The art of accessorizing is a delicate and finely balanced one, and involves a keen eye to accompany an outfit with the appropriate adornments. With the trend of accessorizing now featuring prominently in male fashion and style, a whole new range of accessories have been brought to market throughout recent years, aimed solely at male consumers. One of the most widely sold is a bag or carrier, and in particular the men’s leather backpack.

The men’s leather backpack (or leather rucksack) goes through a considered design process before being sold. This is required because the product needs to reflect contemporary trends but also remain durable, practical and also boast masculine qualities in order to achieve market penetration. This can be a delicate balancing act, but the successful result is a stylish and slim line model with a deceptively large holding capacity.

The Typical Leather Backpack for Men

The typical leather backpack for men is generally available in two main colors: black and brown. While there are variable shades, the product relies on the design and the finished sheen of the bag to appeal rather than on the diverse use of colors. This carefully selected range of colors is utilized to suit the male demographic, and maintain the products relevance is contemporary style and society.

The black leather backpack remains the most popular design, and no material is more synonymous with modern luxury than black leather. The most popular shade is known as night black, which not only boast a durable sheen and clinical visual effect, but also a well preserved surface that will resist stains or discoloring. A key selling point of all leather products is their lifespan, as these items are traditionally less affordable than other fabricated goods. This is an even more significant consideration in outdoor wear, but due to the quality and dark shades of the black leather, the backpack provide excellent value for money.

Brown leather is a lighter and more versatile color utilized in bag and rucksack design. The brown leather backpack is particularly favored in areas of Western Europe, including Italy and Spain. Italy itself is renowned for its design and production of brown leather accessories, evolving multiple shades and tones of the material to create different aesthetic visual effects. Always manufactured from particularly strong and robust leather, they can survive daily use and offer a surface that can be wiped clean of impurities after every trip outdoors. Though not as stain resistant as black leather, the brown leather backpack does offer an increased diversity in shades and finished looks.

Contemporary Applications

With the modern trend of portable technology (such as mini-laptops, computers and other electronic equipment) the design of leather backpacks has had to evolve to incorporate extra holding space. The leather laptop backpack is the end result of these advancements, and is a backpack that can contain a large array of electrical items in their space. Designers have managed to create a deceptively large space within an increasingly slim line design, with multiple small and zip pockets to compliment the large space created for computers and laptops.

Leather is a tough fabric that can take a lot of punishment. That does not mean it is invulnerable, however, and it will tear under the right circumstances. The easiest way to repair leather is to sew it. There are no super-special techniques to sewing leather, but there is a certain skill to it and you have to treat the leather with respect. It was once part of a living creature, after all, and therefore it is different from most fabrics. Also, there is no need to sew it by hand – you can use a sewing machine, which makes it a lot easier.

You will need to use a leather needle instead of a regular needle. Due to leather being so durable, it will snap a regular needle in two. Using a leather needle will prevent this problem. For the thread, use polyester in the dye of your choice. Cotton is too weak to hold leather together. You will also need two-sided leather tape, a rotary cutter, and a leather presser foot; again, for reasons of strength, ordinary materials just will not do.

Remember, you cannot rip out sections you didn’t sew well. This can make it hard to repair leather. It might be better to practice on a cotton sample of the area you want to repair. This way you will get a better idea of the manuevers to use when you repair the actual leather. When you sew up torn leather, take the cotton practice sample and lay it over the leather so you can get an even clearer idea of how to sew it. It is important to make it as clear as possible to yourself because you probably will not be able to undo any mistakes. You can even mark the pattern on the leather with chalk if you feel comfortable doing that.

When sewing, use a long stitch. Using a short stitch will create a perforating effect that will actually render the leather more vulnerable to tearing. If your machine skips a stitch, go back later and do the missing stitch by hand using your leather needle.

When a backpack has torn a hole, you have three options. You can sew the tear up, you can buy a new backpack, or you can keep using the backpack if the tear is not too bad. If it is, and buying a new backpack is not a viable option right now, sewing it up is your best bet. Sewing a backpack isn’t that different from sewing any other kind of clothing item, whether shirts, sweaters, pants, and so on. In fact, it can be easier to sew a backpack than to repair other types of fabric. The reason for this is that fabric threads can become loose more easily than backpack threads can. Even better, the time to sew up a tear can take mere minutes, depending on the size of the tear, of course. (If the tear is large, you might want to consider buying a new backpack anyway.)

Keep in mind that the technique you use depends on the size of the tear and how much the mend will show. Most backpacks are sewn at six to ten stitches per inch of fabric. Usually six to ten stitches is the standard to aim for because anything above ten stitches or below six begins to degrade the fabric’s strength. The fabric used for backpacks is called “denier”, although denier is a unit of measure rather than a true style of fabric. Denier is a unit of fineness of silk and artifical fibers like nylon, the most common fabric used in backpacks, which is equal to one gram per nine thousand meters of yarn. Here is an example: nine thousand meters of four hundred and fifty denier fabric would weigh four hundred and fifty grams. Denier is a way to measure the heaviness and the strength of fabric.

Another factor you should be aware of is the fabric’s tenacity. Tenacity is how long the fabric can resist additional tearing after the original tear has started.

For the basic technique for sewing a backpack, you’ll need:

Tools such as a steam iron and ironing board, sharp scissors, sewing needles in a variety of sizes, sewing machine, tailors’ chalk or pencil, and a  sponge.

Materials such as iron-on mending tape, thread in appropriate colors, patching materials, heavy brown paper, and tissue paper.

Don’t forget you’ll also need around fifteen minutes or more, depending on the severity of the tear. You can sew the backpack either by hand or by machine. Sewing it by machine may be too difficult on the device you have at home, so it’s better to sew it by hand.

Here are the steps:

1) Since most tears follow the grain of the fabric they will generally be straight or in a L-shape. If the fabric is medium-weight or heavier, use the iron-on mending tape. Cut a piece of tape about an inch longer and wider than the tear. Round off the corners.

2) Lay the backpack on the ironing board in such a way so that the tear faces wrong side up. Another way of putting this is to have the backpack inside out and on the board so that the tear on the inside faces up towards you. If it is too hard to lay the item out so that the edges of the tear stay together, get a temporary large patch made of fabric or heavy brown paper and lightly baste it to the side of the fabric opposite of where the mending tape will go. Take care that the basting threads are far enough away so that they will not be caught by the mending tape.

3) Put the mending tape on the tear, adhesive side down. Carefully position it; then use the tailor’s chalk or pencil to mark the tape at several points around the tear. This is to guide your iron leater on. Remove the mending tape briefly and heat the area to be mended up using the iron.

4) Replace the mending tape on the tear inside your markings. Following the directions on the mending tape package, iron it down completely. Make sure the tape is fully bonded to the fabric. Let the tape cool before moving the mended item. If you used a basted patch, remove the patch after the mended area has cooled.

That’s all there is to it. You should have a mended backpack ready for use. Be sure to take better care of it so the tear doesn’t open again. If it does, constantly re-mending it will wear down the fabric.