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Defining something as ‘the best’ is a tactic I’ve been using for a long time. It’s an odd definition, as it’s almost certainly a lie, caged with the caveat of “what I think is the best”. Though, we all intuitively know this.

Even sites with rigorous testing: Consumer Reports, or Project Farm on YouTube — these all can label things as scientifically the best, but when you dive down further, you begin to see the subjectivity. After all, at some point, some human, decided what and how things are tested, rated, and graded, to become the best. Which makes the entire thing easy to bias.

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A little over a year ago, my kids both switched their school backpacks over to Topo Designs backpacks — and since then they have fallen in love with those backpacks while at the same time those backpacks have held up nearly perfectly for them. And that data point has impressed me enough that I’ve been wanting to pick up a Topo Designs bag to test and review for myself.

I decided to grab the Global Briefcase in Olive — and I’ve been testing it for a bit now. It’s a very good bag, but not really my cup of tea, so my testing is abbreviated on this one.

Here are my impressions after using it for two-ish weeks.

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It’s been over a year now since I declared that I was going all in on the 24hr Briefcase as the primary bag I take into the office. This change has actually held true over that stretch to my own amazement. The only time I deviate is for testing other bags or when I needed a larger bag to tote some extras to or from the office.

I am not sure I’ve stuck with a bag this long for office use, and that alone is a testament to how great the 24hr is.

It’s almost perfect in every scenario I need it to be used for. And it’s so good that I regularly consider bringing it as a personal item over other travel shoulder bags I have on trips. (My original review is here.)

I wanted to revisit this bag now that I’ve had a lot of use and time with it. Combining it with all the other variants/colors of this bag, I am coming on nearly two years of using a 24hr Briefcase. I am more confident now than ever that this is the best bag you can choose for office carry.

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I picked this particular item up to serve a very specific purpose, to carry very non-specific gear. I often run into a situation where I have some smaller things I need to stow somewhere in a bag. I need to easily pull them back out of the bag, or to get at them while they remain in the bag. Sometimes this is for travel on a plane or by car. Other times it’s heading out with the kids for the day.

The items vary widely and I wasted a lot of time trying to dig through my pouch pile to find something suitable. So I set out to find a pouch which would work well enough across all my uses. I’ve kind of found it in the Hardgraft Notebook Wool Wrap.

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Note: Meermin provided these loafers for review.

I am a boot guy, or at least I was pretty sure that I was a boot guy. But, my pal, kept telling me that I needed to up my loafer game and that they are vastly better than I think they will be. I dipped my toes in a while back with some suede tassel loafers, but had been longing for a classic penny loafer.

When I saw that Meermin was releasing this unlined, soft calf leather loafer, I couldn’t wait to give them ago. In the world of loafers, pricing is all over the place, and climbs rather quickly. Meermin, by contrast, offers a really nice looking loafer at an extremely competitive price.

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I was getting ready to write a post about where I am at with my gear this year. As well as another longer term look at a few Filson bags, then I realized: there is an underlying notion of aesthetics and style which is hard to address when looking at a singular bag.

As I focus more of my attention on my own style, one common thing I read/hear/see is that you should never wear a backpack unless you are hiking — or some shit like that. This usually comes about from men older than I — people who only equate backpacks with hiking or school.

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Trakke’s recent offerings are becoming more and more appealing to me, while at the same time the pricing seems — it’s a lot. I picked up both of these bags second hand, which is a good way to save money and get a sense of how they wear overtime. They are both quite good, but flawed in their own ways.

These bags are a meld of modern layouts and ideas, married with more classic aesthetics. They feel like they sit somewhere between something like DSPTCH/Defy and Filson. I am not going to go very deep, as I didn’t use either for extended time — but enough to get a good sense of what they are and aren’t.

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Over the holidays, I found myself in an outdoor store which sold Zero Tolerance knives (among others) and I played with a few of their models. Some were models I had thought about picking up over the years, and some were simply the type of knife you appreciate existing, while never wanting to own. Unknown to me at the time was that the ZT 0545 existed, but when I got back from the trip I started to look at ZT in general as I was impressed with the offerings I handled.

Because of the action and the thin nature of the ZT knives I handled, I needed to get one. Coming across the ZT 0545, with a MagnaCut blade — it seemed like a perfect match, if a little large. I went for it.

I am glad I did, because this knife is very good, and likely underrated in general.

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