I was turned on to this company, Saddleback Leather, through a Rivendell Owner’s discussion group.

A number of items caught my eye.
The wallets all seem to be a great value. I’ve been needing a new wallet, so this pulled me in right away. It’s got most of the features I’m looking for: small, simple, fits in a pocket, and is built to last:

The business card holders would be a nice touch, and useful:

This last year I’ve been trying to replace one of those terrible rolling carry-on suitcases that busted. So far I haven’t found the perfect replacement. If I had $500 to spend on the perfect replacement, this would be it:

I haven’t needed a giant suitcase in over 8 years, but I plan on one day being a distinguished, International Man of Mystery-type traveler. When those days come, this is the suitcase I’ll take with me:

The bag I settled on, of course, is a daily use bag. The kind I love to lust after from afar: The Saddleback Leather Messenger Bag.  Usually, when you hear Messenger Bag, you think shiny and plastic. That’s not what I want, and that’s not what I get with this bag.

Here are my criteria for a bag:

1. High level of craftsmanship. I’ve discussed here how frustrated I’ve grown with what passes ‘quality checks’ these days.

2. Durability. If I’m going to be paying for craftsmanship, I want it to last. Forever.

3. Distinguished good looks. When I develop distinguished good looks in 20-30 years, I want my bag to be there waiting for me. In the meantime, it can help signal to people that I’m not 18 years old.

Here is the bag (Since I don’t own one of these yet, I stole all the photos off of this excellent review of the bag):

It can be simply transformed into a backpack:

And has all the hefty, destruction resistant features you could ask for: rivets at stress points, D rings, leather straps, no breakable parts.

These pictures are of the Dark Tobacco Brown color. If it were me, I’d go with the Dark Coffee Brown in this photo:

It costs a pretty penny, but comes with a 100 year warranty. That’s right, 100 years.

Rugged, good looking, distinguished and built to last. What more could you ask for?

That same day I wrote a blog post comparing a Beckel Canvas bag to a Duluth Pack bag. Like Levi’s, Duluth Pack has a long history (128 years!) of quality crafted goods. Both companies are making the transition to the New Rules of Marketing and PR-style of utilizing the web and inbound marketing. In the last two days Duluth Pack has shown that they get it, Levi’s still hasn’t.

I present to you, evidence that Duluth Pack gets it:

1. When I wrote the blog post that touched on Duluth Pack’s quality I didn’t alert the company to my post. I wasn’t looking for their approval or affection, I was just citing them as an example of quality crafted goods.

2. This morning I received a comment on that blog from Duluth Pack.

3. Immediately after the posting, I received an e-mail notifying me that Duluth Pack was following me on Twitter.

Both companies have all the right tools in place. In fact, Levi’s interactive website and video campaign is brilliant. The difference is Duluth Pack is using the tools to reach out to customers and potential customers. They are tuned in to the online discussion of their brand and products. They don’t have the flash. But, as you might expect, they are focused on quality and doing the job right.

So with that as my inspiration, I’m making a list of the five products on Duluth Pack’s website I think are really cool. Call it a shout out to an old-school company that is transitioning well in a difficult time.

PRODUCTS I OWN

1. Ammo Bag
I already went into detail on this bag, but I mostly use it for a small film/video production ‘diddy’ bag (is that a real term or is it just what we called it at my film school?). It holds grip tape, dv tapes, clothespins, clamps, light meter, lav mic, and more. All with ease.

2. Field Satchel
This is my every day bag and has been for almost a year. It’s small enough to fit in my big Rivendell Baggins bag on my bike (to get it to and from work), but large enough to fit my Klean Kanteen, Sigg 9 x 13 lunch box, 5 x 8 notepad and pen, iPhone, wallet, checkbook, leatherman, and a book or two. Really the perfect size everyday bag. Mine is blue.

3. Leather belt
Sturdy, strong, and built to last. Nothing flashy, just a solid belt.

ON THE WISHLIST

4. Rambler Pack
I’ve had my eye on the Rambler for some time. I really like it. Unfortunately, at this point in my life, I don’t do nearly enough rambling to justify the purchase. When traveling I use a duffel style bag. It isn’t ideal for a bike. And I have a bigger pack for camping. I just need to do more rambling is the problem.

5. Money Clip Wallet
I’ve needed a new wallet for a while, but I’ve been holding off on making the decision. I had one that was similar in style to the i.d. window money clip. I really liked that style. Now I’m trying to balance size and function. This is what I’ve settled on, for now. They carry a number of solid wallet options.

BONUS

6. Gransford Wildlife Hatchet

I’ve been lusting after this hatchet for over a year. Lifetime guarantee. At 14″, I could attach it to the rack on my bike and go camping. Great for camping in general, and who doesn’t need a great hatchet around?

A close second, Gransford Small Forest Axe. At 19″ it packs a bit more punch than the hatchet, but loses something in the portability department. Everything is a compromise.

Everything except the quality of these products.

If I go to the store and pick up a normal gallon of milk, it will be milk that came from a cow injected with growth hormones. I have to pay extra if I don’t want my morning bowl of cereal to have something in common with Manny Ramirez and Big Papi.

Two and a half years ago we moved into the house in which we currently reside. We purchased a moderately-priced and well-reviewed washer and dryer. Today I often have to set the dryer to run a second cycle in order to dry my clothes completely.

I was talking with Meg the other day about the quality of food. She sighed and said, “Why do we have to pay a fortune for stuff to not be crap?”

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The standards of quality have dropped. This is a big theme in today’s market. Quality, hand-crafted goods are hot, and they sell at a premium. The focus now is on value. As we decide to pass on cheaply made goods in search of something better, the impulse may be to pay top dollar indiscriminately: buy everything organic, pay for designer labels on our clothes, settle only for a Mercedes Benz. How do I discern between quality and luxury?

Solid, High Quality and Luxury

What’s the difference between solid and high quality? Take two bags that I own as an example: Beckel Canvas’s Possibilities Bag, and Duluth Pack’s Ammo Bag. I did an in-depth post on Beckel Canvas and went into a fair amount of detail here.

Both bags are made of durable canvas, sewn by a human being in the United States, and have solid heavy-duty zippers. The difference is found in the details. The Ammo Bag features piping along the edges, leather tassels on the zippers, and brass snaps to snap shut the leather handle. Whereas the Possibilities bag stitching is on the inside (no piping) and the leather handle strap is what appears to be slightly lower quality leather with a velcro fastening.

Here are a couple photos to show the difference.

Beckel Possibilities Bag:

Duluth Pack Ammo bag:

There’s nothing wrong with the Beckel bag, it brings great value, especially at the lower price point. It is a solid bag. The Duluth Pack raises value through the finishings, but it shows in the price tag as well. You can move up the ladder to Filson, Ally Cappillino, Porter (via h(y)r collective, they’re hard to find sometimes) and on up the line. Depending on your financial means and intended use, any of these options could fall into that sweet spot of high value for your dollar.

Somewhere on the upper end of this scale you’re going to enter into luxury. Luxury, in my opinion, can be defined as an excess amount of craft, as seen here with KMW’s hand-dyed 1980’s. While an argument can be made for the regular KMW 1980’s as high quality jeans, the hand-dyed context exclusive run falls squarely under the title of luxury.

Another form of luxury is to spend indiscriminately because of a perceived value. You see this with hybrid cars (Escalade hybrid? Give me a break.) and organic food. There are some foods that are grown with a lot of pesticides (and are consequently worse for you). These include fruits such as peaches, apples, strawberries, cherries, and imported grapes and it’s worth your money to buy these organic. Other fruits–bananas, oranges, mangoes, and pineapple–are grown with less pesticides. Paying for organic bananas is a luxury because the amount you’re paying brings in very little increased value, making them an excessive expense.

Buying the most expensive item rarely brings the highest value. Maximizing your dollar is all about finding the highest value available. Sometimes this means skimping on (or skipping entirely) less important areas.

These same principles can be applied to film and video production. Stay tuned for Craft Part II: Video Production.