Pratesi Firenze Black Messenger Bag Review | Learning more about genuine leather and Italian leather
Pratesi Firenze Black Messenger Bag
As someone who loves to shop and collect, you may have a similar experience on how not all purchases are planned. For example, I didn't plan to buy this black messenger bag by Pratesi Firenze. To be honest, I didn't even know about them until I saw the bag and looked them up on Google. I was casually shopping at HomeGoods, looking for planter pots and garden items. Then when I walked past one of the middle isles, something caught my eyes. I saw this exquisite-looking leather bag sitting on the shelf. What? HomeGoods sells bags now? I was surprised to see that, as if T. J. Maxx and Nordstrom Rack are not bad enough for my wallet. I took a quick look at the bag, considering it was a messenger bag, not a style I have been using much lately, I decided not to get it. However, after I went home, I couldn't get the bag out of my mind. I loved the touch on the leather and how deep the black was on the bag. So, I gave myself a random reason to return to HomeGoods the second day, and the rest is history.
One of my hesitations from buying the bag was that I saw the tag saying it was made with Genuine Leather. Being a relatively new leather bag lover, I have heard many people on YouTube talking about how Genuine Leather is the lowest quality leather. In general, it could be true if the bag is made in the United States or if it came from China; that's how we label and categorize leather goods in the US. In short, Genuine Leather is made using multiple corium layers of the animal skin that don't have the strength of the top layer grain. They use glue to bond multiple corium layers and then paint and emboss a leather grain pattern on it.
Internal of the front flap
With doubts, I looked them up online. The company was founded in 1948 and had been making quality leather goods since. It seems they have their tannery, and it doesn't appear that they would use low-quality leather, considering their bags' high price point. Reading up the information that came with the bag I bought, it was vegetable-tanned leather and sounded like a certain kind of chemical chrome-tanned procedure could be illegal in Italy. Upon my close inspection of the bag, the leather grain appeared naturally inconsistent and didn't look like embossed textures. So I am guessing, and in Europe or Italy, Genuine Leather is their way of saying the leather goods are made with real leather and not the low-quality leather we associated it with in the United States. I know I could be wrong in this, so feel free to leave a comment to correct if you know more about Italian leather.
Bag lining
Now, back to talking about the messenger bag I got. I have to put this upfront, the bag is gorgeous inside out! I don't know how they dyed the leather; the black is so deep that I couldn't get my eyes off it! The stitches look consistent and perfect everywhere. The hardware is solid, and the zipper pulls have their logo embossed on them. The inside of the bag is lined with suede, and the external pocket at the back has a fabric lining. The front flap is using magnetic closures. They are some of the better magnetic hardware I have seen. When I lifted the bag by holding the front flap, the magnetic closures still held on to the bag and didn't fall open from the bag's weight. The messenger bag came with a high-quality dust bag with its logo printed on it in gold color.
Pratesi Firenze dust bag
I could tell this messenger bag has a good structure. It has pipings running through the frame in the front and back. The benefit of having that is, the bag is not going to flop into a sagging sack. On the other hand, the depth of this bag is only two and a half-inch, so I don't see myself carrying my Fujifilm X100V or my Leica Q2 in it. However, I may fit in a Sony RX100V if I use it while out having coffee with friends. Buying the bag knowing it is more of a briefcase than a daily bag means I won't use it as much. Due to the nature of my work, I don't carry documents when I am out. When the world is back to a safer state, I probably will use it to bring my iPad Pro to work at a coffee shop or drawing at a park.
Logo on the zipper pull
Lastly, I admit I bought this messenger bag knowing it doesn't really fit my lifestyle. However, I did learn so much when researching the term Genuine Leather and Italian leather. It made me want to get more Italian-made bags when I will visit Florence and Venice later this year or next year. Furthermore, the touch of this leather is sublime! How could you not want to add it to your collection?
