Bags

We do not make or sell bags, and we do not repair leather goods. There is no version of this page where we take your briefcase.

What a bag does to tailoring is a different matter, and it is one of the questions we ask at a first appointment: do you carry something, and on which shoulder.

What a strap does over time

A bag carried on the same shoulder every day compresses the padding and the canvas underneath it, and the shoulder line goes with it. It is gradual enough that the owner rarely notices — what they notice is that a jacket they used to like has started to look tired, and they assume the cloth has aged.

Often the cloth is fine. The structure under it has been flattened on one side, and the two shoulders no longer match. On a canvassed jacket that can frequently be rebuilt. On a fused one it usually cannot, because there is no separate layer to work with.

What to tell us

If you carry a bag daily, say so before the pattern is drafted. Everybody carries one shoulder lower than the other already, usually on the dominant side; a strap on top of that is a compounding effect, and it is far easier to cut for than to correct afterwards.