Briefcases

     Women have purses and the women in my life have impressive collections.  There are purses for casual and formal use.  They have their everyday favorite purse.  They have bags of a variety of colors to match outfits and seasons.  They have leather purses and other materials.  I used to make light of their collections, emphasis on the “used to.”

I have my own obsession with bags.  My bags are not man purses but briefcases.  I have an embarrassing number of them… at least twelve.  I have a three Tumi’s, four Hartman’s, and other brands.

Unlike students of all ages these days who have backpacks, I did not get my first briefcase until I was in college.  It was a brown leather lawyer’s briefcase.  I believe my Dad got it as a gift or promo item and gave it to me as it probably wasn’t his style.  I was glad to have it to carry my math books and notebooks around.  But, it was not exactly my style either… at the time.    I really wanted what was the de rigueur bag of the 1970s in Detroit:  a hard case black Samsonite briefcase.  I bought one when working at Ford and going to night school at Wayne State University.  I felt very cool with that briefcase.  To this day, I cannot recall where the brown leather lawyer’s bag went.

When I moved on to Rockwell International Automotive, they issued me another black Samsonite with a Rockwell International logo on it.  I thought that was pretty cool and I used that briefcase for five years until I left Rockwell and carrying their logo on a briefcase just felt uncomfortable.  So, I went back to my original Samsonite which was no problem.

It was no problem, until I moved to New York to work for Colgate-Palmolive.  In commuting on the train from CT to Grand Central Station and walking up Park Avenue to the offices, I quickly understood that my Samsonite was an unfashionable dinosaur in the Big Apple.  In the first few years there, finances were pretty tight and the Hartmann briefcases that were the stylish standard were out of my price range.  So, I used my Samsonite humbly and it did the job. 

Colgate did offer me a choice of two briefcases.  One was a lawyer’s briefcase, and another was a pilot briefcase.  Both were leather.  I went with the pilot bag as I was not ready for another lawyer’s briefcase and I needed the pilot briefcase to carry the books and binders needed for my job.  I still have and use that pilot bag.  The Samsonites?  Long gone.

After a few years in New York, our financial situation improved, and I decided to get a cooler more fashionable briefcase.  The Hartmann traditional hard cases were still in fashion but were quickly being replaced by soft bags with shoulder straps.  The brand that was up and coming was Tumi.  The only that caught my eye was a black ballistic nylon beauty.  I paid almost $400 for it which was a crazy amount of money.  A few years later I bought another one but larger.  I used those two bags through the rest of my time in New York and my first few years in Chicago until the Great Recession hit.   

When I began to teach and had to again carry lots of books and papers, the Tumi’s which were showing their age were not the best options.  I first bought a roll along Swiss Army bag which was perfect for three seasons but a poor winter choice.  So, I bought a large capacity Kenneth Cole backpack.  This last bag was perfect for teaching.  I used it exclusively for few years.

Along the way I picked up a few slim shoulder bags, all at deep discount, for when I don’t have to carry much.  I have a black Swiss Army, a goldish Hartmann, and a timbuk2 all in ballistic nylon.

I took my larger Tumi to the Tumi Store and inquired about having it refurbished.  Instead they gave me a $200 store credit and I bought a sweet grey and cordovan lawyer’s gusseted bag with a shoulder strap.  I only use this bag for going into boardroom visits which these days are few and far between. 

A valued colleague called me out for my huge Kenneth Cole backpack challenging me to get something more compact and stylish.  So, I went back to the Tumi Store and bought a beauty of a slimmer camoflauge backpack that is now my everyday bag. 

I thought I was done buying anymore bags until I saw The Intern.  In this 2015 movie starring Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway, De Niro played a retired executive who out of boredom applied for an got an internship position with an e-commerce women’s clothing company started by the Anne Hathaway character.  When De Niro reported to work, he was sporting a 1973 Executive Ashburn briefcase, a hard shell briefcase, with the distinctive “kachink chink” sound when you opened the latches.  This briefcase was basically made retro-chic in this film where De Niro’s protégé went out and bought one on ebay.

ebay? Well, I had to have a look.  I was impressed with the offerings and have basically bought five vintage briefcases in the past few years… for a fraction of the original prices.  I have bought a slim Tumi leather bag and a rare Tumi hard case.  I

gave the latter to my son.  The de rigueur Hartmann bags from when I first moved to New York?  I now have two:  one beige and the other cordovan.  I have a beauty of black Hartmann lawyer’s bag coming full-circle to a style I was not originally enamored with.

My favorite buy was a classic hard case made in South Africa clad in water buffalo leather.  I first saw and wanted this briefcase in South Africa in 1990.  I saw the briefcase in a gift shop at the Johannesburg airport on my way home after providing Quality Management training to Colgate’s Africa and Middle East Division.  I fell in love with it but just couldn’t pay the $600 they were asking for it.  On ebay, I saw the same briefcase for… umm… $30 and immediately bought it.  It arrived and it was pristine, almost never used, condition.

I use these retro-briefcases about once a week.  Students and colleagues are fascinated with my collection.  It has been a fun little hobby though it is now my wife’s turn to makes light of my “purses.”