I have been professing my love for canvas- leather combination bags for a good month or so now, so I want to give it a little blog time again now. Here are some of the advantages of a leather- canvas bag:
1. It’s definitely much lighter than an all- leather bag
2. It’s also “cheaper” than an all- leather bag
3. 2 different textures on the bag make it more “exciting” than just 1 🙂
Downsides of a leather- canvas bag:
1. It could get dirty faster and easier than an all- leather bag (keep light canvas away from denim)
2. And if it does get dirty, it might just be a lot harder to clean *though you can always take it to special cleaners– they have these in Hong Kong and Singapore if I’m not mistaken*
For me though, if you are just careful enough with the bag, you can effectively avoid getting it dirty (it’ll end up getting dirty in the same way your leather bag will eventually get dirty). Plus, a nice coat of Scotchgard always seems to help 🙂
I began with a more affordable leather- canvas bag just to “test” if this combined materials in a bag was something for me. I chose a brand called Gabs. I first saw this brand being carried by I.T. in Hong Kong almost a decade ago and it was only this year that I bought the bag in one of my trips to EU. Gabs was founded by Franco Gabrielli (his dad was also in the leather goods industry) some 11 years ago in Florence, Italy. The idea of Gabs was that each bag can be carried in more than one way. It’s multi- functional and I think the concept is really brilliant. I frankly don’t know why it took me this long to get one *thwaps myself*.
Here’s my bag:
A side of this “flat” square bag is made of leather, while this side that you see is made of canvas with leather trim. When flat, the bag looks like this (photographed with all the bag’s accoutrements) . The bag itself has 3 detachable straps. And the bag can be carried 3 ways:
As a hobo with the thicker, short leather strap
As a backpack or a sidepack (I am so loving this particular style right now– hands-free!!)
Or as a cross-body bag
The bag came with that teeny tiny suede- covered note pad 🙂 I think that’s the Gabs “signature” accessory.
After having used this bag (while with my kids and while I shop for groceries and other household stuff), I haven’t a doubt in my mind that a leather- canvas combination bag is something I really love and can use without a problem. And oh yes, I love Gabs! (and from this bag on, I ended up buying the DKNY bag at Net-A-Porter
which you have seen a review of in one of my previous blog posts)
x
TheBagHag
As this review is now some years old – how did the Gabs bag hold up over time? I had mine (blue, full leather) for less than a year – the zipper side fabric eroded badly leaving holes, the colour got very patchy and the strap tabs on the bag got stretched and distorted. When it was sent back to Gabs they sent it back and said it was ‘fair wear and tear’… I only used it during the summer season, and do use my handbags every day, but it didn’t seem to have very good wear qualities (looks very tatty now) for the price.
Mine didn’t hold up to well either but I wasn’t using it as often as you did. But sigh it was good while it looked new!