (small and thin) valuables, but since I’m the type who throws his wallet, phone, watch and other necessary items into a bag’s zipper compartments for easy retrieval, having to dig underneath my laptop and books to lift a false bottom to get at items is inconvenient and time consuming while on the go; nonetheless, the addition of the false bottom is admittedly a useful idea.