“We are close to a Porter Stand location, I am going to pop in and see what they have, catch up with you in a few.” Off I went to see what bags I could see, determined to pick up my second Porter bag in Japan, and to find something that doesn’t dupe bags I already had. I wandered the small store — the staff always gets excited when they see you have a Porter bag already, they thank you, it’s sweet — and I kept pulling myself from the Tanker lines.
Brown, huh, that’s not a standard looking color. Feels like cotton, cool.
I asked about the bag, the staff came over and pulled the stuffing from it and encouraged me to try it on, to pack my stuff in it. I was pretty sold from the feeling alone, but it was small and small bags can be tricky — they have to be the right kind of small. Then my newly minted good pal, the salesclerk, said the magic works “we have a larger size in the back, shall I get it for you”.
This is Porter’s Smoky line, and specifically the generically named “Shoulder Bag” — this comes in two sizes, this is the larger of the two. It’s also one of the best bags I own, and it’s a lot easier to explain why this one is so very good.
Materials & Specs
This bag shines with the materials being used. As I mentioned, I thought this was a simply cotton canvas when I handled it in the store. But it’s actually a Cordura duck canvas that Porter worked in collaboration with Cordura to produce. Here’s how they explain it:
Zimbabwean cotton is used for the warp threads, and uneven yarn with uneven thickness are spun. Strong and supple Cordura 1000 denier is used for weft yarn. It is very difficult to weave uneven yarn, but the techniques and ingenuity of Japanese craftsmen cultivated over many years have made it possible to create a plain weave.
The “Cordura Duck” that was born in this way has a unique texture that is not found in conventional fabrics due to the gentleness and natural look of cotton and the strength and luster of nylon. This fabric, which is a fusion of low-tech and high-tech, is dyed with different warp and weft yarn to create a deep and tasteful color.
My take: looks like it is cotton, feels slightly like it’s something more. It’s a really awesome material. The outer shell of the bag is all Cordura Duck, with different spots using a nylon jacquard. This is not an overly light material as the bag comes in at 1030g empty. It officially measures at 15.15” x 11.02” x 5.51”. It’s a nicely sized shoulder bag, which can accommodate the footprint of most laptops (there is, however, no laptop sleeve).
The only other thing I will note is that the bag utilizes press snaps, and just as Filson does, Porter has designed these with a finger loop below them so you can secure them with a one handed pinch. This is top notch shit, and every press snap should be like this for flaps and such. The bag is made to typical Porter standards, which is to say it is industry leading construction.
In Use
Here’s the blurb from Porter about this bag:
The shoulder bag is sized to fit A4 size documents and has a wide gusset, making it possible to store bulky items. The flap has a convenient pocket for storing items that are frequently taken out, such as smartphones and pass cases. D-Rings is attached to the base of the shoulder strap, so it has a wide range of motion and is designed to fit your body easily. You can also carry it in a handheld style with the handle on the top of the main unit.
Admittedly, not the best English translation on that write up (that is Porter’s translation), but I’ll break it down more here. This is not a laptop messenger, most of what Porter sells is not geared to be laptop/device centric (though they do have many with laptop sleeves). This is a core philosophical difference with Porter and almost every other bag company out there — it’s ok to build a bag that doesn’t natively accommodate a laptop, and it might actually make for better bags.
This Smoky Shoulder Bag embodies this — not only is there no laptop pocket, but there’s essentially no padding, and the back inside of the bag is two vertical pouches to store stuff in, removing the spot you would normally associate with stowing a laptop.
As I mentioned, this is one of my absolute favorite bags, so I’ll break down why a little more:
- The Cordura Duck canvas is exceptional. It looks tremendous, feels amazing, and the brown colorway (along with the navy) is utter perfection. A near perfect bag material.
- The layout of the bag itself is clever. With the flap closed, you have a large center snap pocket on the back, and two smaller on each side (these are useless for anything but pens or folding fans). The front of the flap has three open top drop pockets, which are absolutely perfect for quick stowage of your iPhone, and keeping train tickets at hand but secure. Flip the lid and you get two more vertical pockets which are secured with a bit of Velcro. The main body zips closed, and offers two more vertical Velcro pockets at the rear inside of the bag. All of this org comes at very little cost of overall space. If you don’t use these pockets, they won’t be in your way, or take up much extra space. But they can hold loads of gear in a decently organized way, without being overly controlling about what should be in any given pocket.
- The three press snaps you’ll use the most are setup to allow for one handed closure. Typically with a press snap you have to push hard against it, or use two hands, to snap it closed. Porter designed these such that you can slip your finger behind the snap and pinch the snap closed with one hand.
- This bag is quite large in what it can carry while visually looking small and feeling small to carry. I loaded this bag on travel days and it kept swallowing up more and more gear.
- There is the tiniest bit of padding at the base of the bag, which offers ever so slight protection for the items you carry, but mostly helps avoid loud clunks when setting the bag down. At the same time, the padding doesn’t add much structure, so the bag still collapses in when not full.
- The handle at the back top of the bag is fantastically placed, and quite easy to grab even when the bag is full.
- The d-ring style attachment is a nice touch, allowing the strap to articulate just enough that the bag hangs nicely at your side whether being worn cross body or on a single shoulder.
There are a few not-perfect items on the bag:
- When really loaded, the shoulder strap can start to dig after a while. With loads over 13lbs, I found that the strap needed to be repositioned after a few hours of consecutive wear. There’s no padding here.
- If you do not zip the bag closed, and go to pick up the bag from the back handle, the bag pulls open quickly. This lead to one moment on the train when a water bottle went flying out.
- The material offers a lot of friction, so depending on how you like to wear your bag this is a positive or negative. I found that since the bag didn’t slip around, it was great for days when there was a lot of movement needed.
It’s rare that after a single day I know a bag is going to be around for a good while — even more rare that after pushing a bag as hard as I pushed this bag, I still feel that way. Not only is the utility and layout of the this bag fantastic, but the durability and worry-free nature of the Cordura duck only adds to the feeling that this bag can take some hard use.
If you use a sleeve, or are unconcerned about drops (as I am) this bag worked great for me to drop my iPad Pro and Leica in when I needed those, and head out. I stacked up to four more drinks into the top of this, carrying all the beverages for the family. I used the plentiful outside pockets to carry train tickets for all and my phone so it was easy to grab.
At times it felt heavy, but at no point did I reach the limit of utility, nor did I ever find myself frustrated with it.
Overall
I absolutely love this bag. Everything about it is a practical, and really cool. It’s a beast of a bag which doesn’t weigh a ton when empty, but can haul quite a load.